School Sport: Maunganui College wins top overall school trophy at BOPSS Rock Climbing competition

Mount Maunganui College's Neve Simpson competes on the speed wall during the Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Rock Climbing Competition. Photo / Supplied

Rock climbing
Mount Maunganui College has been named the top overall school at the Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Rock Climbing competition.

The school had 13 students competing at the event, held at Rocktopia in Mount Maunganui on May 31. During the competition, entrants had to attempt five top rope climbs, three boulder blocks and had two runs on the speed wall.

The school enjoyed brought impressive results.

In the Senior Girls' category - for students in Years 11-13 - Sophia Osipova secured first place. She travelled to Melbourne to represent New Zealand in rock climbing, and is due to travel to Italy to represent the New Zealand team also.

Jorja Rangi placed third in the category and Charlee Bluck took home 15th after being forced to withdraw half way through the competition due to illness.

Finn Hughes placed fourth in the Junior Boys' (Year 9-10) category, with Will Fraser earning sixth. Ned Johnston took home eighth place and Cam Ford placed ninth in the category.

Keira Fitzharris was third in the Junior Girls category, Georgia Parkes was 24th, Paris Harding 33rd, Mya Brickley 36th, Neve Simpson 37th and Emma Kelly 41st.

In the Teams points section, the Mount Maunganui College team took the top spot and the trophy.

Equestrian
Year 11 Mount Maunganui College student Megan George has had a successful day at the recent Secondary Horse Trials.

Competing with her horse, Soldier, she took part in the event at Taupō on May 18 and 19. She finished dressage with a 60 per cent score and went clear in her show jumping round.

George had two run-outs on the cross country course but finished the course with no further faults. Soldier is a new horse that George has had for only four weeks so she is very pleased with her end result. It was Soldier's first time out on a cross country course.

Waterpolo
Mount Maunganui College students Chanelle West, Ashley Lemoto and Elle Smith trialled for the New Zealand Born 02 Water-polo Team.
A big congratulations is given to these students for trialling, as the chosen team will be competing in Europe later in the year. The students will find out whether they have been selected for the team next week.

Marathon
Three former Mount Maunganui College students dominated the 21km Half Marathon last weekend.

The event saw participants run around Mount Maunganui twice.

Eden Craig placed 1st, with Jess Walley placing 2nd and Katie Smith bringing home fourth.

Multisport
The New Zealand Secondary Schools Multisport Championship was run as part of the 3D Rotorua Multisport Festival at Lake Tikitapu.

It was a well-organised event of growing numbers, and it was held over the Queen's Birthday Weekend.

Mount Maunganui College Under 16 team winners from 2018 moved up an age group this year. However, they raced extremely hard and took out a well-deserved first place in the Under 19 Girls team category.

Holly Sheaff began the race with a 4.5km kayak around the lake, transitioning to Sarah Burns who had a muddy and hilly 21km mountain bike ride before Lucia Cook had the final leg of a 5.5 km lap around the lake.

Congratulations to these students for displaying impressive teamwork and this was proven through their hard-earned result.