Swimming: Capp in fine form
Tauranga's Nathan Capp struck on the opening night of finals at the New Zealand swimming championships in Auckland, which doubles as the Olympic trials.
Capp (Greerton), the top qualifier, defended his national open title in winning the 400m individual medley. He took control on the backstroke leg and dominated from there, winning in 4:22.92, a new personal best but still six seconds off the London qualifying mark.
In other results from the Greerton team on the first night, Sarah Greaves and Taylor Armstrong swam the 50m backstroke. Greaves swam a personal best of 32.40 while Armstrong swam a 31.53 to reach the B final where she finished 8th.
Men's 400m individual medley: Nathan Capp (HPC-Greerton) 4:22.92, 1; Carsten Corazza (Howick Pakuranga) 4:25.93, 2; Roy Pearce (North Shore) 4:27.62, 3.
Triathlon: Melbourne magic
Port of Tauranga Half winner Cameron Brown has gained one of the best results away from home, finishing runner-up to world champion Craig Alexander in the Asia Pacific ironman championships in Melbourne.
Brown finished third in Ironman New Zealand earlier this month, and that race proved an excellent shakedown for the 39-year-old, who pushed Alexander to the limit before the world champion edged away in the final 8km of the marathon run.
Alexander won in a stunning 7:57.44 with Brown second in 8:00.04, his fastest ever Ironman performance, on the back of a 2hr 41min marathon. His points from third place in New Zealand and second in the high rating Ironman Melbourne should ensure qualification for the world championships later in the year.
Meanwhile, it was a doubly good day for Kiwis, with seven-time Ironman New Zealand champion Jo Lawn, also a winner in Tauranga in January, finishing a solid fourth in the women's race.
Hockey: Silver for team
Tauranga-Bay of Plenty's women's 50+ team was the top-performing unit from the local sides that competed at the national Masters hockey tournament at Palmerston North.
The Gill Gemming-coached team won silver in their age-group, going down 2-0 to North Harbour in the final.
Newcomers to the tournament, Tauranga 40+ women, found the experience an uphill one in their age-group to finish ninth, while the Tauranga men's 50+ team, which reached the semifinals in its age-group last year, did not perform to expectations and finished seventh. Tauranga-Waikato (Kaimai) 55+ ended their campaign in fourth.
At the conclusion of the tournament 15 local players were selected in teams to represent New Zealand in England later this year. All of the New Zealand teams will compete at the International Masters hockey World Cup in Canterbury, England, from August 13-26, except for the men's 60+ team - which will play in an International Grand Masters tournament at Oxford from August 15-24.
New Zealand reps:
Women's 50+: Liz Spratt, Jenny Harrington, Pip Wilson, Julie Ryan (non-travelling reserve), MaryAnne Bellamy (non-travelling reserve).
Women's 40+: Sandy Kindley (non-travelling reserve), Veronica Romagnoli (non-travelling reserve).
Men's 60+: Mahendra Singh, Paul Singh, Alan Isaac, Ken Isaac (non-travelling reserve).
Men's 50+: Tony Cowbourne, Geoff Owen, Chris Rutherford (non-travelling reserve), Gene Coates-Reid (coach), Jeff Garnett (manager).
Men's 45+: Geoff Williamson.
Golf: Guilford shines
Rotorua's Ben Guilford was the pick of the Bay of Plenty players as Mark Purser (Hamilton) warmed up for the New Zealand PGA Pro-Am championship final qualifier with a two shot win in the Omaha Beach Pro-Am on Sunday.
Purser, a former Carrus Tauranga Open winner, followed up his first day 70 with a three-under par second round of 67. His card was kick-started with a holed wedge shot from 66m for an eagle on the par five second hole. He followed this with a bogey on the 6th, then a couple of birdies on 8 and 11 for what was to be the best round of the day.
Guilford was in a four-way tie for third on 141 after rounds of 71 and 70.
Omanu's James Hamilton was tied for 14th on even par, shooting a tournament low 66 in his opening round but backing it up with a six-over 78 on Sunday. Ben Taylor (Mt Maunganui) was tied 18th after rounds of 69 and 76, with Kieran Muir (Omokoroa) and Troy Ropiha tied 29th on four-over, Jason McIntosh (Taupo) and Luke Nobilo (Mt Maunganui) tied 38th on +7 and Andrew Gurney (Omanu) 50th on 13-over par.
Golf: Off the pace
Bay of Plenty's leading amateurs were off the pace at golf's New Zealand strokeplay champs in Hastings as international Vaughan McCall became the first Southland golfer to win.
McCall shared the lead after three rounds with promising Waikato golfer Luke Toomey but his consistent ball striking and excellent putting saw him break clear to a four-shot lead after nine holes in the final round. From there he never looked back and got to a 13-under par total to win the title by five shots from Fraser Wilkin (69) with Mathew Perry (72) in third alongside Toomey (75) at seven under par.
Rotorua's Landyn Edwards (72 78 64 70) and Victor Janin (76 71 65 72) were the best of the Bay contingent, followed by Springfield's Peter Lee (78 70 70 69), William Howard (Rotorua) 72 74 70 74, Bradley Kendall (Mt Maunganui) 74 70 74 74, Sam Davis (Tauranga) 73 75 69 75, Craig Hamilton (Omanu) 72 77 76, Hayden Beard (Mt Maunganui) 76 73 77 76 and Ruel Pedersen (Mangakino) 74 74 82 78.
Earlier, Waikato's Emily Perry upset defending champion Lydia Ko to win her first strokeplay title by beating the world No1 in a playoff. Tyla Kingi (Opotiki) 76 77 80 71, Heather Lavery (Rotorua) 80 74 80 77 and Grace Senior (Tauranga) 84 77 73 79 were the only Bay of Plenty players to make the cut. Mt Maunganui will host the national matchplay championships on April 18-23.
Football: Opening victory
Tauranga City United survived a frenetic start to notch three points in their opening game of the Northern League's second division on Saturday.
Away to Papakura City, new head coach Merv Montgomery said the opening quarter of the game was typical of a season opener before the side settled into a better pattern to kill off the game with first half goals to Jindrich Hahn and defender Steve Smith in a rare foray forward.
"The first 15 minutes the boys were more enthusiastic than anything, real first game of the season stuff. We made it difficult on ourselves but once we got hold of the ball we got hold of the game and settled down," Montgomery said. "We had it killed off by halftime, although to be fair to Papakura they came back in the second half and had a crack."
Tauranga went into the game with three players missing, with defender Graham Craven and Andrew Carter injured and midfielder Josh Nelson suspended after earning his fifth yellow card in the final game of the 2011 season.
Hahn and Smith's goals were close range tap-ins set up by strong lead-in play.Tauranga play their first home game of the season on Sunday at Links Ave (2.30pm) against Mangere United, who were 1-0 winners against Waiuku. North Shore downed newcomers Manukau City 2-1, Matamata Swifts went down 2-0 at home to Onehunga Mangere, Hibiscus Coast edged Fencibles United 2-1 and Warkworth beat Western Springs 2-1.
Northern League second division:
North Shore United 2 (Jaryd Gray, Grant Young) Manukau City 1 (Rhys Ruka). HT: 0-1.
Matamata Swifts 0 Onehunga Mangere 2 (Parusi Lemalu, Mark Lindsay). HT: 0-2.
Papakura City 0 Tauranga City 2 (Jindrich Hahn, Steve Smith). HT: 0-2.
Fencibles United 1 (Andrew Robson) Hibiscus Coast 2 (Dan Bungard pen, Trent Mayes). HT: 0-1.
Warkworth 2 (Rob Carty 2) Western Springs 1 (Matthew Wildman pen). HT: 1-1.
Waiuku 0 Mangere United 1 (Sameer Ali). HT: 0-0.
Cricket: Katikati success
Both the Katikati reserve and B grade sides have qualified for grand finals. Facing Greerton Hornets at Pemberton Park, Katikati reserves scored 176-8 in their semifinal, with Steve Jennings, who finished the qualifying round in the top five batting totals, topscoring with a gritty 34. Brothers Ben and Matt Warren both hit 25. Greerton's chase was a disaster and they were out for 84. Former Thames Valley rep Mathew Earl took three wickets for just 10 runs with Ben Warren taking 2/22. In the other post-section game, Cadets defeated Tauranga Boys' College to earn a match-up in the final against Katikati.
Wanderers were denied the chance to defend their B grade title after Katikati eliminated them in Saturday's semi. Katikati batsmen Bahavin Patel led the way with a outstanding 85 runs as his side reached 213, with leading B grade scorer Matt Harrison chipping in with a solid 45. Kendall Samkin took three wickets for Wanderers.
While Wanderers make a good fist of their chase they came up short when the Katikati bowlers restricted them to 147/9. Samkin backed up his effort in the field with Wanderers' top score of 44, with Wayne O'Connell unbeaten on 29. The Katikati wickets were shared around with four bowlers taking two wickets apiece. Former B grade champions Grasshoppers booked a spot in the final against Katikati when they beat top qualifier Papamoa. Despite Papamoa strike bowler Zac Newton taking 5-31 Hoppers got through to 185, with John Heyworth (45) and Rob Curran (35) putting their side in a strong position. Papamoa were bowled out 30 runs short of victory.
Western Bay club cricket semifinals:
Reserve grade: Katikati 176/8 (S Jennings 34, B Warren 25, M Warren 25) defeated Greerton Hornets 84 (M Earl 3/10, B Warren 2/22); Cadets def Tauranga Boys College. Championship final at Fergusson Park on Saturday: Cadets v Katikati.
B grade: Grasshoppers 185 (J Heyworth 45, R Curran 35; Z Newton 5/31, H Goodall 3/24) def Papamoa 154 (H Goodall 35; Heyworth 3/25, A Balfour 2/20, J Holmes 2/34, C Savage 2/35); Katikati 213 (B Patel 85, M Harrison 45; M Sheaff 4/49, K Samkin 3/43, D Bidois 2/44) def Wanderers 147/9 (K Samkin 44, W O'Connell 29no, D Bartosh 28; S Turnbull 2/17, B Patel 2/23, I Kirkland 2/25, M Harrison 2/24).
B grade championship final at Fergusson Park on Saturday: Katikati v Grasshoppers.
Fishing: Mighty marlin
Tauranga Game Fishing Club's 2012 one base four-day recreational fishing tournament held from Wednesday to Saturday last week attracted 95 boats and 305 anglers, who over the three days of possible fishing weighed in 48 qualifying fish, most of them on the last two days of competition.
The overall total included three marlin, one broadbill, 20 kingfish and 20 snapper. After the opening day was cancelled because of bad weather and sea conditions, conditions on Thursday were still sloppy. Friday saw the heaviest fish of the tournament weighed in with Tauranga angler Keith Wolfsbauer (Double Strike) catching a 325kg blue marlin on a 24kg line north east of the Alderman Islands. The catch was a Tauranga Game Fishing Club record and was the heaviest fish of the tournament.
Stephen Simmonds (Tauranga) on board Prowler landed the second blue marlin, weighing 212.1kg, near Plate Island. The third-placed marlin was a 177.2kg striped caught by Bryce Kidd (Tauranga) south west of Mayor Island. Kidd's catch was the heaviest striped marlin landed in New Zealand waters so far this year.
One base overall results:
Billfish: 1 Keith Wolfsbauer, Tauranga (Double Strike), 325kg blue marlin, 2 Stephen Simmonds, Tauranga (Prowler) 212kg blue marlin, 3 Bryce Kidd, Tauranga (Reel Chance) 177.2kg striped marlin.
Kingfish: 1 David Hunt, Rotorua (Blue Moon II) 31.7kg, 2 Thomas Scott-Simmonds, Tauranga (Optimus) 20.9kg, 3 Matthew Dalton, Matamata (Overflow) 19.7kg.
Snapper: 1 Nathan Kilgour, Tauranga (Andros) 8.26kg, 2 Jeff Davenport (Aquatek) 7.825kg, 3 Thomas Scott-Simmonds, Tauranga (Optimus) 7.76kg.
Heaviest gamefish by a female angler: Merryl Tapper (Titan) short-billed spearfish 11.9kg.
Heaviest gamefish by a junior angler: Josh Bennett, Te Puke (Lady Doreen) kingfish 10.6kg.
Broadbill: Trevor McLaughlin (Sterling Belle)108.3kg.
Tag and release marlin: Sam Hogg, Tauranga (Ozone), striped marlin (est 80kg).
Club rugby: Surprise win
Arataki Black laid down the challenge to their Seeka KI Western Bay club rugby rivals with a hefty 44-26 defeat of reigning champions Matakana Island on the season's opening day on Saturday. In what was obviously a game of open running rugby, the visitors to the island ran in six tries on their way to a surprise victory.
Judea, who finished last season with the Hardy Rosebowl, successfully defended the Western Bay subunion's Challenge Trophy when they downed Te Puna 26-0 at Maharaia Winiata Park.
Katikati marked their first team return to the Western Bay competition with a hard fought 15-8 win against Tauranga Sports at Moore Park. The four Te Puke region sides in the Western Bay championship had a mixed start to the new season.
Papamoa, who have Baywide aspirations, ran out 34-0 winners against Arataki Red, Eastern Districts led Rangataua 8-0 before ill-discipline cost them the game, going down 17-8, Te Puke Sports lost to Mount Maunganui 44-12 and Rangiuru were thrashed 55-0 by Greerton Marist.
One of the two other Western Bay subunion challenge trophies changed hands on Saturday with defending colts titleholders Te Puke Sports beaten 31-10 by Mount Maunganui to lose the Oliver Cup.
Seeka KI Western Bay senior results: Mount Maunganui 44 Te Puke Sports 12, Judea 26 Te Puna 0, Arataki Black 44 Matakana Island 26, Katikati 15 Tauranga Sports 8, Papamoa 34 Arataki Red 0, Greerton Marist 55 Rangiuru 0, Rangataua 17 Eastern Districts 8.