10 minute sports

Daniel Hill Mount eye big one
In a season that yielded just one loss and five pieces of silverware, Mt Maunganui has turned its sights to the biggest trophy of all after an unprecedented year in Baywide club cricket.
Platinum Pacific Reclad Mount won the Bay of Plenty Cup on Saturday without a ball being bowled as the final round of the Baywide competition was rained out.
While the cricket season fizzled out with little fanfare, Mount are reflecting on an outstanding season where they won five pieces of premier silverware - the Bay Cup, Williams Cup, Hart Family Trophy (awarded to the Baywide Champion of Champions), the Western Bay one-day trophy and the Eric Petrie Trophy for the ND champion. Mount lost just once, to Greerton.
"If you'd said back in October we'd be beaten just once this season we'd have grabbed it," skipper Daniel Hill said. "While we wanted to play on Saturday, our game against Tauranga Boys' College was potentially a tricky one and we had Cadets breathing down our necks, so it wasn't a bad weekend to rain."
Mount head to Auckland's Cornwall Park next week for the New Zealand club championship involving the six top club teams from the six associations.
Final points
Platinum Pacific Reclad Mount Maunganui 20, Element IMF Cadets 18.14, Dawson Insurance Eastern Pirates 17.66, Eves Realty Greerton 14.0, Ultimate Motor Group Te Puke 13.71, Tauranga Boys College 10.71, iTCo Central 10.42, Bay of Plenty Indians 9.0, Rotorua Boys' High 10.28, East Bay United 4.57.

High performance
A who's who of Bay of Plenty's elite sporting talent have been given Bay of Plenty Polytechnic high performance sports academy scholarships.
The scholarships are open to all students studying any fulltime programme at the polytechnic, who are also competing at a national or international level in their code. This year saw 30 applicants vying for 10 scholarships, with Peter Sommers, group leader sport and recreation, labelling the competition "tough".
"We had an unprecedented number of really top applicants," Sommers said. "The students who were awarded scholarships ... it's testament to their dedication and skill and the polytechnic is privileged to be part of the students' journey to success."
Amongst the scholarship recipients was one the Bay's top young surfers Alex Dive, who has been surfing in Gisborne at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, Bay golfer Ben Shanly-Te Whare and new Black Sticks recruit Hamish McGregor. Also honoured was athletics rising star Joseph Miller, who has also received a prestigious Prime Minister's Scholarship).
All scholarship winners receive their year's tertiary fees paid, access to the polytechnic's sport and fitness centre, including performance sport testing, as well as access to a high performance manager for education, sporting and life support.
Student scholarships Former Tauranga Boys' College student Alex Dive (surfing), former Aquinas College student Ben Shanly-Te Whare (golf), former Mt Maunganui College student Brooklyn Reardon-Nikara (surf lifesaving), former Bethlehem College student Sean Watts (rowing), former Trident High School students Harley Smith (netball), Josh Moore (rugby league), Morgan Seymour and Paora Morunga (both beach volleyball), Joe Moretti (surfing) from Mimiwhangata, Hamish McGregor (hockey) from Australia. Prime Minister's scholar and national sprint champ Joseph Millar (Aquinas College) also received an honorary award.
Edwards pipped
Bay of Plenty golf rep Landyn Edwards has been pipped for his home course Open title after a two-hole playoff with Hamilton's Ho Jun Sung.
The pair finished tied on 277 after 72 holes of the Rotorua Open.
Playing the 72nd hole, three players were in with a chance to win the tournament - Edwards, Jun Sung and Cambridge's Tane Robson. All had good drives, with Edwards and Jun Sung playing excellent second shots to the green, while Robson hit his approach over the green and out of bounds.
Edwards and Jung Sung missed their birdie putts and finished all square after 72 holes, heading back down the 18th for a playoff. The first hole was halved in pars but it was tournament over the second time when Edwards flew his tee shot out of bounds. Jun Sung made a regulation par to win.
Leading scores:
Division One.
Gross Winner: Ho Jun Sung, runner-up: Landyn Edwards. Other scores: Tane Robson 279, Peter Lee 280, Kevin Budden 280, Craig Hamilton 281, Sean Roach 283, Victor Janin 283.
Nett Winner: William Newman 273 Runner-up: Simon Brownlee 280. Other scores: Sam Davis 286, James Eng 286, Mark Kiwi 287, Kunaal Sing 288.
Division Two.
Gross Winner: Sid Ko 299 Runner-up: Kerry Smith 302 Other scores: Luke Robinson 306, Jerry Ren 307, Harry Na 307, Alan Mitchell 309, Mathew Mouldy 310, Tavita Solomona 313.
Overall stableford winner: William Howard 136 Runner-up: Brian Joe 136
Island side wins
Not only did Matakana Island defeat rivals Judea in the opening round of the Seeka KI Western Bay of Plenty club rugby competition on Saturday, they also relieved the mainland visitors of the Hardy Rosebowl.
A revitalised Matakana Island coaching team has attracted a number of former residents and players back to island, with the team is focused on playing Baywide division 2 rugby in the second half of the season, their first target is the Western Bay silverware.
Matakana Island's 39-12 winning margin suggests they'll be a definite contender for the championship this season.
Te Puke Sports' second team spoiled the opening of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Eastern Districts, with Te Puke easing to a solid 34-11 victory.
Mt Maunganui, one of the powerhouses of the Western Bay competition for a decade, had a good tussle with Katikati's second team, leading 15-0 at the break before scraping to a 30-21 win.
Arataki downed Greerton Marist 29-10, scoring fives tries to two, while Rangataua edged Te Puna 24-20.
Seeka KI Western Bay scores:
Te Puke Sports 34 Eastern Districts 11, Matakana Island 39 Judea 12, Arataki 29 Greerton Marist 10, Rangataua 24 Te Puna 20, Mount Maunganui 30 Katikati 21, Papamoa won by default.
Putts pay off
Bay of Plenty golf professionals Jason McIntosh, Jared Pender and Kieran Muir have all had healthy collects at the $100,000 Brian Perry 54-hole pro-am at Hamilton.
In atrocious conditions at St Andrews, McIntosh (Taupo) was equal sixth with rounds of 68, 72 and 69, with Pender equalling last year's ninth-place finish on 211 after rounds of 72, 71 and 68.
Muir (Omokoroa) was 14 shots off the pace on two-under par.
North Harbour's Richard Lee protected his four-shot lead in the final round with a tradesman-like round of two-under par, holding off a tenacious Nick Gillespie and a charging Mahal Pearce.
Lee started fast enough with a birdie on the first to stretch his lead, but promptly bogeyed the second before another couple of birdies on four and eight were followed up with 10 pars.
Gillespie managed to get the deficit back to a couple of shots, but Lee's conservative approach to the round was sufficient to hold him and others at bay.
Leading scores:
200 Richard Lee (North Harbour) 64 66 70
204 Nick Gillespie (Wellington) 63 71 70
206 Mahal Pearce (Dunedin) 70 69 67
207 Mark Purser (Hamilton) 72 67 68
208 Josh Carmichael (North Harbour) 69 68 71
209 Jon Bevitt (Auckland) 73 69 67, Jason McIntosh (Taupo) 68 72 69, Alex Tait (Hamilton) 67 68 74.
211 Jared Pender (Tauranga) 72 71 68, Hamish Robertson (Taihape) 71 71 69.
Also: 214 Kieran Muir (Tauranga) 72 68 74.
National title chase
Tauranga Boys' College are chasing their second national junior secondary schools cricket title at the national final being played at Taupo's Owen Delaney Park this week.
The NZCT junior tournament is the only national schools championship played during the cricket season, with participants commencing as Year 9 students in term four in the preliminary rounds.
After the Christmas holiday break the championship resumes, with eight teams qualifying for the national finals. Tauranga Boys College have a proud record in the championship. In 2006 they won the national title then went on to finish in third equal the following year.
The road to the final saw Tauranga Boys win the Bay of Plenty section of the tournament. They have gone on to defeat Poverty Bay representatives Gisborne Boys High, before repelling the challenge of St Peters (Cambridge) to earn a spot in the final.

Lee has best result
Bay of Plenty golfer Danny Lee has registered his best result on the second tier Nationwide Tour in the United States.
A closing round of six-under-par 65 left the 20-year-old Nationwide rookie in a tie for seventh place on nine-under 275 in the US$500,000 ($663,730) Louisiana Open at Broussard yesterday.
Lee's bold finish in his third tour event saw him clamber 19 places up the leaderboard for his first top-10 result on the northern American circuit, ending four shots behind the winner, American Brett Wetterich.
The former United States amateur champion threatened to shoot lights out after pocketing six birdies on the outward nine before a mid-round tumble when he gave three shots back in the space of five holes.
However, Lee signed off in style, with three successive birdies from the 15th before a regulation par at the last to register the fourth equal best score of the day, although he could not keep up with American John Kimbell, who shot a 10-under 61 to move from a tie for 48th to a share of fourth place on 274.
Lee's putter did him a lot of favours, with the 28 putts yesterday being an improvement of seven strokes on the third round. New Zealand left-hander Tim Wilkinson also enjoyed an encouraging final round, a 67 seeing him improve 15th places to 25th equal on 279, while Bay of Plenty's Brad Iles and Josh Geary missed the 36-hole cut.
Leading scores:
271 - Brett Wetterich 67 65 70 69.
272 - Andres Echavarria (Colombia) 69 66 70 67.
273 - Bubba Dickerson 69 68 67 69.
274 - John Kimbell 71 71 71 61, Carl Paulson 66 72 69 67, Rich Barcelo 65 71 68 70.
275 - DANNY LEE (NZ) 69 68 73 65, Steve Wheatcroft 73 68 67 67.
Also: 279 - TIM WILKINSON (NZ) 68 73 71 67.

Rotorua retain Cup
The Attrill Cup for cricket will remain in Rotorua for the winter after the last challenge of the 2010/11 season between Tauranga and Rotorua was washed out on Sunday.
While the senior cricket season wrapped up on the weekend, the extended school year first term because of the Rugby World Cup will see junior and school cricket continue into April.
Tomorrow is a big day out for two groups of primary schools cricket players, with the regional Milo Cup semifinals being fought out between four Waikato and Bay of Plenty intermediate school-aged teams at Waipuna Park.
The Milo national primary schools cricket competitions commenced in 1996 for Year 7 and 8 pupils. The Milo Cup for boys, and Milo Shield for girls, is a national competition contested by teams from each of the major cricket associations.
St Peters from Cambridge and Morrinsville Intermediate will travel to the Western Bay of Plenty to join Aquinas College and Tauranga Intermediate in a Milo Cup regional field day, with the winner advancing to the Northern Districts final in term four.

Eels stay on top
Brookfield New Worlds Otumoetai Eels premiers remain on top of the Waicoabay (Waikato-Bay of Plenty-Coastline) rugby league competition after three rounds with a comfortable but indifferent 40-10 win over Hukanui at Enderley Park in Hamilton on Saturday.
In pouring rain in which both teams were guilty of plenty of lost ball, the standout performance came from loose forward and ex-New Zealand Maori rep Mikaere October, who put in an NRL-standard 46 tackles on the opposition and scored four tries.
He was ably supported by big-charging forward Buddy Wirori, Matt Mason, Sam Graham and Tane Leef, who also crossed for a try. With a high work-rate across the park, Hukanui struggling to come to grips with the Eels' tigerish defence.
Down at Taupo, also in wet conditions, Tauranga Whalers' unbeaten run ended, with ex-Cronulla Sharks NRL fullback David Peachey coming to the fore with his kicking game. Whalers were undone in the final stages, with Taupo Phoenix sneaking home 26-22 in a close encounter after leading 16-4 at halftime.
In the big clash of the day at Tokoroa, Ngaruawahia Panthers downed Tokoroa's Pacific Sharks 38-18.
Both teams had gone into the game unbeaten but Ngaruawahia had too much speed and a better wet weather game plan to put pressure on the huge Pacific defence.
This weekend sees Otumoetai hosting Waikato's Turangawaewae at Mitchell Park and Tauranga travel to take on the powerful Pikiao Warriors in Rotorua, with both games at 2.30pm.