Tauranga Girls'
Congratulations to Alice Bain who competed in the beach volleyball youth world championships in Cyprus.
She was in the under-19 New Zealand team which came 17th, a good placing with 28 teams competing. Alice also travelled to China to compete in the Contential Olympic qualifier and did well.
Congratulations also to our three New Zealand underwater hockey reps in action over the holidays, competing against Australia in the Southern Hemisphere transtasman championship held on the Gold Coast.
Kelly Saunders was in the under-19 team which played six games against the Australian under-19 team. The New Zealand team won five games and drew one. They then went on to win the Ozzy Cup, with Kelly scoring twice.
Megan Burrows and Courtney Coughlan were members of the New Zealand under-23 team. They had to play in the elite women's grade where the competition was tough but they proved to be competitive. This competition was won by the New Zealand women's team, in which Letitia Jackson, our senior team coach, is a member.
In football last weekend, the third did well, dominating their game against Mount Maunganui second XI to finish with a score of 10-0. Junior A also won their game 3-0 against Otumoetai College second XI. The first XI maintained their position at the top of the ladder with a solid win over our second XI.
Many of the netball teams also did well on Friday night. TGC League 1 won their game against Bethlehem College Open A 49-30, and League 2 had a very close and tense game against Aquinas Premier 2 but managed to win 29-28. The junior A won 40-29 against Te Kura Kokiri Wairakei and the junior B beat Mount Maunganui College Junior B 39-29.
The 2nd XI hockey team had a good game last week, winning 3-0 against Bethlehem College second XI.
Otumoetai
The holidays are over and term three has started with a full round of sports played.
Results have been slowly coming in and teams are just starting back training. Not many of our students played a lot of sport over the break, with most having a rest from a busy term two.
Two of our Year 9 students, Sam Thomas and Keeley Johns, took part in the North Island indoor bowls champs here in Tauranga, with both loving the experience.
Liam Matheson's selection into the New Zealand under-19 men's beach volleyball team saw him head over to Cyprus to play in the FIVB Swatch youth world champs against teams from Greece, Nigeria, Russia and Austria, with the Austrians and Russians making it through to the semifinals. Liam and his partner finished 17th overall in a world class field of 32 teams.
Our girls' hockey teams have been playing well all season with our Year 9s, third XI, second XI and first XI teams making their grade finals. Our Year 9s and third XI will play off for the Bigham Trophy, the second XI will be playing for the Sam Charlton Cup and the first XI will take on Otumoetai senior women for the Merryweather Cup. Good luck to all.
Our rugby teams were slow starters this week with the first XV travelling to Whakatane to take on Trident High School, our second XV, under-15 and under-14 teams all played at home, with the under-14 side having the early start of 9.15am.
Congratulations to Sam Remayne, Matt Ensor, Josh Kingsford and David Irwin in making it into the Bay of Plenty under-16 team with Sam and Matt in the 'A' squad and Josh and David making it into the development team.
Last Friday, 18 of our volleyballers and six parents left for Des Moines, in the United States, where they will play in the USA College High Performance tournament. Our boys and girls senior teams will spend 11 days in America.
Te Puke High
Basketball: Our senior boys take on Otumoetai College B this week, good luck.
Rugby: Our first XV and under-15 teams took on our international visitors the Josho Keiko rugby team from Japan. It was a great game to watch and thanks to the supporters who came to watch.
Our boys played some brilliant rugby and Josho Keiko proved that they had been training hard. This left our boys bruised and battered for their weekend games. Great effort from our rugby teams, keep it up. Our girls' rugby team have their tournament in Rotorua this week. Good luck also to them.
Football: Our second XI played a fierce game against Papamoa Rebels. It was an exciting game to watch, ending in a 1-1 draw. Our third XI played a great game against the Papamoa Crusaders, managing to score two goals which was brilliant to watch.
Our girls' first XI played Bethlehem College second XI. There was some great football played and our girls just missed out by one goal. The second XI beat Tauranga Girls' senior Gold 2 - even though one of our players was badly injured. We wish Rianna Robinson a speedy recovery.
Squash: Our girls' squash teams are heading to Hamilton this week to battle their top team for the title of Waikato/Bay of Plenty champions. Let's hope we bring home the trophy.
Hockey: Last Thursday Te Puke High School boys' hockey first XI played Bethlehem College second XI in the opening match of the new round. The first goal was scored within 10 minutes by Jono Crawford, batting the ball into the goal from a rebound off the goalie's pads.
Bethlehem fought hard and their goalie played a great game, saving multiple shots. Goals were scored by Te Puke on a regular basis as they had most of the possession and field position. Final score 5-1 to Te Puke. A big congratulations to our hockey boys who are the winners of the Stephen Graham Cup.
Tauranga Boys'
Congratulations to Cole O'Connor Stratton who was part of the New Zealand under-23 canoe slalom team which competed at the junior world championships in Wausau, Wisconsin, in the United States.
In the semifinals Cole had a 98 per cent great run. Sadly he jumped in to gate 12 too tight, hit the gate and got stuck for a bit. Also down at gate 18 he didn't manage to turn in time and lost a bit more time in the eddy. He only missed the finals by 1.5sec and finished 15th, proving he has the goods but just couldn't quite get the perfect run on the day.
Also, Cole raced in the under-18 teams event and despite some good-looking training there were a few mistakes made. They finished 8th with Slovenia taking out the gold.
Also well done to Brad Fullerton who represented New Zealand at the under-19 beach volleyball youth world championships in Larnaca, Cyprus. Brad and his playing partner finished 17th after losing to Austria (4th place) in the single elimination rounds
Our first XV rugby team took on Palmerston North Boys' High School and came away with a 25-15 win. The halftime whistle saw Tauranga ahead 13-3, and the vocal Palmy supporters were a little quieter. One comment heard from the sidelines was that the Tauranga Boys' backs ran onto the ball well, as the passes were in front of the receiver, and this was evident as our backs made ground at will, proving the age-old adage that the ball will always beat the man. Wemin Kapia (2) and George Honey got the tries, with Dan Hollinshead kicking two conversions and two penalties.
Our basketball senior A team took on Bombers 2 in the Tuesday night men's premier league and won 106-70. Last Wednesday in the local secondary league the boys played Otumoetai College and also won that game 96-72. In the holidays the boys played Kelston Boys and had a convincing win, building well for qualifying games for nationals.
Aquinas
Aquinas College has returned from a Gold Coast sporting carnival with silverware.
An Aquinas team of first XV rugby players competed in, and won, the sevens division of the carnival.
Team members were James Martin, David Randrup, Ollie Lee, Adam O'Connor, Reed Wilson, Jordan Pringle, Te Rua Selwyn, Te Nawe Ngatai, Jason Roberson and Teina Hika.
The Aquinas students who travelled to the Gold Coast tournament were members of the college's first XV and premier netball team - both codes had a mixed bag of results.
Meanwhile, school holiday sporting action included the Pan Pacific youth water polo festival, with Aquinas students once again bringing home some medals. Michelle Dykes played for the Tauranga under-14 girls that won a silver medal. Cayne Dew joined Patrick Low, Daniel Dennehy, Morgan Brockelsby and Sam Wylie in the Tauranga under-14 boys team that won bronze.
Grace Eglinton represented New Zealand in the under-15 girls, who finished fourth in the under-16 girls' competition. Cayne Dew represented New Zealand in the under-15 boys, who finished sixth out of 28 teams.
The Pan Pacific event is the biggest water polo tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, with teams from the USA, Australia and from around NZ, so a big congratulations to the Aquinas students who excelled.
Katikati
Netball: Our senior A team had an outstanding win on Friday against Bethlehem College, almost hitting a half century. Sensational performances came from Heidi Parkin and Ashleigh Smith.
Our senior B also had a great win, 36-15 last week. Player of the day was Emily Woods.
Development 1 played Te Puke B on Friday night. They had a good game with a final score of 40-18. Player of the day was Rebecca McCabe with consistent shooting. Well done.
Rugby: Our first XV had a good win at the weekend, beating Tauhara College, 51-7 which now makes us top of the table in division two. Alex Crapp has been selected for the under 16 BOP A rugby representative team. Well done to Alex.
Basketball: We had another good win on Monday, 22-12, against Otumoetai C who were the only other unbeaten team in the league. One of the players who does score a lot of points and usually gets about of our points in each game was away. It was awesome to see the others step up. The boys are really buzzing about being on top of the table and hopefully we can maintain our momentum and win our league.
Football: Our first XI girls and boys both had good games at the weekend. The boys lost to Bethlehem College 1-0 and the girls had a 0-0 draw. Considering they were playing some of the top teams they were good results. Our second XI had a 5-1 over Tauranga Boys Spain. This puts them at the top of the division two table.
Our boys' first XI hosted the Thames Valley boys' football tournament at the end of last week, with teams from Katikati, Thames, Hauraki and Mercury Bay. Katikati won the tournament in the final with a penalty shootout against Thames High School.
Bethlehem
Molly Anning was away during the holidays competing in two tournaments in Australia, and sharing the role as co-captain of the New Zealand under-17 volleyball team.
In the Australian state champs they played a total of nine games and only lost one. This saw the team finishing second in pool play and a place in the finals, which is the best any New Zealand under-17 team has ever done. They also had test series against Australia, winning two games to one and bringing home the Jenny Kirk Trophy for the first time since 2008.
Our first XV rugby boys had a bonus point win over John Paul College on Saturday, 26-14.
Marinus Abrie scored two tries in the first half which was followed up with two tries in the second half to Michael Booth and Luke Allen. Currently, our first XV is third in the first division, although they have played one less game than everyone else.
Our first Xl girls' hockey won their game against Trident on Wednesday 3-0, an excellent result. The boys lost narrowly to the Mount club side.
The team also had a game at the weekend against King's College which we again lost narrowly 2-3 in an entertaining game.
Our soccer first XI boys had a good result, beating Katikati 1-0, with Tom Rutherford player of the day.
- Bethany Garland, Sports Council