Tauranga Girls'
Even with the holiday break, representatives of Tauranga Girls' College have been as busy as ever in their various sporting codes.
Special congratulations to Kara Timmer, who represented New Zealand at the Taekwon-Do oceania championships in Hobart. She did extremely well, coming first in the junior 2nd dan individual patterns, first in senior specialty and first in team power, specialty, patterns and sparring. She also came second in the senior individual power and sparring, and took out the title of best overall junior female.
The Girls' College kayaking team went to nationals in Murchison, taking only a small team of four. Anna Higgins came first in the down river sprints, the C1, the C2 with Haylee Dangen, and in the K1 team with Haylee Dangen and Chelsi Williams. Anna also came second in the K1 and the C1 team with Haylee and Chelsi.
Anna was also awarded a trophy for under-18 champion for K1 and downriver and another for the best overall under-18 girl paddler. Haylee Dangen also came second in the under-18 C1 and third in the K1 and downriver sprints. Chelsi Williams came sixth in the under-16 K1 and third in the C2 with Suzy Cumming. Suzy also came second in the under-16 K1 team in a composite team, and third in the down river sprint.
The girls stayed over the Easter break to compete in the New Zealand open nationals kayaking, which was competed on a different river in Murchison. Anna Higgins came first in the overall K1 team and third in the K1. Haylee Dangen came second in the K1 and overall K1 women's team, and third in the C1 open.
The swimming team also went away at the end of last term to compete at the Bay of Plenty secondary schools swimming in Whakatane. Danielle Waiari came first in the junior girls' 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly. Vivien Conway came first in the senior girls 50m freestyle and third in the 50m butterfly. Zoe Schoeller Burke placed second in the senior girls' 50m breaststroke.
Otumoetai
Congratulations to Kelcy Ballantyne who has just been selected into the New Zealand under-16 basketball team. This team will tour to Australia and look to compete in the world junior qualifying tournament next year.
With only 10 spots in this team it is a testament to Kelcy's ability and dedication to training that she has reached this level. Theo Johnson returned from his New Zealand Basketball under-18 team duties in Perth, proving a key player in the team. Congratulations to both of these athletes who have worked very hard.
Our golf team competed in the Asia Pacific golf challenge in Melbourne over the holidays. The team of Jordi Langton, Kane Davis, Hayden Henderson and Jimmy Adams won the teams nett competition with Hayden Henderson having an outstanding third round of nett 64.
The four rounds of golf were played on exclusive courses in Mornington Peninsula. The best performer individually was Jack Tisch with an 8th placing in the individual division one grade. Jack plays off a 3 handicap, followed by Andrew Jackson who placed 13th. Caleb Logan, Kane Davis and Kurt McKinnon all competed well, showing their expertise among the 88 other competitors.
Our sailing team were at nationals in Warkworth over the holiday period. Lead by the "Dominator" Phil Smith, the team included Liam and Zac Merton, Sam Barnett, Sol Moore and Coral Headey. Gaining promotion from the bronze to silver fleet, they competed over five days of racing with 30 races. Having a satisfying win against Boys College' to finish fourth in the silver fleet was a fantastic achievement.
Our inaugural girls' rugby team competed in the North Island sevens tournament recently. New to this level of competition, the team did extremely well, placing 8th. This team will continue to train and build on this sport which is proving popular. Team members were Aroha Adams, Taylor Birks-Stocks, Jessica Collins, Kate Hendry, Alex Jones, Leonie Koester, Konni Maurer, Shayla Moana, Deborah Paine, Rongo Falcon, Chakaya Taui, Kaya Te Miha, Hoana Toovey and Rhyana Whaiapu.
Andre Sperling continues to achieve at the elite level of kayaking . He recently won the New Zealand under-18 freestyle champs and the North Island under-18 canoe slalom title.
Aquinas
Aquinas College is currently celebrating success on the basketball, waterpolo, tennis and cricket fronts.
In basketball, Courtney Wilson has been included as a member of the New Zealand under-18 girls' basketball squad.
In tennis, Taylah Stack - and four other girls - were selected by Tennis New Zealand to compete in the New Zealand nationals tennis 14s team for Tennis Waikato Bays region. The team scored gold.
Meanwhile in the pool, of the six Aquinas waterpolo teams, three finished first in their grades, and the others all in the top three. The Year 7-8 Gold team won the A grade competition, the Year 10-11 Gold boys' team won the B grade and the Year 9-11 girls' team won their B grade competition.
Also impressive are recent cricket results, with the Year 7-8 girls' team progressing further than ever before in the NZCT competition. The team got through to the grand final in their competition recently, facing hot favourites Matamata College and going through to be declared winners. The Aquinas girls are now through to the next round in October, when they will play Waikato Diocesan for Girls.
The successful Aquinas team is: Tia Robinson, Joanna Taris, Charmaine Lees, Macy Adams, Jessica York, Morgan Schuler, Annabel Anderson, Kelsey Russell, Sammy Schuck, Meg Johnston and Rebecca Bremner. For a number of these girls it was their first experience at Aquinas girls' cricket.
This cricketing achievement is hot on the heels of success enjoyed by the Aquinas College Year 7 and 8 boys' team that faced Tauranga Intermediate cricketers in the NZ Cup recently - and won. This means Aquinas has ended up top of the Bay of Plenty final round with Tauranga Intermediate School second. Aquinas now goes through to finals day to play the top two Waikato schools.
It is a knockout competition so the winners progress to the final and the winner of that match then heads to the national final later in the year.
The wider squad is: Brendon Fletcher, Callum Aubrey, Dominic Crombie, Jackson Fowler, Jarod Schneebeli, Jason Jacobson, Joel Willis, Louis Grindrod, Louis Robinson, Reuben Fitzgerald, Ryan Young, Sam Wylie and Sean Dykes (capt). This, too, was a milestone for Aquinas and reflects the growing strength of the college's cricket base.