College Sport: Tough competition

Tauranga Boys'
The first XI hockey had a tough match against the Mount club team last Wednesday. After scoring the first goal quickly we made too many mistakes and ended up going down in a close 2-1 loss.
Our second XI hockey team also had a close midweek match. Our boys conceded the first goal against the Otumoetai first XI but came back to win 2-1.
Our first and second XV rugby teams had tough matches against Rotorua Boys' High last weekend. The first XV fought hard in their match but were unable to get the result, losing 23-6. Likewise, the second XV never really got going and lost 19-3.
Our cross-country team raced at the Waikato-Bay of Plenty champs last Wednesday. Tauranga Boys' dominated overall with some great running. In the junior race Daniel Hintz took out the win, with Andrew Robinson not far behind in third.
The intermediate boys' event saw Javahn Kennedy finish fourth, the first Tauranga Boys' athlete home. Finally, there was a clean sweep by our school in the senior race, with Julian Oakley, Michael Sutton and Matt Strange finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
Last weekend, the national secondary schools multisport champs were held in Rotorua. Hayden Moorhouse had a great race to take out the win and become the national champion.
Tauranga Boys' squash team competed at the Bay of Plenty champs in Te Puke, all playing well and producing great results. Julian Oakley was first, just ahead of younger brother Alex Oakley. Joe Lyons came fourth, with Michael Dunston fifth.
The first XI soccer team had a tough match against Otumoetai men in poor conditions on Saturday. We didn't have a great game and too many mistakes led to easy goals for Otumoetai. We ended up going down 4-0.
Otumoetai
It was a big week for our football enthusiasts who attended the Bay of Plenty secondary schools indoor competition. Three junior teams played on Tuesday and our top team took the title, winning gold against Papamoa College.
Team members were Cam Lee, Daniel Hill, Isaiah Duncanson, Scott Wilson, Nathan Wilson and Daniel Sinclair.
Our other two teams played off for 3rd and 4th. In the senior competition, four boys' and one girls' team entered and our top boys' team beat Reporoa College for the gold medal. Team members were Luke Wakley, Matt Zeinert, Xavier Pratt, Charlie Clague, Rafael Mendonca and Rodrigo Mariante.
Our girls' team fought hard but were unlucky to lose the final 3-2 against a strong Tauranga Girls' A team. Team members were Vanessa Hill, Julianna Treadwell, Kaitlin Sheary, Marika Watt, Claudia Jones, Katie Wood, Libby Carter and manager Laura Poole.
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty cross-country was held at our local Waipuna Park course. Otumoetai took 15 runners to this event, all of whom improved on their Bay times, in particular Jeremy Burns (senior boys) and Jessica Gadsbey (junior girls).
Our girls' hockey first XI won their semifinal 3-0 in the senior women's division one against Tauranga Girls College. Standout players were Janine Joyce and Emma Jackson, with a brilliant goal from Paige Sly. The final game is against Bethlehem College.
Otumoetai College's flying winger Jay Michalik continued his try-scoring spree with three tries in the first XV rugby game at the weekend. This takes his total to 10 tries in the last six games.
Otumoetai College's 40-8 win against Tauhara College was sealed with a dominant first-half romp. Devon Cleaver and Ryan Henstock combined well on attack and broke the line with excellent timing. The forwards attacked using a combination of tight lineout drives with well-worked runners around the fringes to expose the defence.
Scott Slegh was the pick of the forwards, making a significant contribution in both halves. The first XV is now one win away from returning to division one.
The under-14 team improved again this week, with back-to-back wins over Tauhara College. The standout performance was from Reegan Elder, who made a huge impact, and Wojtek Michalik who, in his first game of rugby, showed promising ability. The final score was 18-5, with Oscar Kettle doing a superb job when he stepped in to referee before playing his own game.
Otumoetai College is grateful to coaches, managers and parents for all the help given on a busy Saturday to ensure everything ran well.
Tauranga Girls'
At Tauranga Girls' College we had some great results in rock climbing during the past weekend at the third National Cup series, held at Mount Maunganui.
Irmak Thompson was first in open women, with Melanie Jackson gaining a fifth place in the same category. In the junior female section, Sabrina Street was first, with Irmak gaining another first placing and Melanie Jackson a second in the Youth A female.
Lakyn Wingfield was third in the Youth B female section.
At the Bay of Plenty/Waikato cross-country championships, Tauranga Girls' College had a large number of girls participating.
Junior girls saw Jessica Bitcheno in second, Emily McCarthy third and Kristy Burrows sixth. They took out the three-person teams race. Intermediate girls included Isabella Kirk's second, Stella Marshall in fifth and Amy Robinson 11th. These girls also won the three-person team race.
In the senior girls' section, Casey Blackwell was sixth and Simone Rockliffe came in 11th.
In football, our first XI had a big win over Mt Maunganui College while the Academy team drew 1-1 with Bethlehem College 1st XI. Junior A team drew 3-3 with Te Puke's second XI.
- Zoe Wieringa
Te Puke High
Te Puke High School students continued their excellent run of form at the recent Bay of Plenty Secondary schools squash singles champs. With a record number of entries, the school dominated in the girls' competition and enjoyed some outstanding results.
Kerryn Wooderson fought off a determined Shannon Bennett to win the final and Rachel Thomas won her playoff for third, giving Te Puke High the trifecta in the girls' first division.
The boys' competition was tough, with Te Puke High introducing a strong group of Year 9 students to the secondary schools competition. Alex Murray, our top-ranked competitor, played well to secure third in a close last game.
This was the first of the annual fixtures on the secondary schools squash calendar. At the moment we are looking ahead to the Bay of Plenty secondary schools teams competition in July and the nationals in August in Auckland. Students are busy fundraising for these events and appreciate the level of support that they are receiving from their community.
In this week's Te Puke Fusion girls' hockey first XI match with Mount Maunganui College's first XI, Te Puke were 2-0 down after 15 minutes. After this setback, the team settled into playing good structured hockey. They had many driving attacks into the circle but were unable to convert these into goals.
The three strike forwards worked well together and as a result there were some good attacking runs made from within their own defensive half. The midfield players worked tirelessly throughout the game and were well supported by players rotated on from the bench.
The backs relieved pressure by putting great balls through to the attacking forwards. Players to stand out were Rebecca Black, Fabienne Pislor and Georgia Nichols. Player of the match was awarded to Molly Deegan, who had an outstanding game on defence and attack.
Our girls' hockey 2nd XI suffered their first loss of the season on Monday night, 1-0 to the Tauranga Girls' College junior team. The Tauranga side scored early in the game, capitalising on a loss of concentration. From that point onwards, the Te Puke girls defended stoutly, with some good saves from Leah Weld in the Te Puke goal. A top save in a stroke situation kept the scores close as the Te Puke girls worked well together and continued to show accuracy in their passing.
Tuesday night saw the Te Puke boys' hockey first XI team face Tauranga Boys Colts. Te Puke had the upper hand throughout the first half, resulting in a number of penalty corners. James Bristow converted one of these with an excellent controlled flick and Te Puke were up 1-0 at halftime.
After the break, Te Puke lost a lot of their momentum and the Colts scored to level. With no subs, the constant workload was beginning to tell on Te Puke.
The game swung back and forth, with desperate defence resulting in a penalty stroke being awarded for a body stop on the line. The penalty stroke was saved by Josh Reha in goal.
Good runs by Ben Williams and Gurpreet Singh down both wings resulted in numerous chances which weren't converted. Final score 1-1.
Aquinas
Aquinas College will be providing some tough competition at the national secondary schools' cross-country event in Ashburton this weekend.
The College's girl power includes Year 9 student Lili Crombie below, and Anneke Grogan (Year 10), who both finished first in their age groups at the recent Waikato- Bay of Plenty secondary schools champs.
Anneke won the intermediate girls' section by a handy margin, and Lili beat two-times AIMS Games winner Jessica Bicheno.
Watching their performance with special interest this weekend will be their coach, Glenys Kroon. Glenys is a former Commonwealth Games runner, a member of the Aquinas Sports Academy Board, and Anneke's mother. Glenys says the girls have been training well.
Lili finished first recently in not only the Waikato-Bay secondary schools event but also the Bay secondary schools cross-country and the Tauranga Open. And with Cayne Dew, and her cousin Patrick Low, she was a member of the Aquinas team that finished third in the teams event at the Lakes multisport event three weeks ago.
Anneke missed the Bay secondary schools event due to illness but won her section of the Tauranga open cross-country 10 days earlier. Anneke also plays football for the Aquinas under-15 team and is a Western Bay representative player.
When not training for her running, Lili plays hockey for the Aquinas first X1 team and is a member of the Aquinas girls' and mixed water polo teams.
Mt Maunganui
At the Waikato-Bay of Plenty judo champs in Tauranga, student Chanel Kavanagh won gold in the 48kg cadet women and silver in the 48kg junior women's divisions. Monique Dekkers was a gold medallist in the 57kg junior women. Monique has been selected to represent New Zealand in Noumea in July at the Pacific Rim tournament, the biggest competition before the world champs in Samoa in November.
Chanel and Monique were also selected in a women's judo development team to train at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in October.
The NZTF national taekwondo champs were held last weekend at the QEYC, with outstanding results from students Danielle Kawiti and Omar Mohammed.
It was the first nationals for both students in the black belt division. Danielle won the national title in the youth female division and Omar won gold in the youth male division. Both students are busy juggling NCEA and preparing for the Bay Open in August and selection for the 2012 national junior worlds team.
Mount Mauao under-15 rugby had a solid win against Tauranga Boys' under-15 B team 33-3. Both teams committed too many basic errors in the first half but our second-half performance was much better. Once we settled down and began to play with conviction and passion we put together multiple phases and some super team tries were scored.
This week we have four home games, with girls' and boys' first XI soccer, under-15 rugby (v Otumoetai) and the first XV hosting Trident.
Mount under-14 impressed in winning 55-5 against Bethlehem in the championship round, Leini Hakaumotu scoring four tries.
Congratulations to our junior girls' water polo team who finished second to Carmel College in the Challengers Cup held at Baywave.
Bethlehem
The highlight this week has been the annual exchange with KingsWay College from Auckland. In lovely weather and with good crowd support, the BC teams produced excellent results in all codes, losing one game out of eight. The girls' hockey and boys' rugby sides had convincing wins but there were much closer encounters in football and boys' hockey.
Congratulations to Chris Finlayson and Jarrad Hawes, who have been playing in the Tauranga men's under-17 rep basketball team and competed in the regional premierships recently, coming third. They also played in the national under-17 competition over Queens' Birthday weekend in Auckland where the team improved markedly on last year and ended seventh out of 16 teams.
Mark Wilson had a busy weekend. He participated in the 25th annual Mount Joggers & Walkers half marathon, completing the 5km course on a custom-built bike. He then competed in the Eve Rimmer tri-series table tennis competition, winning gold in the singles standing and silver in the plate overall competition for standing and wheelchair players.
At the Bay and Waikato secondary schools cross-country championships Katie Smith, Jodi Furmage, Kelly Furmage, Courtney Rennie, Morgan Ball and Toni Silcock competed as a team in the intermediate girls' six-person event and came second. - Hannah Marshall and Mat Smalberger, sports captains