College Sport

Otumoetai College

Andre Sperling had a great kayaking result in the Extreme Race on the Wairoa River last weekend. Aged just 15 he was competing in the under-18 grade and placed second.
Waterpolo competition starts this week with two junior teams entered in the local competition. Volleyball continues to be a popular sport with 19 teams participating in weekly leagues.
Bethlehem College
The Bethlehem College sporting year began with a series of good results this week. There were positive results from a variety of sports - cricket, athletics, surf lifesaving, volleyball and basketball.
The first XI cricket team played Katikati over the weekend. BC went in to bat first and, with an aggressive 114-run knock from Matt Cole, posted 279 runs. Katikati replied positively but only managed 72.
Luke Davison competed in the national secondary schools octathalon and achieved a record 5410 points. He beat the Waikato men's record and is currently the best for his age in New Zealand. During the event, he achieved a personal best in the 100m, 400m, long jump, 110m hurdles and the 1000m.
Jessica Miller, Caitlin Proctor and Hamish Smith were members of the Bay of Plenty under-16 surf lifesaving team which won the national championships at Mt Maunganui. Jessica secured wins in the surf swim and also diamond events, while Caitlin came first in beach sprint event. Hamish earned first place in the board relay.
Beneice Douch played in the beach volleyball NZ Open last month, making the finals of the A-grade competition. In the past week she also competed in the NZ under-17 age groups and made it through to the semifinals. She placed third overall in the competition.
Olivia Kameta and Sophie Te Whaiti were selected for the under-15 NZ girls' basketball squad. The girls competed in the Pacific Coast Slam held in Port Macquarie, Australia. In extremely hot temperatures they trained for up to six hours a day and came away as the best NZ team. - Mathew Smalberger and Hannah Marshall.
Tauranga Boys' College
The senior touch team have been preparing for the upcoming regional and zonal tournaments since early January. Several of the boys have been involved in representative touch and they have been playing as a team in the local module at Papamoa.
They have only had one loss all season at this module, their first game against a local side featuring NZ and Bay of Plenty touch and sevens players. Our junior rep cricket team defeated Rotorua Boys' High School in the NZCT 'Junior Gillette Cup' Bay of Plenty regional qualifying final and will now play the winning side from the Counties region in an attempt to qualify for the top-six national final tournament in Taupo.
The first XI beat itCo Central to win the Challenge Shield. Tom MacRury and Cam Neal did a good job in steadying the ship in testing conditions, ably followed by Josh Dwight and Alex Oakley who forged a formidable partnership to rectify the innings.
As the match was rain-shortened to 46 overs each, 212-8 was a defendable score. Sean Davey was once again reliable with the new ball and returned to the bowling crease to inflict further damage. Tommy Clout also picked up three wickets.
The Wairoa Extreme race was held on Sunday . Tauranga Boys' extreme whitewater team lined up with the big guns in the men's division and then raced off in an under-18 group.
Tauranga Boys College paddlers Cole O-Connor-Stratton won the under-18 title from Regan August (Year 12) in third and Laurence Brown (Year 13) fourth.
Congratulations to Julian Oakley on his selection for the national under-21 athletics team. He finished the 800m in a time of 1:53.12sec, just off his personal best. Lachlan Renshaw, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games representative for Australia, won the race in 1:47.35.
Aquinas College

Creating quite a racket has good connotations at Aquinas College if your name is James Cooper or Taylah Stack.
Both are excelling in racquet sports - James in squash, and Taylah in tennis.
James is one of eight young men selected nationwide by NZ Squash to be trained in readiness for possible selection into a squad of four to represent New Zealand at the world junior boys' championships held in South Korea in 2012.
James, a Year 12 student, will be required to travel with his squad to Australia in the first term holidays and play in the Australian junior series and then to Malaysia in May in readiness for the world championships.
Meanwhile, Year 8 student Taylah has been on the tennis circuit for the bulk of the school summer holidays and won the doubles at the Waikato junior open, girls 14s singles consolation runner-up at the Auckland Xmas tournament, Western Bay junior tournament girls 12s singles runnerup and doubles winner, NZ 12s nationals top 24 finish, and Waikato junior open girls 12s singles and doubles winner.
Two Taupo colleges entered in Bay comp - Schoolboy cricket
Following on from the success of the inaugural Baywide secondary schools first XI cricket championship played in the final term of last year, Bay of Plenty Cricket have set in place a year-long first XI championship.
The competition will be played in term one and term four of this year.
For the first time the Taupo region will be represented, with a combined team from Tauhara and Taupo Nui-a-Tia colleges entered.
Eastern Bay of Plenty school Trident High are favourites heading into the term one competition after winning last year's Baywide first XI championship by 45 runs from Tauranga Boys' College.
This weekend's Baywide secondary schools first XI draw:
Tauranga Boys College 2 v Katikati College, Tauranga Boys College 1 v Rotorua BHS, Trident HS v John Paul College, Aquinas College v Otumoetai College, Bethlehem College v Taupo Combined Schools, Mount Maunganui College bye.