Te Puke High School
Badminton: We took two boys' teams and one girls' team to the Bay of Plenty secondary schools badminton qualifying competition last Wednesday. Our boys held their own and played against some of the hardest individual champs in the Bay.
Our girls fought hard against competing schools and ended up finishing third overall which qualifies them for the finals.
Rugby: Our boys played some great rugby last weekend. Our under-15s played Katikati College at Litt Park. It was an evenly matched game right through but they lost by just one point. The final score was 30-29 to Katikati.
Our first XV had their first win of the season against the Katikati first XV. The game was point for point right until two minutes before full time where our boys scored a try right between the posts. The final score was 27-22.
Football: Our second XI boys played against the top team in our pool, Tauranga Boys Croatia. The boys dug their heels in and came away with a 5-3 win. Best goal scorer of the match was Max Fauvel.
The boys third XI played the Otumoetai Junior Rangers. There were a few goals scored on our end but Otumoetai finished with the win.
The girls' first XI had a rough game against Tauranga Girls 2nd XI and couldn't keep up and came away with a few things to work on.
Our second XI girls had a really tough game against Bethlehem College 1st XI and couldn't quite break the team's defence.
Hockey: Last week our girls' Fusion first XI played Otumoetai second XI. They played a hard game with strong passing in the first half and great attacking in the second. They won the game 2-1.
Our boys' first XI played the Tauranga Colts with a tough game that lead to no goals being scored in the first half. They managed to utilise both sides of the field in the second half which lead to two goals making the final score 2-0 to Te Puke.
Tauranga Girls' College
BMX racing: Shania Rawson competed in the National BMX Championships in the Year 13 Girls division, where she qualified to race at the World Championships next year at Vector Arena in Auckland.
Congratulations to Michelle Prendiville, who was a part of the Midlands Team that played at the Under 21 National Tournament and gained a bronze medal. She did very well, for as well as being one of the youngest players in the team, she also scored the first goal for the team in one game, and another goal in the final where they won 2-1 against Capital.
Netball: Several girls have been selected for Bay of Plenty representative teams. Renee Penny, Kirsten McKay and Simone Te Kani were selected for the Under 17 Premiere, Eden Bosomworth, Riah Lyttle and Ariana Abbott are in the Under 17 Gold team, and Melissa Powell was selected for the Under 17 Blue team.
In the Under 15 division, Aaliyah Thocolich, Zealand Reeder, Kyla Sivka, Arina Moffatt, Kiana Tawa and Atareta Stevens were selected.
On Friday night, the TGC League 1 netball team also did well, winning their game 41-26 against Aquinas Premier 1.
Gym Sport: Two girls placed at the Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Gym Sport Championships. Melanie Duff won the Rhythmic Club B (Level 4-6) and Shontell Wyber came 2nd in WAG (level 4).
Last Wednesday was the Bay of Plenty Badminton Teams Qualifying Champs, where the Tauranga Girls' College Team 1 placed first in Division 1. The team consisted of Jacinta Coleman, Ashleigh Ross, Poppy Thomason and Rebecca Wilson.
Football: The 1st XI beat Trident first XI 9-0, the 2nd XI beat Te Puke 1st XI 10-0, 3rd XI won 10-0 against the TGC Senior White team, and the Junior A won 4-0 against Otumoetai 2nd XI.
Hockey: Teams also did well last week in hockey, with the TGC Seniors beating Otumoetai 3rd XI 2-0, and TGC Juniors beating Mount College 2nd XI 5-0.
Tauranga Boys' College
Rugby: Our 1st XV rugby team beat Opotiki College 72-5.
Tauranga was to start the Baywide competition against Opotiki College. The weather decided to turn up, which would lead to fast, running rugby. The half-time score was 24-5 to TBC.
At half time, Mr Baker laid down the law. This proved to be much needed as the second half was much improved with Mungo Mason scoring off the kick.
Three players finished the game with a hat-trick - Joel Draffin, Hamish Symes and Wemin Kapia. The stand-out player was Hamish Symes scoring a hat-trick with ease, earning himself a new pair of socks.
Tries: Joel Draffin (3), Wemin Kapia (3), Hamish Symes (3), Mungo Mason (1), Hayden Symes (1)
Hockey: 1st XI Hockey vs Otumoetai College
After a close 15 minutes in the first half, our boys made a couple of clinical mistakes allowing Otumoetai College to let a goal slide past the goalie to be down by one. The good thing, however, is that no one let their heads drop and we struck back quickly to be drawing 1-1. After this we started to get into a better form and managed to slip a few more nice goals past the Otumoetai keeper. The score was 3-1 at half-time.
Coming into the second half we kept up the good form putting a couple more goals away to have a promising lead. We did, however, let another goal in the second half. In the end it was a convincing win, 7-2, with the boys maintaining the Olympic Shirt that is contested for every time we play against Otumoetai.
Basketball: Senior A Basketball
The TCBC Blitz tournament was a great success for the Senior A basketball team. There was some trepidation as this was the first opportunity to play against a Tauranga school side this year. First up was against Mount College, who we beat convincingly. The second game was against local arch-rivals Otumoetai College. This proved also to be a one-sided affair with TBC coming out on top. This is going to be a positive year for the Senior A side.
Squash: Ben Grindrod has been selected for the New Zealand Junior (U19) Team to play in the World Championships in Doha, Qatar in July. Ben is the only secondary school student and Bay of Plenty representative in the team. The event is made up of a week of individuals before they play another week as a team to decide which country is World Junior Champion.
Ben and Michael Dunston travel to Malaysia to contest the ISF World Junior Circuit later this month. The boys are in the main draw with Ben looking to improve on his 5th place finish in 2011. Unfortunately they will miss out on the BOP Secondary Schools Individual Championships.
Further news from the weekend: Four students, Ben Grindrod, Alex Oakley, Joseph Lyons and Jamie Oakley contested the Waikato Age Groups in Hamilton. Joseph won the U17's to lift his ranking to 2nd in NZ.
Jamie won the U15s convincingly to continue his form and selection in the NZ development Squad.
Football: 2nd XI Football vs Trident 1st XI (won 5-2)
The 2nd XI travelled to Whakatane for their much-anticipated clash with Trident 1st XI. This was an important match as it was a top of the table decider, both teams going into this fixture unbeaten.
The boys started strong with aggression and energy which quickly paid off as Henry Conway rediscovered his mojo by slotting one past the opposing goalkeeper after a wayward back-pass, 1-0.
TBC went 2-0 up 10 minutes later; Dylan Bull with a tap in after a scrappy fight for the ball in the 6-yard box. The fantastic start for TBC continued as they dominated possession. Connor Probert, playing a perfectly weighted through-ball, found Dylan, who hit the bottom-left hand corner with ease. The lead increased to 3.
Unfortunately, the boys lost focus at the end of the first half and Trident capitalised on this by scoring a goal of their own. Going into the half-time break TBC were up 3-1.
At half-time the boys were encouraged to continue playing the way the started and to keep attacking, in order to ensure victory but more importantly, the 3 points. A speech from the inspirational Zac Brown, ensured that the boys were motivated and keen to get back out there.
The boys came out strong once again and were eventually reward as a Trident defender put the ball into his own net off of a great cross from Connor. 4-1. Trident, however, came back with a ripper of a goal, sending the ball into the top-right hand corner, far out of the reach of the goalkeeper, Ben Mountain. Trident had clawed it back to 4-2.
The boys, remembering Zac Brown's inspirational half-time speech and sensing that one more goal would secure the win, went on the attack. After some good play down the right of the pitch, Henry found himself on the ball heading straight for goal. Unselfishly, he cut it back to Dylan who put it in the back of the net, finishing off his hat-trick. Disappointingly, no backflips were witnessed.
TBC were the better team on the day and walked away with a well deserved 5-2 win, leaving them as the only unbeaten team in the league. The 3 points were crucial as it put TBC 2nd XI top of the table heading into round 4.
- by Ben Mountain (Year 12)
Other: Congratulations to: Jonathan Hodges-Ginns on gaining 4th place in the U60kg Cadet Men's division at the Oceania Judo Champs in Cairns, Australia.
Cullen Browne achieved 1st place in the U15 Road Race at the Waikato BOP Schools' Road Cycling Champs.
Mt Maunganui College
Volleyball: Congratulations to two MMC students, Nate Moore and Josh Jarvis who have trialled their way to selection in the 16 man final NZ training squad for the U17 Boys Volleyball Team. A playing team of 12 will be selected with one last camp at Queens Birthday Weekend. The team will travel to Australia end of June to compete in a Transtasman competition.
Canoe racing: The "NZ Junior Train on" squad for Canoe Racing NZ, has invited three students from BOP. Ben Cochrane, Taris Harker and Otumoetai College student Sam Roy will attend a NZ training camp in June with the national coaches and national teams. Their invitation comes from their outstanding results at nationals held in February.
Our school cross country was held last week in a wave of house colours where history was made when Maia and Mason Bryant both won their divisions, junior girls and intermediate boys. Go the Bryants.
Jnr Boys: 1st Jonas Tawhau, 2nd Jayden Sherriff, 3rd Caleb Corboy, 4th Kauri Thomson, Jnr Girls: 1st Maia Bryant, 2nd Eva Gibson, 3rd Georgia Dennehy, 4th Courtney Mitchell, Int Boys 1st Mason Bryant, 2nd Nathan Walker 3rd Grayson Starker 4th Ben Cochrane, Int Girls: 1st, Ella Golding 2nd Tayla Linke, 3rd Eden Craig, 4th Alice Walmsley Snr Boys: 1st Sam Durrant 2nd Time Neate, 3rd Michael van der Zanden 4th Felix Sachadae Snr Girls: 1st, Sophia Millar, 2nd Ashley Cochrane, 3rd Hannah O'Kane, 4th Rike Zanhe.
Rugby: MMC Boys team of the week is the U14 Rugby team who went into last week's game unbeaten with top of the table clash against Otumoetai College. Mount won the toss and played with a tail wind in the first half. Tries to Toby Legg, Kane Sefton and Sione Afu Tuputupu with 1 conversion by Bobby Tuhura-Te Oka took the score to 17-0. Otumoetai came back and scored a converted try taking the score to 17-7. Mount replied with a winger's try by Arapeta Ormsby scoring in the corner. With half time looming Mount let their defence slip and Otumoetai ran in two quick tries taking the half time score to 22-19.
The second half started with as much intensity as the first half with both teams looking dangerous on attack. MMC had three try scoring opportunities slip by and Otumoetai sensing MMC were tiring running into the wind scored twice taking the lead to 32-22 with five minutes left to play.
MMC were fast on attack with great runs by Kauri Thomson and Hamiora Bennett putting the forward pack into a driving position towards the try line. With 5 metres to the try line, prop Thomas Curtis broke through and scored in the corner taking the margin to only 4 points to Otumoetai, 32-27. With the game still running OTC were penalised on their 40m line and Mount took a quick tap and OTC gave away another penalty with both teams playing with urgency.
Another quick tap by Mount saw the ball spin out the back line for a last ditch play. Half-back Broadus Melvin put a cross field kick down to the corner and winger Nikora Gallagher seized the opportunity to sprint down to contest the ball in the air and came away with the ball and scored in the corner right on the full time whistle making the full time score 33-32. A highly entertaining match for the 100-plus spectators, a great display of schoolboy rugby by both teams.
Aquinas College
Gymnastics: Aquinas' star gymnast has scored himself another gold.
Joshua Ormrod scored gold in the men's artistics event at the BOP secondary school gymnastics championships recently.
Over the past few weeks, Josh has been training up to 20 hours a week and travelling to Auckland where he is being coached by former Commonwealth and world championship gymnasts. His aim is to represent New Zealand on the international circuit.
Also coming home from the BOP event with a medal was Marie Joret who scored bronze in the trampoline event and also finished fifth in rhythmic routines.
Other recent medal winners include Alice and Grace Thomson who competed in dressage championships at the Tauranga Race Course late last month.
Alice, Year 11, received a third and a fourth placing in the two sections she entered while Grace, Year 10, also competed in two sections and also finished in third and fourth.
Cycling: Meanwhile, Aquinas cyclist Tom Carter showed great tenacity recently.
Tom picked up a silver medal at the Waikato BOP Road Cycling Champs recently held in Taupo. However, since then he competed in the road race nationals and clipped wheels with another rider 10 kilometres from the finish. He came down on the point of his elbow, sustaining a fracture to his elbow joint. He actually got back on his bike after the accident and still finished 25th out of 60 riders.
Otumoetai College
Netball: Our Netball teams have had another excellent weekend with the Premier 1, Premier 2, Premier Open, Development White, Junior 2, 10 A, 10B all having wins.
Football: The Football Boys 1st XI played Katikati who out muscled our team and deserved the win. Eike Stryker was our player of the day with numerous fine saves and again saving a penalty kick but unfortunately couldn't save the follow up. Sebastian Geisler scored the consolation goal but too late in the game to make a difference to the result.
Surf Life Saving: Katie Wilson has had a very strong surf lifesaving season and has competed at the New Zealand and Australian nationals. Katie has been selected for the New Zealand Development Squad. This weekend she will be participating in a high performance camp at the Millenium Institute in Mairangi Bay. An under 20s team will be selected from the development squad to participate in the World Surf Lifesaving Rescue Champs in Adelaide in November 2012. Congratulations to this elite athlete.
Rugby: On Saturday Otumoetai College 1st XV had a rematch with last years' Baywide winners Western Heights High School. Otumoetai College won the rematch 38-0 with tries to Billy Carter, Tyler Ryan, Wiremu Matangi, Jordan Tahere and two tries to Ryan Brown who had an outstanding match. Keegan Long kicked four conversions. Mark Nicholls led the team as captain and created good turnovers in the tackle. Neal Redward had several bursts and threw with accuracy in the windy conditions.The 2nd XV had an important win over Bethlehem College. The boys worked well as a team to attack the Bethlehem defence. Ron Mikaere and Sonny Nicholas scored two tries each. Te'o Fangmann also had a solid game. He played part of the game in the backs and then helped out as a forward in the second half.
The Under 15s also had a win over Bethlehem College 32-5. Devon Tupou and Sam Dodd had very strong games. The whole team played well and deserved this victory. It was great to see the boys making improvements. The Under 14's had a strong game narrowly losing in the last minutes.
Volleyball: Congratulations to the volleyballers who have been selected into elite level representative teams. World Beach Champs - Cyprus (awaiting entry confirmation) Team One Liam Matheson, Team Two James Gilling, Daryl Lewis, NZ Under 20 Men's Team - Asian Champs - Myanmar - Charlie Clague, NZ Under 17 Men Squad of 17 - Jack Boyle , Liam Whareaitu, NZ Under 19 Women's Squad of 17 - to be cut to 12 - Holly Boyle, Julia Hartley, Amy Hunter, North Island Girls Final Team - Captain Holly Boyle, Amy Hunter, Abbie Meredith , North Island Boys Final Team - Adam Morgan
Hockey: Congratulations to the following girls selected in the Tauranga Under 18 hockey team to compete at the nationals in Dunedin. Megan Gosbee, Katie Horan, Beth Henson, Stephanie Nielsen,
Katikati College
Cross Country: Our school cross country was held on Tuesday, with the weather wet in the morning but the skies cleared for the first races to start at 12.30. The course is in our local sports ground and adjacent kiwifruit orchard and wetland.
The course is undulating on grass, which true to a good cross country course has some mud, water and slippery parts. We had some outstanding races with Roelien de Pluess winning the Year 7 race and beating all the Year 7 boys as well. Thomas Darling won the senior boys race with Karl Davey second, in the senior girls race Lucy Newlands won. In the intermediate boys race Tyrone Julian won comfortably and Zoe D'ath won the intermediate girls race with Danielle Hovmand second.
Joe Scarrow won the junior boys race and Libby Bradley the junior girls. Taine Craig Ranga was outstanding in the Year 8 boys race, keeping us his record from his win last year.
Hockey:
Our Boys First XI lost a close game against Otumoetai Juniors 2-0 in a match that could have gone either way.
Our goalie and captain saved some amazing shots on goal. At the other end our strikers showed determination and guts with sustained attacks on the opposition's goal. They really had to scramble to keep our boys from scoring. Isaac, William, Mathew and Bart were run off their feet picking up the great balls that the midfield and defence players were sending through. Great start boys and good result for a team with only 10 players.
Netball:
Our Senior A netball team had a outstanding start to the season on Friday playing Otumoetai Senior A.
The whole team stepped up to a tall and agile Otumoetai team coming within 3 by the final whistle. Player of the night was Heidi Megchelse picking up a large number of rebounds and intercepts and working in brilliant combination with Heidi Parkin in the circle.