AQUINAS COLLEGE
Hockey: The First XI girls' team achieved huge and unprecedented success at Tournament Week recently, clocking up the best performance in Aquinas hockey's sporting history. In an unexpected result at North Harbour, the Aquinas girls made it through to the hockey finals and only missed achieving gold when it came to stroke play. In vying for the Mary Clinton Cup, Aquinas was pitted against Hamilton Girls', one of the biggest schools in the competition, in the grand final.
In a nail-biting match, it was 1-1 at halftime. Hamilton scored first, then Georgia Childs engineered a beautiful strike into goal, hitting the net high. Hamilton came out in the second half to score first again.
The battle continued, and with tension running high, Aquinas managed to get a penalty corner in the last few minutes. Caitlin Hughes delivered a solid strike at the top of the circle to make it 2-2 at full time. Tired and exhausted, yet exhilarated, and with the crowd going wild, the girls had to play an extra seven minutes each way until someone scored, with this golden goal format adding even more pressure. Each team defended gallantly, with neither scoring. It then came down to strokes, which is a difficult way to end a final. This was where Aquinas' dream run ended, but it was, nevertheless, an amazing game fought so hard by a team full of incredible spirit. Aquinas' Most Valuable Player for the tournament was Georgia Childs. Her eight goals in six games, plus her tireless work rate, pushed her to the forefront of a very good Aquinas team. Along the journey to the finals, Aquinas was up against Otumoetai College Second XI, Freyberg College from Palmerston North, Edgecumbe College, Glendowie College, and Mt Roskill College.
The hockey girls returned to Tauranga jubilant, having exceeded their own standards during the week-long tournament which involved 15 other colleges from around the North Island.
Water Polo: Aquinas College is also basking in water polo success. It is another story of great achievement, this time at the AIMS Games. The young Aquinas water polo team made it through to the finals and narrowly missed the gold medal. They are hugely proud of a silver. Check out the Aquinas column next week for full details.
BETHLEHEM COLLEGE
AIMS Games: Bethlehem College entered many athletes in individual and team sports. It was a challenging week for all participants, but they had a lot of fun and enjoyed the experience.
The competition was at a higher level than in the past and the number of students participating increased this year to more than 6000. Many of our teams improved over last year's results and have finished higher than ever before. In the individual sports, some of our athletes achieved personal bests. Most notable results were in swimming where Blake Horne won silver in the 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke, silver in the 200m freestyle and a bronze in 100m freestyle. This resulted in Blake finishing 4th overall in the 12-13 year old boys, so congratulations to him.
In gymsports, Brynya Downey achieved silver in the rhythmic twisters girls' individual and Eric Stratton achieved silver in the open junior boys' individual. The end result for the entire competition was six silver medals and one bronze. Congratulations to all of the competitors and many thanks to the coaches, managers and parents who supported this event so enthusiastically.
Volleyball: Beniece Douch continues to achieve great success. Following the recent club nationals in Nelson in August, she has been selected for New Zealand Senior women's training squad for 2012-2013.
Soccer: The season still has a couple of games to go and the girls' First XI had a convincing win against Te Puke. The attack scored five goals and the defence was as effective keeping a clean sheet. The player of the day was Toni Silcock. The boys also gained a win by 3-2 over Trident High School with Tobias Oellinger named player of the day.
KATIKATI COLLEGE
Hockey: It was finals night for hockey this week, with both our boys' and girls' First XIs playing their last games for the season. The boys lost on the night but had a great game, and for a team of mainly Year 9 and 10 students, the team will only get stronger. Our girls were in the finals for the collegiate grade and played a strong Tauranga Girls' College team. At the final whistle it was 2-2 so it came down to nail-biting extra time. But no team had scored so a penalty shootout was played with Katikati coming out the victors on the night. A great game and the team is the 2012 season champions.
AIMS Games: Our Year 7 and 8 students were involved in the AIMS Games last week, with Katikati College students competing in cross country, rugby sevens, boys basketball, netball, multisport, swimming, indoor bowls and gymsports (both hip hop and artistic). Some of our students had great success, with Roelien Du Plessis coming 6th in the cross country and also named in the netball tournament team for the B grade. Our two indoor bowlers Atu Lolohea, (the only girl in the top eight), and her brother, Eleisa Lolohea, did really well, making the top eight from 172 bowlers in the singles.
We have sports prize giving here at school next Tuesday so the senior students will be involved in this celebration of our students' sporting success for 2012.
OTUMOETAI COLLEGE
Netball: The season has come to a close with 16 teams enjoying their competition. We had some good results to celebrate. The Junior One team was runner-up in the Premier Div 2, the Black team won the Reserve Div 2, the 9B Girls were runners-up in the Year 9 Div 2, the 10A team won the Year 10 Div one, the 10B won the Year 10 Div 2, and the Junior Dev 1 were runners-up in the Year 10 Div 3 grade. Well done to all our athletes who braved all sorts of conditions during the winter to compete.
Thank you to all our volunteer coaches and managers who have all done a tremendous job for our students. We really appreciate their time.
Hockey: The season continues with most finals this week. Our good news is that our Junior Boys team won the early final 2-1. With superior team work, rather than any individual excellence, coach David Pierce was pleased to be rewarded with such a good performance. This team completed their season on a high after seeing the rewards for good training ethic and dedication to working hard.
All our summer sports are getting under way with many students wanting to do volleyball. To any keen coaches out there, please contact us at the Sports Office.
Waka Ama starts training this week and water polo is signing up as well.
TAURANGA GIRLS'
Basketball: Congratulations to both our Senior A and Junior A basketball teams, who are the Tauranga City Basketball Association Secondary School Champions. Both teams won their leagues to gain gold medals. Several girls were also selected for the All Star 5 team. In the All Star 5 Juniors were Kyla Sivka, Kaatia Watene, Rebecca Hughes and Moana Whare. Makayla Daysh was also selected into the All Star 5 Senior team, and was named Most Valuable Player for our team.
Hockey: The season is over for some. The TGC Seniors played in the Collegiate A final last week against Mount College First XI. It was an extremely close game, going to extra time and then penalty strokes, where they were beaten to come second in their division, a good achievement. The Juniors also played in the final last week of the Collegiate B division.
They lost to United so also finished second in their division. This week the First XI will be playing in the semifinals against Trident, and the Second XI will be playing off for fifth and sixth.
Soccer: The season is still going for some teams as earlier games were postponed due to bad weather. The Junior A won 5-2 against Bethlehem College First XI, meaning they have the potential to be first equal in Senior Girls Division 2, depending on the outcomes of their last two games. The Third XI played against Rotorua United Legends, who are top of the table, and achieved a 1-1 draw.
Inline Hockey: The season ended this week, too, with the TGC team No Pucks Given coming third in the league, a good placing considering some members were playing for the first time this term. They won their game against Mixed 1 7-1, their best game score of the season. The team is Allie Wortman, Bria Wollaston, Katelyn Hill, Marcelle Brown, Megan Chrystal, Monique Holmes, Nikki Heerschap, Vanessa Sorce and Vivien Conway.
TE PUKE HIGH SCHOOL
Netball: Our girls had a mixed tournament and started out losing a few critical games which left them sitting at the bottom of their pool. They then had a hard fight to remain in the B grade and keep their spot cemented for next year.
Our girls fought back and managed to win three games in a row, finishing 22nd overall in B grade. It was a great experience for our junior girls, who now know what to expect for next year.
Soccer: The boys had some rough weather at the start of tournament which lead to the first day of games being postponed. Our boys kept their spirits high and went into their first game fired up. They won their 3rd game 7-2 and were sitting mid-table. Unfortunately a critical loss sent them down the list. This was a great development trip for our six junior boys who played.
Hockey: Our girls also had a mixed trip. The first game was postponed due to bad weather but that didn't deter them and they went on to win 3-0. Molly Deegan was player of the game. Their afternoon game against Kerikeri didn't go the way the girls would have liked but they still played well as a team.
Their final game ended up being against Otumoetai College and our girls were hungry for a win. They ended up winning 1-0 with Samantha Rowe being player of the match. Our girls finished in 9th place overall.
Both our hockey teams have made it into the semifinals. The girls' First XI are taking on Aquinas First XI and our boys' First XI are going up against Otumoetai Second XI, the only team they are yet to beat. It should be a great show.