Gisborne Boys’ High winter tournament round-up

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne Boys’ High School was represented in a variety of codes in Secondary School Sport Winter Tournament Week.

Squash: Six players took part in the New Zealand Secondary School Champs in Auckland. They were seeded 24th of 32 teams. A highlight was a narrow loss to the 17th seeds. They finished 23rd.

Indoor bowls: Dylan Foster and Nathan Trowell won the New Zealand Secondary Schools pairs title at the secondary schools championships in Wellington.

Foster was second and Trowell third in the national secondary school singles.

Foster was named joint “Player of the Tournament” alongside the winner of the singles title.

Basketball: A relatively young team did well to win through to the semifinals of the Zone 2 secondary schools junior tournament in Rotorua. Their highlight was victory over Hamilton Boys’ High School in the third-fourth playoff, giving them third place out of 12 at the tournament.

At the Zone 2 “AA” secondary schools senior basketball tournament in Rotorua — a qualifier for senior secondary school nationals — teams were arranged in two pools of four and two of five.

Gisborne Boys’ High finished third in their pool of five and ninth of the 18 teams at the tournament.

Hockey: Gisborne Boys’ High School won the Poverty Bay senior men’s B Grade final the day before they left for the tournament.

They contested the Tier 3 Woolaston Secondary Schools Tournament in Clareville, near Masterton.

Nine teams were split into one pool of four and one of five. Gisborne Boys’ High finished third in their pool of five, and fifth of the nine teams at the tournament.

Football: Gisborne Boys’ High School sent a team to the Hillsdene Secondary Schools Junior Tournament in Tauranga.

Twenty teams were split into four pools of five. Gisborne Boys’ High finished fourth in their pool and 15th of the 20 teams taking part.

Rugby: The Gisborne Boys’ High School Under-14 team took part in the Colquhoun Tournament in Palmerston North. It was for Super 8 schools, and teams were split into two pools of four.

Gisborne finished third in their pool and fifth overall, with good wins against Napier Boys’ High School and Tauranga Boys’ College.

The Gisborne Boys’ High School Under-15s took part in the Hurricanes Tournament in Upper Hutt.

Sixteen teams were arranged in four pools of four. Gisborne finished second in their pool, and won the plate final for pool runners-up. This gave them an overall placing of fifth.

They had a tough draw and lost only their first game, to St Patrick’s College, Silverstream.