St Matthews Collegiate in Masterton can boast a number of students who have achieved notable successes on the national sporting scene in recent months For the second successive year the Berry sisters, Sarah and Emma, have been selected to represent their country at the world youth sailing championships. They were the topgirls crew at the New Zealand national championships held over the latest school holiday period. Starring in the equestrian world have been Emma Cameron, Amanda Pottinger, Stephanie Sloan and Lauren McWilliams. Cameron won the under-17 title at the New Zealand Pony Club championships held in Masterton, Pottinger won a national show jumping title at the New Zealand Horse of the Year Show at Hastings in March, Sloan captained the New Zealand miniature horse show team which travelled to Australia and returned with the trans-Tasman trophy and McWilliams won the Show Saddle Hunter Pony of the Year national title, also at Hastings. The New Zealand youth and open swimming championships were a triumph for Ashley McDougall. There she won two silver medals (50m butterfly and 200m freestyle) and two bronze medals (400m and 800m freestyle). On the basis of those results she was selected in a New Zealand squad to compete in Australia but decided to bypass that opportunity in favour of focusing on netball over the winter season.
