College sport: Jackson eyes Loader records

Ewan Jackson went close to Danyon Loader's 200m butterfly record. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Thousands of New Zealand kids have dived in at the deep end in the hope - in their parent's eyes at least - of being the next Danyon Loader.

Very few even come close, so when someone does get within a second of a long-standing Loader record it might be time to take notice.

Long-time swim coach Gary Hollywood is not one for wild predictions but in Alfriston College's Ewan Jackson he is confident he might have a youngster capable of challenging some of the marks set by Loader.

"He has just turned 15 and is already only a second away off Loader's 200m'fly record and two seconds off his 400m freestyle time at the same age," said Hollywood.

"Ewan will have a chance to chase the records at the Australian age-group nationals in mid-April."

At the recent North Island age-group championships, year-11 pupil Jackson buckled under the weight of gold. He went to the starting blocks for 10 finals - 100m, 200m 400m freestyle, 100m, 200m butterfly, 100m, 200m backstroke and three relays - and ended each with a gold medal hung around his neck.

Given his ability at those three strokes, surely the individual medley is a given. Not so, says Hollywood.

"We are not going down the IM line," said Hollywood. "His breaststroke is not strong enough. But we still haven't decided which stroke will be his major focus.

"Danyon Loader was tremendous at'fly and freestyle, Ian Thorpe started out as backstroker before shining in freestyle. Time is on our side. I don't see any need to make that call until he is 18."

Jackson knows success will only come through hard work and is prepared for that.

"I just do it," he said. "If I want to be the best, I have to work hard."

Hollywood described Jackson as being laidback, very thoughtful and humble despite his achievements.

Alfriston College director of sport Mere Rangihuna said the school had provided support for Jackson and worked alongside him in both his sporting endeavours and his goal of attaining NCEA level one this year.

ATHLETICS

Relay teams from MAGS and St Peter's College turned in some outstanding efforts at the Auckland SS Champion of Champions meeting at Mt Smart Stadium.

In surely an unprecedented treble, MAGS claimed all three girls' 4x100m titles with their junior, intermediate and senior teams unbeatable.

St Peter's too claimed three relay titles with their teams winning the senior boys 4x100m and 4x400m crowns and their intermediate team the 4x400m honours.

In keeping with the relay theme on a day in which there were few outstanding individual efforts and with the record book kept firmly intact, two girls' relay records were broken as Baradene headed the intermediate 4x400m field and Howick won the senior title over the same distance.

CRICKET

AUCKLAND

Despite the return of summer-like conditions, runs were still hard to come by on the first day of the last round of two-day championship matches on Saturday.

The 167 scored by St Kentigern against MAGS was the best effort in the three matches as 40 wickets fell.

Matt Selby and Reeve Anstis both reached 40 for St Kentigern but there was not much else as Brendan Raj and Srinath Vanapalli claimed three wickets each. In reply, MAGS, at 130/4 and with Chris Lakua and Vaidak Raj both scoring 42, were well-placed to take at least a first innings lead.

WBHS did not have a great day even though they dismissed Kings for 123.

At stumps, Westlake were 34/4 with player of the day Dylan Collier claiming all four wickets after earlier holding the Kings innings together with an invaluable 46.

A batting collapse by Rangitoto after they had reached 82/2 handed the first day advantage to AGS.

With exciting youngster Lochie Ferguson bagging 5-32 and Oliver Pringle 4-12, Rangitoto collapsed dramatically to be all out for 108. By stumps AGS had reached 85/3 and with Lloyd Brooks unbeaten on 30, first innings points seem certain.

WAIKATO

Hamilton Boys' HS dipped out on a place in the division one championship semifinals but they battled long and hard before going down by 56 runs to top qualifier St Peter's School.

Batting first on their home wicket, St Peters began well enough with Jarrod Mongston and Kurt James seeing off the new ball. A change in the HBHS attack brought success with the openers then dismissed in successive overs.

The first 20 overs produced 41-2 and only 37, from 33 balls, but Michael Young lower in the order got them through to a respectable 195/8 as Matthew Rees-Gibbs and Taylor Cullen picked up three wickets each.

In reply, the visitors had useful knocks from Matt Turton, Devon Singh-Pahar and Matt Fluhler but not much else as Warrick Lynn bagged 4-26 and helped end the HBHS innings at 139.

Led by another super knock from Ricky Palacio (82 not out), Te Awamutu/Otorohanga raced to 157/1 to beat St Paul's by nine wickets and finish second on a countback from Hillcrest and Cambridge HS with the trio all finishing on 21 points to claim the remaining three semifinal spots.

Cambridge booked their place with a tense four-wicket win over Matamata College who scored 185/7 and then left Cambridge with an anxious wait before they reached 186/6 in reply.

Morrinsville went down to third-placed Hillcrest High by 83 runs.

Batting first after winning the toss, Hillcrest struggled against the opening attack of Tom Arnold and Cyadd Tipping who picked up seven wickets between them. There was only one decent partnership in the Hillcrest effort - between Ryan Farr (21) and Dylan Griffin (23) - but the 157 they eventually scored hardly seemed enough.

Not for long. With opening bowler Daniel Burton leading the charge with 4-18 from his 10 overs and Dylan Griffin chipping in with 2-22 (also from 10), Morrinsville struggled and were put out of their misery when the innings ended at 74.

Te Aroha fared even worse.

Chasing the 218/6 scored by St John's, Te Aroha managed only 55 as opening bowler Sam Pritchard tore them apart in bagging 6-18 after he had taken his first three wickets without a run being scored.

The semifinals will be played on Saturday between St Peter's and Cambridge and Te Awamutu/Otorohanga and Hillcrest.

KILIKITI

The pressure will be on the teams from Kelston BHS and Kelston GHS at the Auckland Domain on Friday as they defend their Auckland A grade kilikiti titles in another day of hectic competition celebrating 17 years of cricket Pacific style on the sporting calendar.

The two-day competition starts tomorrow with the B grade.

A total of 54 teams from 38 schools have entered what are regarded as the biggest Kilikiti tournaments in the world.

Play starts at 9am each day with the finals scheduled for 2pm.

WATER POLO

Massey High girls came up short in their chase for overall honours when beaten 10-3 by hotly-favoured Diocesan in the final of the North Island Premier Championships at West Wave on Sunday.

But the West Aucklanders did end a 29-year wait for a medal at this level when they claimed a much-coveted silver.

The Massey girls won through to the showpiece match after a 14-13 penalty shootout win over Sacred Heart (Lower Hutt) in the semifinals.

The Wellingtonians lost the bronze play-off 7-3 to Rangitoto College.

Danielle Lewis (Diocesan) deservedly took the MVP award.

For the Rangitoto boys victory was sweet as it ended an 11-year hiatus since their last success at these championships.

Led by MVP Thomas Kearns Rangitoto beat arch rivals Westlake 9-8 in a thriller before a crowd of 500.

Rangitoto began strongly and shot three goals clear before WBHS clawed their way back, eventually going ahead 7-6 but they were unable to stall a late Rangitoto charge.

After scores had been locked 5-5, AGS scored two crucial goals to beat Sacred Heart for bronze.

Hamilton BHS won the division two crown beating Mt Maunganui College 10-9 in another tense final.

COMING UP

TODAY: Athletics, Auckland/North Harbour SS 3000m walk/run, 300m hurdles, pole vault, Kings College from 3.30pm. Cricket, Auckland SS premier girls (4pm, home team first), Baradene v EGGS, Melville 4a, Diocesan v WGHS, MRGS v Avondale, St Kentigern v St Cuthberts. North Harbour open girls (4pm, home team first), Long Bay v Carmel, TGS v Kristin, Northcote v Birkenhead, Rangitoto v Orewa. Orienteering, league three, MAGS. Wrestling, Auckland SS championships, Dilworth.

TOMORROW: Kilikiti, Senior B tournament, Auckland Domain, from 9am.

TOMORROW-FRIDAY: Cricket, NZ SS girls qualifying tournament, Keith Hay Park, Twenty20 matches, from 9.30am.

FRIDAY: Kilikiti, Senior A tournament, Auckland Domain, from 9am. Petanque, inter-school triples, Herne Bay. Water polo, premier boys, semifinals, WBHS v AGS, Millennium 8.30pm, Sacred Heart v Rangitoto, Sacred Heart 7.40pm. Play-offs, 5th-6th, MAGS v Kings, Sacred Heart 6.50pm; 7th-8th, St Kentigern v Avondale, Sacred Heart 6pm; 9th-11th, WBHS B v AGS 2, Millennium 6.50pm. Premier girls, Rangitoto v WGHS, Millennium 7.40pm, Marist v Corran, Sacred Heart 5.10pm, Massey v Baradene, West Wave 6.20pm.

SATURDAY: Archery, division 1/2 teams finals, Nicholson Park. Cricket, Auckland 1A two-day championship (2nd day 11am, home team first), MAGS v St Kentigern, Kings v WBHS, AGS v Rangitoto. Plate, KBHS v Sacred Heart, Rosmini v St Peters, Avondale v Macleans. North Harbour premier boys (8.30am, home team first), Albany Senior High v WBHS 5th XI, Onewa 2, Birkenhead v TGS Gold, Kingsway v Rangitoto, Freyberg 2, Northcote v Long Bay, TGS Blue v Glenfield Vauxhall Rd, Orewa v WBHS 4th XI. Touch, NZSS senior regional play-offs, Avondale Racecourse 11am.

SUNDAY: Cricket, NZSS qualifying girls tournament semifinals (40-over matches), Melville Park, 9.30am. Dragon Boating, NZSS Regatta, Rotorua. Water polo, premier boys, final. 3rd-4th playoffs, West Wave. 9th-11th play-off, Glendowie v WBHS B, Sacred Heart 6.50pm. Premier girls, Baradene v MAGS, Sacred Heart 6pm, EGGS v Marist, West Wave 5.10pm, Massey v Diocesan, West Wave 6.10pm, St Cuthberts v Corran, Sacred Heart 5.10pm.

MONDAY: Golf, Auckland/North Harbour division one final, Kristin v St Kentigern, Pupuke GC from 12.08pm. Triathlon, Auckland SS Championships, St Kentigern College, juniors 10am, social/NCEA 10.02am, intermediate 10.45am, senior 11.30am.

MONDAY-APRIL 5: National Summer Tournament Week Rowing, NZSS Maadi Cup regatta, March 30-April 5, Lake Karapiro. Softball, North Island SS division 2, Apr 2-5, Tauranga. NZSS division 1, March 30-April 3, Fraser Park, Lower Hutt. Tennis, NZSS teams finals, March 31-April 1, Scarbro Tennis Centre, Glen Innes. Volleyball, NZSS, March 29-April 3, Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North. Waka Ama, NZSS regatta, March 31-Apr 3, Rotorua, Water polo, NZSS boys, April 2-5, Lower Hutt.

www.asbcollegesport.co.nz