The North Islands start tomorrow at various Auckland pools, and Sacred Heart will kick things off at 8.10am against King's.
Netball
St Kentigern's premier netballers look in good nick early in their season after a slick 39-22 victory over Auckland Girls' Grammar in Monday night's televised College Netball match.
Building on an 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, St Kentigern dominated the intercepts and deflections stats and were able to get swift ball into the shooting circle. Captain and goal shoot Amorangi Malesala converted 25 of 28 attempts there, her 89 per cent mirroring St Kentigern's overall shooting stats. But she also combined well in the circle with her goal attack Sydney Fraser, capitalising on a constant flow of ball. Centre Christina Oscar was energetic and effective in the St Kentigern midcourt.
Auckland Girls' Grammar shot well, at 81 per cent, but could not maintain enough possession to give Emily Autagavaia and Danielle Misa more opportunities, and while AGGS pulled back the margin with a good third quarter, St Kentigern pulled further away in the fourth.
Cricket
Westlake Boys' High are the Auckland SS Gillette Cup winners and will represent Auckland at the national Gillette Cup tournament in Lincoln in December.
Melville Park was the backdrop for the Auckland final against arch-rivals Rangitoto last Thursday. Westlake won the toss and decided to bat but the team struggled against some tight Rangitoto bowling to eventually capitulate to 111 all out, the team's lowest total of the season. Only the skipper, William O'Donnell, showed some grit for his 31.
In reply, Westlake came out firing on all cylinders and bowled superbly. Angus McKenzie and Keegan Russell excelled to take four wickets each managing to knock over Rangitoto for 74 in the 25th over, allowing Westlake a comfortable 37-run victory in a low-scoring final.
Westlake continued their strong form in the Auckland premier top six competition, dispatching Rosmini by 140 runs after racking up 300/6 thanks to valuable contributions from Ryan Doubell (85) and Ben Beecroft (59 not out), among others.
St Kentigern made no race of it, beating Rangitoto by nine wickets as Anubhav Thapa with 4-5 helped dismiss them for 143.
Finn Allen scored an unbeaten 75 off 65 balls to help see St Kentigern home easily.
In a low-scoring match under an overcast sky, MAGS edged King's by 16 runs.
Menake Ratnayake's 5-25 helped King's roll MAGS for just 85. In response, MAGS had King's 3-13 with Jack Henderson taking two of the wickets. At 30-3 at lunch, the match was balanced, but the King's innings was soon in disarray at 45-8 in the 28th over with Aniket Parikh and Henderson taking two wickets each. King's edged their score to 69, but two quick wickets to Max Thomson ended any hopes of a dramatic finish.
Motocross
Riders from as far north as Kaipara and as far south as Havelock North are expected at the MotoX in the Maize secondary school motocross event. The event, hosted by St Paul's Collegiate and Huntly MotoX Club, is entering its second year after attracting more than 170 competitors from across the North Island in 2014.
Director of extracurricular activities at St Paul's Collegiate, Peter Gilbert, said that with growing interest in motocross at the secondary school level, St Paul's decided to host the event again this year.
