College sport: Strong wins, no worries

Bethlehem

This week's roundup begins with our hockey teams.

The first XI girls lost 2-1 to Tauranga Girls' College but the boys came out with a strong 3-1 win over Otumoetai College. The goals were scored by Chase Raleigh, Jacob McBride and Benedikt Schlueter.

Several of our hockey players were also recognised with the following representative honours - Tiaan John was selected as team captain of the under-18 hockey representative team, which also included Luke Fisher. A large number of our younger boys were selected in the under-15 Tauranga representative side - Josh Evans, Garrick Du Toit, Andre Fraser-MacKenzie, Simon Fraser-MacKenzie and Hamish Dallas.

Our girls' first XI football team had a one-goal loss against Te Puke in a high scoring 5-4 game. Aneka Jones was the player of the match from Bethlehem College.

The Open A netball girls had another dangerously close game against Otumoetai, winning 40-38. The first two quarters of the match were level before Bethlehem College established a nine goal lead in the third quarter. We then let Otumoetai back into the game in the fourth quarter but managed to hang on for a narrow win. The 8A netball team lost in a tight game against Tauranga Intermediate B. After a poor first half, we came back to win the second half but overall the start cost them the game.

Netball championship rounds are due to finish this week and Bethlehem College will be putting through seven teams to the semifinals and finals. We have also this season had 13 student coaches and 13 student umpires. Millie Bernard, Taryn Farr and Breyden Smith have made the Harbourside Year 7 rep side. In the under-15 Gold Bay of Plenty side, Emily Johnston gained selection while Paula Muller made the under-17 Bay premier side and Kelsey Randrup and Sally Davenport the under-19 Bay premier side.

Kelsey Randrup plays for the Mount allied premier women's club team and finished her club season with a 50-39 win over Ngongotaha in the premier league final. Sally is also training for the Bay of Plenty Gold provincial senior women's team and is one of 22 to trial from Baywide clubs and also the youngest.

In beach volleyball, we have just had Beniece Douch return from Cyprus where she represented New Zealand at the Swatch youth world championships. They came 17th overall, the best result of a New Zealand team since 2007. Beniece's team had a close loss against the fourth ranked Austrian team and then made it through into the top 24 by beating Japan in two straight sets, followed by a close loss to Thailand where the match went to a third set, 12-15.

Our first XV rugby team is sitting at the top of the first division table with one more game to play until the semifinal. They had a great win over Opotiki in what was probably their toughest game this season.

A clever game plan and good kicking for field position gained them two penalties in the first half and another just after halftime. Great tries were scored by Luke Allen and Bede Murray which made the score 23-10. Opotiki then scored and converted their try and in the closing stages of the match Michael Booth scored again sealing the win at 30-17.

Congratulations to Troy Smith and Aiden Smith who have made the under-13 and under-12 Ellis Shield teams. This will be a big challenge for these boys as they are open weight divisions, fielding the best and biggest players in the region.

- Kelsey Randrup (Bethlehem College Sports Captain).

Te Puke High

Basketball: Our senior boys won their game against Otumoetai College by 20 points last Wednesday and this week they are gearing up to take on Aquinas College.

Rugby: Our first XV team played a hard game against Tuahara College last weekend. They played well as a team and are always improving. Our under-15s beat Reporoa 48-32 in what was an action packed game. Well done boys. A big congratulations to Brooke Takuira who has been selected for the under-18 Bay of Plenty girls' team.

Football: Our boys had a tough game to play against Otumoetai second XI but stuck it out and managed to finish up victorious beating Otumoetai 4-3. Our second XI played a fierce game against the top on the leaderboard Tauranga Boys' College Croatia. We scored a great goal and are working great together as a team.

The third XI had a hard game against the Tauranga Boys' College Germany, managing to score two goals which was brilliant to watch. Our girls' first XI played an amazing game against Bethlehem College first XI and scored some amazing goals which lead them to a 5-4 victory!

Squash: Congratulations to our girls' team who won the Waikato/Bay of Plenty title and kept the trophy for the third year in a row. Our teams are currently getting prepared for the coming national tournament.

Hockey: Te Puke Boys' High School first XI played Tauranga Colts in the second round of the boys' premier division. It was not long before James Bristow broke free for a solo run up the field and some nice controlled finishing resulted in the first of his five goals.

Colts evened the score with a penalty corner and then the teams traded goals before halftime where the score was 2-2. It was only 30 seconds into the restart that some nice 1-2 passing by James and Michael Scott resulted in another goal. Good structure by Te Puke meant that Colts did not get many forays into Te Puke territory and it created a lot of chances for the Te Puke strikers. Final score 6-3 to Te Puke.

Aquinas

The opposition may have come from Australia, New Caledonia, Japan, Fiji, Samoa, French Polynesia and France, but that didn't intimidate Aquinas' Riley Maguire.

Riley won bronze in the senior boys' under-50kg category at the Auckland International Secondary Schools' Judo competition late last month. His brother Cole nearly achieved the same honours after many hard fights he just lost in the battle for bronze in his category.

Meanwhile, three Year 8 students also flew the flag high for Aquinas College when competing in a recent Bay of Plenty region squash competition. There were a total of 28 entries in the boys' division and all three Aquinas contestants achieved official accolades. Sean Dykes took out the overall winner's prize, Jarrod Schneebeli was plate winner, and Matthew Brittain the consolation plate runner-up.

Tauranga Girls'

With the Olympic fever in the air, it's no wonder that our girls have pushed themselves to continue to excel in their sporting codes.

We are congratulating Sophie Stewart-Hobbs and Emma Cawte, who have been selected for the New Zealand under-17 women's football team. This team is currently training for the 2014 World Cup, we wish them well. These two students have a busy training schedule with regular weekly travel up to Auckland.

Gabrielle Gundry has also been selected to represent New Zealand in moto trials. She will travel to Switzerland later in the year to compete in the Trial des Nations competition.

Over the weekend the junior A football team competed in an invitational tournament in Whakatane. Despite the miserable weather, they were in high spirits, scoring 12 goals in total and conceding none. Their final match against a Whakatane club team was very tense, the score being 0-all at the end of the match.

They played 10 minutes of extra time and it was looking to go to penalties before we managed to score a goal with a minute to go to claim the trophy.

On Friday, the Tauranga Girls' College basketball team competed in the Baywide senior competition in Rotorua. They did very well and won the final against Rotorua Girls' High School 43-37.

In football over the weekend, many of our teams had close games but came out triumphant. The first XI had a very close game against Whakatane High School 1st XI, winning 3-2. The 2nd XI also had an intense game, drawing 3-3 against Trident High School 1st XI, scoring the equalising goal with only a few minutes left in the game. Junior A also had a draw 3-3 against Bethlehem College 2nd XI.

Netball teams were also victorious. The League 1 team won their game against Aquinas Premier 1 42-30. TGC League 2 had an extremely close game against Otumoetai Premier 2, winning 32-31, and TGC Junior A won 40-30 against Otumoetai College Junior 1.

Junior B also won their game, with a score of 32-21 against Otumoetai Junior 2, and TGC 9A were victorious against Katikati Development 1, coming out on top 37-19.

The 1st XI hockey team had a good game against Bethlehem College first XI on Tuesday, winning 2-1.

The inline hockey team were also winners on Tuesday night, beating LTD Sugars 6-3 in a very good match. It was 2-2 at the end of the 1st period, but their determination paid off as they pulled ahead, scoring the final goal with only a few minutes left, to secure their victory.

Tauranga Boys'

The first XV travelled to Hamilton over the weekend to play Hamilton Boys' High School, current leaders of the Super 8 competition.

This was a great game and the skills from both sides show why people come to watch secondary school rugby. Tauranga Boys fought valiantly and they certainly gave Hamilton a fright.

Hamilton Boys' had a little more size across the park, and this was one of the more telling factors as the Tauranga skill level was better than their opposition. The final two games of Super 8 will be classic games and this week's game against Hastings Boys' High will be a real doozey. Final score 12-29.

Congratulations to the first XI hockey team on winning the St Pauls Collegiate duad over the weekend.

They beat St Paul's Collegiate School 2-0 (goalscorers Mark Whitaker, Joseph Lyons), Lindisfarne College 8-0 (goalscorers Joseph Lyons 2, Hamish McGeorge 2, Jeremy Youngman, Mark Whitaker, Ben Musgrave, Thomas Reid) and Wanganui Collegiate 6-1 (goalscorers Joseph Lyons 3, Thomas Reid 3).

Starting on Sunday we host the Super 8 basketball and hockey tournaments. The draw can be found on the Titans Sport website.

Katikati

Football: The first XI girls played Otumoetai College on Saturday, and from the whistle both teams started strong. The game was played end to end with both sets of defenders coming in strong. Otumoetai College managed to slip a goal in the first half but Hayley Nicol, Emma McDonald, Tara Body and Monique Shea were determined not to let anymore through.

With a solid midfield Katikati advanced but fell short of equalising. The final score was 1-0 to Otumoetai with Hayley Nicol player of the day.

Rugby: The first XV played Whakatane High School on Saturday and had a great game winning 40-28. Vasini Uilou scored three tries and Kahu Craig Ranga one try.

Gymnastics: One of our Year 7 boys competed in the Bay of Plenty intermediate gymnastics. Ethan Fraser qualified after placing at the previous competition. He was fifth overall in his division.

Mt Maunganui

We are nearing the end of the winter sports season with some outstanding performance across all the sporting codes.

Netball is in the final week of the championship rounds and we have 6 out of 8 teams currently sitting in top 4 positions in the Friday night competition and 3 out of 6 teams also sitting in the top 4 positions in the Saturday competitions. Semis take place after this last round.

Sitting in the hot spots are MMC Karaka, Kakariki, Kauri, Tuis, Jnr A, Jnr B, Rurus, Rimu and Tawa.

The boys rugby teams have had an outstanding run with 3 of the teams in the premiership divisions for this the second round in the Baywide draw. The 1st XV was moved into 1st division and has had 3 solid wins. They play top of the table Trident this weekend to determine a place in the semis.

The 2nd XV are sitting 3rd on their table and play Western Heights who are only one point behind us. Their game is away in Western Heights this weekend. The under-15s are sitting second in their divisions and play Opotiki, also sitting one point behind us on the table. This is a home game so maybe an advantage to our boys.

The girls' hockey team just missed a place in the final, losing to Aquinas after finishing the match in a draw and going to a penalty shootout.

The girls' first XI soccer team have had a great season, only dropping two games from the 10 they have played. They are sitting joint second with Trident on the table.

The boys' first XI also have been performing well in the Baywide competition and are third equal having played 11 games and only dropping 3. The girls hockey, soccer and netball MMC1 are all getting ready for winter tournament later this month.

The Eastern Region surf lifesaving pool champs were held last weekend in Hamilton with Papamoa winning the overall point tally convincingly. New Zealand development squad member Ben Johnston was on fire and put in some impressive times for podium finishes.

Also finishing in the ribbons from Papamoa were Mason Bryant, Michael Bryant, Maia Byrant, Jake Hales, Mason Pickering, Sam Johnston, Justin Pickering, Jake Cowdrey, Scott Miller, Danny Hart, Malia Josephson, Georgia Aitken, Michaela Aitken and Simone Couvee.

For the Omanu club who finished third overall, ribbon winners were Ben Cochrane, Ashley Cochrane, Josh Jarvis, Sam Groot, Fletcher Swan, Libby Moore, Georgia Reardon, Ben Elisara, Liam Stephenson. From the Mount Club who were second was Kane Sefton.

This event is a good platform for national pool champs in October in Wellington.

Otumoetai

A week of finals for our four girls' hockey teams saw Monday night's 3rd XI and Year 9 final postponed until Saturday, where both teams were well motivated. In an entertaining game the Year 9 girls win by one point.

Tuesday saw our second XI take on Aquinas first XI. All season these two teams have stood out in this division, with this game a fitting finale to this section of the season. A great game by both teams, with our girls just going down by a single goal.

The main women's final took place on Wednesday with Otumoetai College first XI taking on the highly favoured Otumoetai women's club team for the Merrywather Cup. Mid-way through the first half Otumoetai women scored, placing huge pressure on our young team. Stephanie Nielsen scored the equalising goal with five minutes of normal time to play.

At fulltime and two five-minute extra-time periods the game was still tied at 1-1, bringing the game to strokes to decide a winner. Beth Henson, Katie Horan and Monica Smith converted their strokes while goalkeeper Megan Gosbee saved a crucial stroke. The experience of the senior women's side shone through as they won the game 4-3 on strokes.

A fantastic effort from our first XI girls' team with captain Jessica Lacy, Katie Horan and Georgia Craig all having outstanding games.

All our rugby teams travelled away for their fixtures, with the first XI having an important game against the Mount, needing the win to keep them in semifinal contention. After an intense first half Otumoetai went to the break 5-3 up.

A physical approach from the smaller Otumoetai forwards laid a solid foundation for the backline to create havoc in the second half. Standout players in the 39-3 win were Ryan Henstock, JT Tahere, Neal Redward and inspirational captain Mark Nicholls. It was also great to have experience ref Bryce Lawrence control the game.

The Sport Bay of Plenty junior Baywide basketball competition was held in Rotorua last Friday with schools from around the Bay competing in it. We sent our boys and girls teams for four games, with the boys making the final and going down 46-40.