18/5/2015 Oscar ElworthyWhile at Takapuna Grammar School in Auckland, Harry Elworthy won the coveted Julian Dean road cycling trophy, appeared on breakfast television and earned an academic scholarship to the prestigious Duke University in America. His brother Oscar Elworthy is in Year 11 and appears to be an equally capable cyclist. In his first competitive season two years ago, Oscar won the National junior road race title in Feilding. Harry explains why he took up the sport. "I followed my brother into it I guess. I turned up to the school time trials to get a place on the cycling team. I beat some older kids and decided to stick to it," he says. In peak season Oscar trains up to 20 hours a week. He surprised even himself with his National success in Year 9. "It was a pretty good first season," Oscar says. Oscar has continued to flourish. In 2014, he was a part of the 46-member Takapuna team that claimed three national records, 17 medals, and 48 top 10 results at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships. Oscar and fellow students Jacob Kench and Harry Waine make up three-fifths of the five-man Bike New Zealand Under-17 road cycling team. The guidance of former pro riders Scott Guyton (School Coach) and Tim Gudsell (Personal coach) has been huge. "Both guys have ridden internationally and have been a great help to me", Oscar says. "They do all the things that good coaches do like pick me up when I am down, answer questions and motivate me to get better." Two weeks ago Oscar had his first international victory when he won the four-day under-17 Canberra Junior tour title. He beat more than 50 competitors from New Zealand and Australia. The event consisted of four stages, an opening day time trial, two road races and a criterium. Oscar won the time trial, finished second in the last road race and did enough in the other two races to preserve his lead. Oscar explains the challenges of being out in front on the last day. "It rained really heavily during the criterium so I was really cautious. I didn't want to lose my lea, but at the same time I had to go fast enough to hold on." The school season is set to commence soon. Oscar will compete at the North Island and National championships while Takapuna is expected to defend their Auckland teams' time trial title. The semi-finals of the national College Netball series are this Sunday and Monday. Wellington Girls’ College plays defending champions Mount Albert Grammar School in Palmerston North on Sunday and St Kentigern College meets Southland Girls’ High School in Auckland on Monday. This is the fourth year of the pre-season College Netball competition, with selected matches, including these two semi-finals played as curtain-raisers to ANZ Championship matches. For Southland Girls’ High School (SGHS) it will be their first top four appearance, after they beat Christchurch’s Cashmere High School 35-24, St Andrew’s College 35-26 and St Margaret’s College 22-19 in their three College Netball South Island fixtures in March and April. Former Australian netball international and former player and assistant coach of the Southern Steel Natalie Avellino is SGHS’s coach. Natalie explained that her team was looking forward to taking on defending Auckland competition champions St Kent’s. “It’s exciting for our girls to be representing our school at this level,” she said. “We haven’t gone this far in the past and have always stumbled when playing St Margaret’s. “We understand that St Kent’s are a good team and it certainly won’t be an easy game for us but that is a good challenge for us to look forward to. “We don’t get opportunities to play North Island teams unless we get to nationals in October. The styles are also a little bit different, so it’s just a great challenge for our girls to come up against these other teams.” Natalie said there’s plenty of sporting talent in the SGHS side. “Our attack line has been going well. We lost two key defenders from our team last year so we have had to try and work hard with our young defenders coming through.” “We have got a younger player coming through, Alena Saili, who is a very talented athlete. “Alena is good at rugby sevens; she is currently in the New Zealand U17 touch team and she is also in our First XV. I am fortunate enough that I can play her anywhere and she can actually just slot in. She usually a midcourt player but has been playing as a defender for us as well. “Her and her sister Fa’asipa Saili did an exceptional job when we played St Margaret’s in our previous match.” Natalie said that Fa’asipa Saili is also in Southland Girls’ Senior A touch and First XV rugby teams and she is also a good volleyball player. Molly Wheeley is also in the New Zealand U17 touch team and Trisha Hopcroft was in the New Zealand U19 touch squad last year. The majority of the netball team have recently been selected in Southland’s age-grade netball teams, while Laura Moffat (netball, currently injured and not playing in this semi-final), Trisha Hopcroft (touch) and Alena Saili (Sevens, touch and netball) are all part of the Southland Academy development programme. The Southland Girls’ High School team travelling to Auckland to play St Kentigern College is: Alena Saili , Anna Wells, Emily Henderson, Faasipa Saili, Jenna Kean, Jessica Dermody, Kerri-Ann Sinclair, Moira Macdonald, Molly Wheeley, Patricia (Trisha) Hopcroft , Sarah Marshall. Coach: Natalie Avellino College Netball semi-finals Sunday 17 May: Wellington Girls’ College v Mount Albert Grammar School, Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North. Monday 18 May: St Kentigern College v Southland Girls’ High School, The Trusts Arena, Auckland Wilrich Coetzee is one of five swimmers who have qualified for the upcoming FINA World Junior Championships at the Mayfair Pools New Zealand Age Group Championships, held in Wellington in last week. The New Zealand Age Group Championships doubled as the official trial for swimmers to gain selection for the biennial World Junior Championships to be held in Singapore from 25 to 30 August and the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Samoa from 5 to 12 September. Wilrich, a seventeen year old Orewa College student who trains with the North Shore Swimming club, went under the qualifying time with a time of 56.55 in the 100m backstroke on the second day of the competition. Even though he came second in this event, to Wilrich it was a great relief to make the qualifying time so early in the competition instead of in one of his other favoured events like the 400m individual medley or the 200m butterfly which was scheduled for later in the week. "I’m really excited, I’m really happy as well. It’s been the goal all season so I finally achieved it," Wilrich said after the race. "Last year I just missed out on the Youth Olympics, so I’m real stoked this year that I finally got to make a team and I’m really happy I can represent New Zealand." During the five-day competition, Wilrich won gold in the 200m and 400m individual medley; 100m and 200m butterfly; and silver in the 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle events for the 17 to 18 year olds. With the time he achieved in the 200m butterfly he also broke the Auckland Swimming age group record for 17 year old boys. At the completion of the meet, Wilrich was also nominated to represent New Zealand at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games. Final selection for this event is subject to approval by the New Zealand Olympic Committee. The other four swimmers to have gained selection for the World Junior Championships in Singapore are Gabrielle Fa’amausili (Avondale College), Bobbi Gichard (Napier Girls’ High School) – both attending their second World Junior Championships – and Annabelle Paterson (diocesan girls' school) and Yeonsu Lee (Westlake Girls’ High School). Wilrich, Gabrielle, Bobbi, Annabelle and Yeonsu, along with Mario Koenigsperger (Sacred Heart College, Auckland), Eliot Lundon-Moore (Francis Douglas Memorial College, New Plymouth) and Bayley Main (MacLeans College, Auckland 2014), have also been nominated by Swimming New Zealand to be considered for selection by the New Zealand Olympic Committee for the Commonwealth Youth Games. 11/5/2015 Mexted's lineout prowess and graft...Scots College was the most flamboyant First XV in New Zealand in 2014. They hardly kicked the ball and adopted a 'run it from anywhere' attitude that yielded 116 tries in 21 games. To successfully play such an audacious style of rugby requires honest forwards and lock Henry Mexted is the epitomy of that. Mexted's lineout prowess and graft was a key part of Scots triumphs last year. It earned him selection for the Wellington Under-18's. They were unbeaten in their representative fixtures. Ironically for a player that avoids headlines, Mexted was the leading try scorer (along with Thomas Umaga-Jensen) for Scots at the Sanix World Youth Invitation tournament in Japan recently. Mexted crossed for five tries in six games, including a hat-trick in the quarter final against Josho Gakuen High School. "It was nice to score a few tries," Mexted says, "I have been working hard on my ball carrying and support play." Scots scored 41 tries in Japan and prior to departure 97 points in two games against Press Cup semi-finalists, Nelson College and Marlborough Boys' College. However they came unstuck in the semi-finals against Brisbane Boys' Grammar School. What went wrong? "We conceded a try in the first-minute from a charge down and a penalty a short time later to fall behind, 10-0. They were really good at restricting us and we never recovered, " Mexted says. Though disappointed to fall short of the world title, Mexted said the trip was a great for the First XV. "It was great to spent a lot of time together and play six games in a week. One of the reasons we were so successful last year was because of the strong chemistry within the team. Everybody got a run in Japan and we established some patterns for the season ahead." The tournament was won by Paarl Boys' High School from South Africa. Mexted admits Scots would have loved a crack at the South Africans. "They were a big side, but no different from playing big sides in New Zealand like Hamilton Boys' High School." "It was a challenge and a privilege to play so many prestigious rugby schools' in Japan. That was the highlight of the trip for me." Scots also visited the Nagasaki bomb site and Fukuoka maul while finding time to adjust to the local diet. "The diet was interesting. There was a lot of rice, rice three times a day. By the end of the week big Alex Fidow could use chopsticks, but he was going stir crazy for some meat." Henry's father Alan is a former Wellington representative. His uncle is former All Black Murray Mexted. Scots defence of their Wellington title starts on May 23rd when they tackle St. Pats Town in a Moascar Cup defence on the Rugby Channel. Scots In Japan v Kyoto Seisho HS Result: win 28 - 15 (HT: 14 - 0) Tries: A Cannons (2), T Umaga-Jensen, M Manuao Conversions: P Umaga-Jensen (4) v Saga Technical HS Result: win 54 - 15 (HT: 26 - 10) Tries: C Garden-Bachop (3), T Umaga-Jensen, A Fidow, J Schuster, E Dunlop, S Sovea Conversions: M Manuao (7) v Earl Marriott Secondary School Result: win 74 – 3 (HT: 15 - 3) Tries: J Loader (3), P Umaga-Jensen (2), J Boswell, T Umaga-Jensen, H Mexted, T Prescott, A Cannons, T Woods, D Meiklejohn Conversions: P Umaga-Jensen (6), M Manuao Quarter final v Josho Gakuen HS Result: win 55 – 12 (HT: 29 – 7) Tries: H Mexted (3), P Umaga-Jensen , J Boswell, A Cannons, A Fidow, H Mexted, M Manuao Conversions: P Umaga-Jensen (5) Semi-Final v Brisbane Boys GS Result: loss 8 – 34 (HT: 8 - 20) Tries: J Royal Penalty: M Manuao Third Place v Truro College (UK) Result: win 45 - 7 (HT: 19 - 0) Tries: T Umaga-Jensen (2), P Umaga-Jensen, H Mexted, J Schuster, C Garden-Bachop, M Manuao Conversions: P Umaga-Jensen (5) |
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