Mount Albert Grammar School (MAGS) have won the National Fustal Senior Girls Championship for the fifth time at the ASB Sports Centre in Wellington this afternoon. MAGS were the warmest of favourites to retain their title and did so resisting a tenacious challenge from New Plymouth Girls’ High School in the final. With less than two minutes remaining, New Plymouth was down 4-3 and pressing hard for an equaliser. New Plymouth lost the ball in the midfield and Maisy Dewell pounced on the loose possession twisting past two defenders and slotting the ball into the net for a decisive 5-3 lead. Earlier MAGS appeared well in control establishing a 4-1 advantage. Dewell was a menace for New Plymouth’s defence from the outset, twice hitting the post in the first five minutes. The tournament’s top goal-scorer, Grace Jale, opened the scoring for MAGS when New Plymouth conceded a meek turnover and Alesi Bloomfield and Nicole Mettam combined to leave Jale one-on-one with the keeper. Jole scored 19 goals throughout the tourney. MAGS doubled their lead when Mettam tapped in following a typically piercing run by Bloomfield. New Plymouth struggled to match MAGS precision and another soft turnover in the back half of the court led to Medham dribbling in a second goal. Madelyn Watkins pulled one back for New Plymouth, but slick inter-passing between Kathryn Ann-Gow and Medham saw the latter complete her hat-trick. MAGS surprisingly rested Jale for much of the second-half and this coupled with greater New Plymouth intensity saw the match turn in favour of the underdogs. Maiah Findlay halved the deficit and then Watkins blasted in her second goal to make it 4-3 with about five minutes to play. The industry of Jendi Frank and Mackenzie Barry was a big part of the New Plymouth resurgence. When Jale returned she immediately forced two desperate saves from the New Plymouth keeper before Dewell's nimble touch finally settled the outcome. MAGS are presently the National Fustal and Football champions. The award for senior Girls MVP was won by Macey Fraser of Rangiora High School who nearly caused a boil over in the semi-final narrowly losing to MAGS 5-4. The junior competition contained a field of seven teams and was won by Hillcrest High School from Hamilton ahead of Papanui High School in second and New Plymouth Girls' High School in third. Papanui's Brooke Tear was awarded the MVP and Golden Boot of the tournament. Fustal is a sport experiencing rapid growth in New Zealand. For the first time a National women's team will be selected in 2017 and there is an ambition in the future for the National Secondary Schools Championships to be organised entirely by students. Below are some selected Photos of the Week, highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events and achievements over the past seven days and others that have been in the news. Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted. 1. Avondale College’s Gabrielle Fa'amausili sets off on her record breaking swim to win the 17 years 50m backstroke on Saturday night at the New Zealand Age Grade Swimming Championships. Her time of 29.02 broke the record of 29.47 set by Australian based Ella Cossil last year. It was Fa’amausili’s fourth title and fourth record for the week, with the others coming in the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 100m backstroke. Read more about the meet here https://swimming.org.nz/article.php?group_id=26886 Photo credit to Dave Lintott Photography; see his gallery from the final night at http://davelintott.photoshelter.com/gallery/170325-Swimming-National-Age-Group-Championships/G0000dkEXpKwZ..4/ 2. Southland Boys’ High School’s Mitchell Kempton is set for his first taste of international squash. The 17-year-old has continued his meteoric rise from weekend warrior to be named in the New Zealand under-19 team to face Australia in the Trans-Tasman Junior series. National selection was a nice surprise for the year 13 student. The Southland player finished fifth at the NZ Junior Open last year, which helped to catapult him into the running for New Zealand selection. Read more at http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/90617287/southland-teenager-mitchell-kempton-set-for-first-taste-of-international-squash-in-nz-under19-team Photo credit: Robyn Edie/Fairfax NZ 3. A new world record. Seb Calder from St Andrew’s College recently broke the 2000m indoor rowing record for his age group in a time of 6:25.0 minutes and he is only 14 years old. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/Concept2NewZealand/posts/1258224644274414 4. Last weekend the Kerikeri High School crew of skipper Frankie Dair, Alice Autet, Jack Dalbeth-Hudson and Jack Bunce won the Harken Schools sailing regatta. Kerikeri High School fought off fierce competition from rival schools, edging Marlborough Boys’ College into second in the five-race Gold Fleet regatta. Westlake Boys’ High school finished in third, with Selwyn College fourth and Rosmini College fifth. Glendowie College won the Silver Fleet regatta. Photo credit and read more at: http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/news/201703/kerikeri-high-win-harken-schools-regatta 5. St Patrick’s College Town after beat Rongotai College 4-1 in the final of the Wellington Premier One Futsal competition last week. Wellington Girls’ College defeated Onslow College 8-3 in the Girls’ final. The schools will be hometown favourites at the National Secondary Schools Futsal tournament at ASB Centre this week. Girls’ final tomorrow and Boys’ final on Friday. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/capitalfutsal/ 6. Anna Steven, Year 12 at Westlake Girls’ High school, won both the 100m and 200m para races at last week’s College Sport Athletics Championships. Photo credit: Halberg Disabilty Sport Foundation: https://www.facebook.com/Halberg-Disability-Sport-Foundation-111893415571312/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf 7. Taranaki's Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens has signed with the Parramatta Eels. The 15-year-old Francis Douglas Memorial College student has taken up an academy offer that would see him travel to Australia for camps twice this year, before spending six months of 2018 across the ditch for the under-18s competition. The opportunity came about through scouting at a number of national tournaments and it wasn't only the Eels who were interested in Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, with the Newcastle Knights also showing an interest. "We had a few trainings, just to see the squad, and then a game over there and I think it just went of that really. "It's an opportunity I couldn't really not take. I'll be experiencing everything and be getting my skills up for both rugby and league." Photo credit and read more at Taranaki Secondary School Sport - https://www.tsssa.org.nz/
A Hamilton Boys’ High School ID card appears to be a prerequisite for making the Waikato senior touch team. At the recent National Championships in Auckland 13 of the 16 squad members were from Hamilton Boys’ High School. Raiki Willison was one of those boys and explains how such a lopsided selection occurred. “The coach Mita Graham is a hostel master at school. He is also captain of the team and convinced lots of the boys to play.” Graham’s faith in Hamilton is understandable given they are the present National Secondary Schools championships and have a decorated history in the code. Stepping up to open grade isn’t short of challenges though. “There’s a big difference between school touch and men’s touch. Men’s touch is more intense and you fatigue quicker.” Willison explains. Fatigue may have been an early issue in the round robin. Waikato was defeated by Auckland. “We learned a lot form that loss. Some of our option taking wasn’t very good so we regrouped tighter. Willison says. Both Waikato and Auckland topped the standings after Pool Play so had to play again. Waikato prevailed in that match to earn a straight passage to the final. Auckland was forced to play an additional fixture, but fought back to face Waikato in the final. “We started shakily and fell behind by a couple of points. We fought back and got three points ahead. They came back again and with a minute to go it was 8-7 and we had the ball. We showed patience to keep possession and win a really good match.” Willison recalls. Willison plays in the middle position which he describes as been like the “engine room” – defending strongly and coordinating plays. Willison has been a Waikato rep since the age of 10 and last year earned National honours representing New Zealand Under-18 in the Trans Tasman series against Australia. In the winter Willison will be working hard to avoid becoming idle. Unfortunately the Condor Sevens winner from last year will miss the rugby season because he requires a shoulder reconstruction with surgery taking place in May. Raiki is the cousin of former Waikato and Maori All Black Jackson Willison who presently plays for Worcester in England. Evidently Shauncy Waho (Year 13 at Te Awamutu College), Finlay Barnett (Year 13 at St Peter’s Cambridge) and Eugene Hepi (Senior) were the non Hamilton Boys’ players. Willison laughs “Hepi got no banter because he is too old.” Waikato Senior Nationals Touch Results Beat Counties Manukau 9-5 Beat Hawkes bay 12-6 Loss Auckland 9-7 Beat Bay of Plenty 10-9 Beat Auckland 9-7 (Major Semi Final) Beat Auckland 8-7 (Grand Final) Below are some selected Photos of the Week, highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events and achievements over the past seven days and others that have been in the news. Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted. 1. Last Tuesday Napier Boys’ High School won the 2017 Hawke’s Bay Secondary School Boys Futsal Championships, beating Havelock North High School 4-2 in the final. Havelock North High School won the Junior Boys, with Lindisfarne the runners-up. The NZSS Futsal Championships are in Wellington at the end of this month. Photo credit: Central Futsal – Hawke’s Bay - https://www.facebook.com/Central-Futsal-Hawkes-Bay-887941691249607/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE 2. Charli Miller from St Peter’s School, Cambridge, in action at the New Zealand Athletics Championships at nearby Hamilton in the weekend. Year 10 student Charli smashed the 2,000m New Zealand U17 steeplechase record in winning the U18 Women’s steeplechase race in 6.46.74 (previous record 6.52.72), ahead of Feilding High School’s Tessa Webb and Cashmere High School’s Liliana Braun. Charli also finished third behind winner Hannah O’Connor of Sacred Heart, New Plymouth, and Phoebe McKnight of Hutt Valley High School in the U18 3,000m. Photo credit: St Peter’s School. 3. The Pakuranga College dragon boating team, after winning gold in the Mixed 500m Grand Final at the Auckland Secondary Schools Dragon Boating Championships on Sunday. Epsom Girls’ Grammar School Blue won the 500m Girls Final and Westlake Boys’ High School Flame took out the 500m Boys Final. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/PakurangaCollege/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf 4. Last week’s 2017 Northland Secondary School Sport Senior Volleyball Championships took place. The Boys was won by Tikipunga High School and the Girls by Whangarei Girls’ High School. Photo credit: NSSA at https://www.facebook.com/Northland-Secondary-School-Sports-NSSSA-688448054509261/?ref=br_rs 5. Nelson College will be representing New Zealand in a 12-strong school international sevens rugby tournament at England’s Rugby School this coming weekend, as part of its 450th anniversary celebrations. Nelson College will play on The Close playing fields where William Webb Ellis is said to have picked up a ball during a game of football in 1823, inventing the game of rugby in the process. Seven northern hemisphere schools from Canada, Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are competing. Read more at http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/sport/90396518/nelson-college-headed-for-international-sevens-showdown-at-rugby-school and photo credit: Martin de Ruyter/Fairfax NZ.
Below are some selected Photos of the Week, highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events and achievements over the past seven days and others that have been in the news. Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted. 1. The Boys Tournament team at the weekend’s Auckland Regional Secondary Schools Volleyball Championships. The Boys tournament was won by Manurewa High School for the third year in a row, beating Takapuna Grammar School in the final, and with Manurewa’s Henry Ape the tournament MVP. Meanwhile, Westlake Girls’ High School beat Aorere College in the Girls final, with Westlake’s Ariana Pole the tournament MVP. The Volleyball Nationals are in Palmerston North at the end of this month. Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/CollegeSportAkld/ 2. James Hargest College's Madi Burke makes a break against Central Southland College at the Southland secondary schools touch tournament in Invercargill last week. Central Southland College secured bragging rights at the Southland secondary schools touch tournament on Tuesday. The Winton school overcame James Hargest College and Te Wharekura o Arowhenua to take the Southland title at Turnbull Thomson Park. CSC won both of their games, accounting for Hargest 9-0 and Te Wharekura 10-2. Photo credit: Kavinda Herath/Fairfax NZ and to read more visit: http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/90145152/central-southland-college-claim-mixed-touch-title 3. Conor McLennan in action this weekend at the third and final Billabong Grom Series held at Mount Maunganui. Conor, out of Christchurch Boys’ High School, won the U17 Division title at the Mount in strong on-shore conditions and won the series as well. The final was decided in the last minute when McLennan surfed to a seven point ride with two big backhand turns to jump ahead of Auckland’s Caleb Cutmore. Meanwhile, local surfer Elin Tawharu won the Girls U17 title, Raglan’s Brie Bennett won the Girls U14 series title and Taranaki’s Tom Butland the U14 Boys. Photo credit: Col / Surf2Surf.com 4. Dragon boaters in action at the Wellington Dragon Boat Festival over this past weekend. Despite difficult weather and conditions a number of crews were in action in the secondary schools division. The A Finals were won by St Patrick’s College, Silverstream (U20 Boys), Wellington Girls’ College (Girls) and Hutt Valley High School (Mixed). Photo credit: Chilton St James School - https://www.facebook.com/ChiltonSaintJames 5. Hawke's Bay kayaker Hamish Legarth will get a second taste of junior world championship competition in July. The Havelock North High School Year 13 student was selected for the Romania-hosted worlds after collecting five medals at last month's national championships on Lake Karapiro. Last year he was a member of the New Zealand K4 100m crew which reached the semi-finals in Belarus. With this experience on his CV one would expect a medal to be a realistic goal when he competes as the only Bay paddler in under-18 K4 and K2 crews. "A medal would be amazing but you're right ... it is achievable." Photo credit Paul Taylor and read more at: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503460&objectid=11813803
The future of New Zealand motorsport appears to be in safe hands with young drivers like Callum Hedge behind the wheel. The Year 9 Saint Kentigern College student is living the life of a speed racer. Callum has been very successful in his Ssangyoung Racing Ute as well as very dominant in his kart racing over the past year. The young driver is racing against competitors 2-3 years older than him in karting and adults in the Ssangyoung Aycton Racing Series. Callum is the current 2NZ in his 12-16 age group. In his recent karting meeting, being the first two rounds of the 2017 Giltrap Group New Zealand Rotax Max Challenge held in Palmerston North a few weekends ago, young Auckland driver Callum came back from disappointment on Saturday to celebration on Sunday. At the opening double-header round of the Rotax Max Challenge at the Manawatu Toyota Raceway he was set for a clean-sweep of the ultra-competitive Junior Rotax class only to have a chain guard come off and be called into the pits while leading the final. It was a cruel blow but one Callum took on the chin, coming back to claim an emphatic Junior class win on the second day of competition on Sunday at the KartSport Manawatu club's track at Shirriffs Rd. This weekend is Round 5 of the SsangYong Series at Hampton Downs. Callum had recent success at Taupo about a month ago where he became the youngest ever driver to win a SsangYong Ute race, giving him a massive confidence boost. Callum is looking to improve on his results and push on and to have a successful weekend at the track. Callum would like to thank his sponsors that make his racing possible Contract Flooring, AD Painting and ORG Racewear as well as his driving coach Daniel Connor. Below are some selected Photos of the Week, highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events and achievements over the past seven days and others that have been in the news. Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at [email protected] Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted. 1. Skipping school to play for New Zealand. Amelia Kerr after playing the Australians in the first of two recent Rose Bowl One-Dayers at Mt Maunganui. The Tawa College leg-spinner took 4 wickets in the first match in a narrow loss and then had figures of 0-31 off 10 overs in the other contest as Australia chased down 271 to win and claim the 50-over series. Photo Credit: https://twitter.com/WHITE_FERNS 2. St Kentigern’s Daniel Whitburn winning the U19 Boys Auckland Secondary School Triathlon Championships on Wednesday 1 March. Jacey Cropp of Rangitoto College won the U19 Girls race. Full results at: file:///C:/Users/Terence-work/Downloads/College-Sport-Triathlon-Championships-2017-results.pdf Photo credit to BW Media and to view some great shots of this event and others visit Dave Lintott Photography http://davelintott.photoshelter.com/gallery/170301-Triathlon-Auckland-Secondary-Schools-Championship/G0000sXWtbeJ7G08/ 3. Mount Albert Grammar School netball player Lahaina-Lee Upu-Toparea (far right) was called into action for the Mystics in their pre-season game against the Waikato Magic on Saturday, 25 February. The Year 13 student was brought on at half time and helped the Mystics to a 62-54 win. Lahaina-Lee has been selected for the Northern Marvels Beko National League squad, is taking part in Mystics training sessions, and is in the NZSS squad for 2017. News and photo credit: MAGS news, at: http://www.mags.school.nz/OutboundMessage?Action=View%20HTML&OutboundMessage_id=2788 4. Josh Rogerson (left) and Elijah Just (right) with the Oceania Football Confederation tournament trophy. Josh was on the pitch in humid conditions for every minute of the tournament, which doubled as a World Cup qualifying competition. New Zealand beat Samoa 11-0, Solomon Islands 2-1 and Fiji 5-0 in their pool matches, before overcoming Papua New Guinea 2-1 in a tense semi-final. That result gave them automatic qualification to the World Cup, so they were able to take the shackles off for the final. They dominated New Caledonia to win 7-0 to claim the OFC trophy for the sixth consecutive time. Photo credit and read more at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/89938385/porirua-lads-help-new-zealand-to-under-17-football-world-cup-qualification 5. Palmerston North Boys’ High School’s First XI after beating beat St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, last week in their annual 50-over Traditional fixture. Palmerston North BHS, the school of several recent and current Black Caps, batted first and set Silverstream 196 to win. The latter side was bowled out for 131 in reply. Photo credit: Wareham Sports Media, view the full set here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Wareham-Sports-Media-922231524463851/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1500869703266694 6. It was staff versus prefects in a game of volleyball last week at St Paul’s Collegiate. Staff came out on top (3-0) but the prefects say they'll get revenge next time. Photo Credit: https://twitter.com/StPaulsNZ
Canoe and kayak sprint paddling has been described as one of the most demanding events of all in the Olympic Games. New Zealand Olympic champion Lisa Carrington’s Supreme Award at the recent Halberg awards was terrific reward for her drive and determination in a tough individual sport. There’s also a competitive group of young female paddlers coming through the ranks, hoping to emulate Carrington’s achievements. The paddlers were in action at the recent New Zealand Canoe Sprint Championships at Lake Karapiro. Among them was St Margaret’s College Year 11 paddler Pieta Luthi who came away from the nationals with 10 combined individual or crew medals in the combined U16 and U18 divisions, including winning two U18 Oceania Championship medals that the regatta doubled as. “I probably did about 17 races during the weekend, so it was pretty intense,” Pieta told College Sport Media. “We are pretty set up for that though - we learn to deal with so much racing in a short time in our training. We do specific sessions to help us with lactic clearance. We have a really good coach, Paul Fidow, who also coaches the junior New Zealand team.” That said, she prefers the shorter races. “I prefer the 200m, so you can just smash yourself and get it over with!” Pieta was racing under club colours for the Arawa Canoe Club, which trains at Christchurch’s Kerr’s Reach. At the nationals, Pieta won medals with (and against in individual races) Olivia Brett and Tilly Pritchard, both at St Andrew’s College, Jess Nisbet , at Papanui High School, and Briar Elliott, at Avonside Girls’ High School. The three golds that Pieta won were in the U16 K4 200m (with Olivia, Jess and Briar) and U16 K4 500m races (with Tilly, Jess and Briar) and the U16 K2 200m (with Olivia - the pair winning the final by over 5 seconds). Olivia has also just been selected for the Junior World Championships team travelling to Romania in July this year. What were Pieta’s favourite races at the nationals? “Olivia, Tilly and I are the top U16s in New Zealand, so we were fighting it out for the medals, so it was really cool racing hard against my best friends in the U16 K1 200m and 500m races and it ended up the same with Olivia getting gold, me getting silver and Tilly getting bronze. “Also I’m first year U16 and I was doing a couple of U18 races, and I got fifth in the U18 K1 200m and seventh in the U18 K1 500m. I really wasn’t expecting to do that well and that’s put me up for New Zealand selection in the future.” What about the influence on your group of Lisa Carrington? “It is so good to have her in our sport, for women especially, because a lot of people wouldn’t know much about our sport if it wasn’t for Lisa Carrington and her Olympic success. “She was at the nationals, but she was only racing K2 and K4 events. I have met her a few times, we have a couple of other regattas up north and last season at nationals at the Blue Lake, she presented us with our medals.” Pieta said she got into canoe racing through a friend, whose dad did multisport. Her sporting background combining poise and power has put her in good stead. “I did ballet for 10 years, which gave me good strength and balance. My mum was in the New Zealand judo team, so I did that for a bit. I was dancing while I did kayaking so I had to prioritise and concentrated on kayaking. “Through kayaking I have started surf lifesaving, I do surf ski and Paul coaches us for that as well. We just had the South Island surf lifesaving nationals, so it was kayaking and surf lifesaving two weekends in a row,” Pieta’s school St Margaret’s College has a strong rowing pedigree, but she doesn’t row. Although her family including her brother are involved in rowing. Like rowing, sprint kayaking is seasonal, but there’s little let-up in the training. “Our schedule pretty much stays the same, so we do gym two-three times a week and we go out on the water every day – we’re training 13 times a week and a bit of surf training on top of that.” Also coming up later this year is a longer race. “There’s a 25km race in Nelson later in the year [25km for girls and 35km for boys]. Over winter we do lots of long paddles, so that’s good to keep us motivated and something specific to train toward.” |
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March 2022
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OrganisationCollege Sport Media is dedicated to telling the story of successful young sportspeople in New Zealand
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