Our first XI faced Tauranga Boys' College third XI and couldn't quite break through their defence. Our girls' first XI played a great game against the Mount, with the final score a draw despite our team being two players down. Meanwhile, our second XI girls played extremely well against Girls' College senior white, beating them 4-1.
Netball: Well done to our three netball teams who made it through to the semifinals. All three teams played great on Friday, with our senior A only just missing out on the win. Our senior B and junior A teams fought hard to win their games and have made it through to the finals on Friday.
Indoor netball: We took a junior and a senior team away to compete in the Bay of Plenty secondary schools indoor netball champs last Thursday.
Our senior mixed team proved that they were not to be messed with, winning their first and second games by a huge margin. They then beat all the other teams, taking out the finals with a whopping 20-point lead. Our junior team was also very impressive, taking on two other teams and a team of teachers to finish in first place.
Hockey: Last Thursday, Te Puke High School Boys' first XI met Tauranga Boys' white. Tauranga opened the scoring with a spectacular backhand tomahawk that flew into the top corner of the net.
Te Puke replied soon after with some quick passing through the field to enable James Bristow to finish off in the circle with a little back flick into the net. The score was tied 1-1 at halftime.
The second half was an open game with Te Puke able to keep possession for the majority of the half. Te Puke also had the most opportunities on goal but White's goalie made some excellent saves. In the end, Te Puke were unable to convert their chances. Final score 1-1.
Tauranga Girls'
Football: Special congratulations this week go to Sophie Stewart-Hobbs and Emma Cawte, who have been selected into the Lotto New Zealand secondary schools girls' under-16 football team for 2012. These girls will be playing with the team in a competition in Fiji during the upcoming summer holidays.
Closer to home, the New Zealand secondary schools squash championships were held over the weekend. Fifty teams from throughout New Zealand were present and over 600 matches were played in the Bay of Plenty.
Tauranga Girls' College fielded a team for the first time in over 10 years. The team consisted of Lauren Clarke, Jamie Armstrong, Morgan Amos, Courtney Johnston, Michelle Prendiville and Sam Fredheim. Wins against Waihi College and Marlborough Girls' College and three losses gave them a final placing in the top 10.
This is a notable achievement, especially as the team is relatively young, with four junior players.
It looks good for the future of the team and new goals include a position in the top six at the nationals next year.
Netball: The netball season ended for some teams last week and got more exciting for others. Tauranga Girls' College league 1 (undefeated) won their semifinal 42-33 against Te Puke High School senior A, putting them in the final this week against Bethlehem College open A.
The junior As won 43-28 against Aquinas premier 2 to progress to this week's final against Otumoetai College junior 1.
Junior B will be playing Te Puke High School junior A in the final this week after winning their game against Mount Maunganui College junior B 46-21. The TGC Dominators are also playing in a final this week, against Otumoetai College black, after beating Aquinas senior blue 29-18, and the Gold Diggers won 42-30 against Mount Maunganui College Tawa, meaning they progress to the final against Aquinas senior gold.
Finishing the season on a good note were the Tauranga Girls' Crusaders, who had an extremely close final game against Otumoetai College 9B and won it 26-25 to take out first spot in the Year 9 B grade. TGC 10B were also in a close final against Otumoetai College 10A, but came second in the Year 10 A grade, 27-33.
TGC Diamonds also came second in their Year 10 B division, defeated 28-39 in their final by Otumoetai College 10B.
Football: The end of the football season is drawing near too and our first XI have comfortably won the premier girls' division undefeated, winning their game on Saturday against Otumoetai College first XI 7-0. Junior A unfortunately suffered their first loss of the season against Rotorua United in the senior reserve grade, putting them second on the table.
In hockey, many of our teams were successful last week. The first XI had a close game against Bethlehem College first XI but came out on top 1-0. TGC juniors also had 1-0 win against Aquinas College second XI and the Tauranga Girls' seniors won their game against Te Puke High second XI 2-1.
Inline hockey: Inline hockey is also going well, with the No Pucks Given winning their game against Matamata senior girls 6-0, their best score yet.
Otumoetai
Gymnastics: In gymnastics, congratulations to Samara Maxwell, Anna Cunningham and Leah Madden who have all been selected as part of the Bay of Plenty artistic provincial team to compete at the national championships in Blenheim.
Samara is currently the Step 9 national champion and will be looking to defend her title at Step 10+. Anna will compete at Step 8 and Leah at Step 5. We wish them the best of luck as they travel to Blenheim in the October school holidays.
Netball: Eight of our netball teams reached the semifinals of their competitions, a fantastic achievement for our hard-working coaches, manager and athletes. Advancing to the division two final is our Junior 1 team who had an impressive win against MMC Tuis. Starting the game well, they cruised to a 13-4 first quarter lead, with all players displaying great ball skills and determination.
Up 28-13 at halftime, their passion continued with an emphatic 20-goal win, 49-29. OC black, 10A and 10B also advanced to their finals.
Winter sports: The Bay of Plenty secondary schools skiing and snowboarding champs were held at Whakapapa last weekend, with Taylor Christie second in the junior girls skiing.
In junior boys, Daniel Cowper placed third, with Jamie Matheson third in senior girls and senior boy Liam Matheson also third. That placed our team with an overall third placing. The snowboarding competition saw Liam Stewart third in junior boys, with Zoe Ralph first. That placed our snowboarding team second. This now leads into the North Islands competition in September.
Mount Maunganui
Netball: Congratulations to our Year 9 Karaka netball team in taking out the Year 9A grade over the weekend, despite being 22-16 down going into the final quarter. Mount College played the game of their lives to finish at the final buzzer 26-26.
Into overtime, the winners needed a two-goal difference to take the game. Cullen Watts playing wing defence took the winning intercept, backed up by Anna van Odenaaren scoring the winning goal. A thrilling game and fantastic performance by everyone on court. Full credit to coach Lisa McFetridge and manager Tania van Odenaaren.
The winning didn't stop there either as our 10 Kauri team also won the year 10B grade final. They easily played their way through this game, winning convincingly, 56-9. Well done coaches Kyla Faulkner and Drisana Parker and their amazing manager Karen Rust.
Rugby: Our under-15 boys' rugby team played in the premiership final against Trident in the finals day held at Paengaroa.
The teams were evenly matched, with both sides putting on a fabulous display of schoolboy rugby.
Trident set the game on fire with two early tries to take a 10-0 lead, before Mount settled into the game, scoring two great tries through Leini Hakaumotu, who capitalised on his speed down the wing and also finished off some great initial teamwork. Mount went into halftime leading 15-10.
Trident scored after halftime and also slotted a penalty, taking the score to 18-15.
The game was played at a fast pace and in the dying minutes, Trident sealed the win with a late try on a final score 23-15. A great display of rugby by both teams.
Surf lifesaving: Papamoa Surf Club took eight members over to the Australian national pool champs last week, with five of those from Mount College.
There were over 400 competitors from 48 clubs from around Australasia, aged 11-60. In team events, Mason Bryant, Ben Johnston, Michael Bryant and Hamish Smith (BC) got a gold in age 15-18 4x25m manikin relay, and Ben, Mason, Danny Hart and Seth Merrrett (AQC) got a bronze in 4x50m medley relay.
Another bronze went to Ben, Mason, Michael and Seth (AQC) in the 200m 4x50m obstacle relay. In individual events, top performers were Ben Johnston, who got a fourth and three fifths, and Mason Pickering who had two fourths and a fifth.
Katikati
Football: Katikati girls' first XI played second on the table Mount College on Saturday. Both teams got off to a good start, however the Kati girls were flat-footed and Mount were able to slip in two goals before halftime.
However, Katikati came back strong in the second half, with Emma Roberts having a free kick just outside the box skim past the crossbar. After the Mount claimed their third goal, Katikati girls came back fighting with Hayley Sherriff scoring a goal in the last 10 minutes to leave the score 3-1 to the Mount. Players of the day were Lauren Morton Hay and Sherriff.
Our first XI boys played Trident at the weekend.
They came out with a 1-1 draw, a great result as Trident are second on the table.
Hockey: On Monday night Katikati's first XI played Aquinas College, Katikati coming out on top 2-1 through excellent goals from Caleb Ibbotson and William Van Loon.
Netball: The senior B team fought a well-contested battle against the Mount in their semifinal, unfortunately going down by eight in the end.
Well done girls for a great season. Congratulations to 8A, 8B, 7A and 7B netball teams for all making their finals in the Harbourside competition.
Good luck for this weekend.
Rugby: Three of our boys have been selected for under-15 representative trials being held over the next few weeks.
They are Daniel MacDonald, Rueben Mair and Siosaia Fitita. Good luck with chasing representative honours.
Junior sports exchange: Katikati College hosted the annual Waihi College v Katikati College Year 7-8 junior exchange this week. Games were played in hockey, basketball, football, rugby and netball. A great day was had with some good competition between the two schools.
Katikati College came out champions, winning the rugby, football, hockey and one netball game.
