Bethlehem
Cricket: The First XI had a frustrating game against Aquinas. BC won the toss but lost early wickets and stumbled to 14-3. However, a strong partnership of 79 between Mitchell Fairweather (22) and Patrick Davenport restored the balance. Patrick continued blazing away to reach his maiden century, finishing on 105 off 94 balls, including 14 fours and two sixes. With good support from Chase Raleigh (28) and Jack Preston (23 no), BC reached a competitive 234-7.
With the game nicely poised, the heavens opened and Aquinas unfortunately only managed a couple of overs before the game ended.
Water polo: Congratulations to the Year 7 and 8 B grade water polo team, who have had a great start to the season. BC Sharks have gone undefeated and have dominated their opponents at the Windermere Pool complex. They have so far beaten Aquinas Blue 14-0, Tauranga Intermediate Sharks 23-0 and Mount Intermediate B 9-1. Our C grade team, the BC Cudas, are also doing well and have only lost one game so far this season.
Sevens: There was success for our rugby sevens team, who convincingly won the Plate final at the BoP Schools tournament held last week at Whakatane.
Otumoetai
Sevens: Otumoetai College boys' and girls' sevens teams competed in the Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Tournament held at Paengoaroa last week. The boys team had a successful tournament beating Te Puke High School and Kawerau College to reach the semifinals where they played Tauranga Boys' College. It was an exciting game with Otumoetai College leading 7-5 into the second half, before Tauranga Boys' replied with two late tries and advanced to the final. Naturally disappointed to lose the semifinal, this young Otumoetai team was somewhat satisfied with finishing the third best school in the Baywide competition. Billy Carter, Ryan Henstock, Jordan Tahere and Neal Redward played exceptionally all day. The team was coached by Richard Brown and Jamie Davis.
The developing girls' team were up against experienced teams but showed tenacity and a good understanding for the game, which is encouraging for next year. Deborah Paine and Hoana Toovey were selected into the representative training squads for future development.
Windsurfing: Coral Headey, a Year 9 student at the college, has won her first major regatta in windsurfing by winning the New Caledonian Techno National Championships as First Girl, which took place November 2-4. Racing was tough over three days and it followed on from four days of training with a top level French Olympic coach before the regatta.
This is a phenomenal achievement as she has only been windsurfing 10 months since moving on from Optimist sailing which she raced in for five years. All her hard work of training over the winter has paid off. Coral is a member of Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club where there is now an extensive windsurfing programme in place, already producing champions.
Volleyball: BOP Junior volleyball continued with a double day weekend with each team playing five games. The competitive nature of this tournament continued with some close matches. The Girls A finished third with a big congratulations to the 9A girls who also finished third in the Div Two. The Boys A are top of Div Two with a chance for promotion to Div One with a one off game against Trident.
Mount Maunganui
Volleyball: The Junior boys' team won three straight games on Saturday to take a deserved second place ranking in Bay of Plenty. An enthusiastic parent-filled crowd encouraged the players to a 2-1 victory in their second game of the day against Western Heights, the benchmark team for the Bay competition.
Outstanding hitting by Perry Preston and Bobby Tuhura-Te Oka seemed to be the difference as well as crucial execution and leadership from setter and captain Fletcher Swann.
Other results included wins over Te Puke High School, Trident High School and Whakatane High School, all by two sets to one.
The only loss for the Junior boys came from a determined Tauranga Boys' College team as they scrambled their way in a well fought 2-1 win.
Strong serving by Mount College has been a key component to help them win. Fletcher Swann contributed eight ace serves adding to the seven put up by Perry Preston and Casey Lewis. However, missed serves have also been a plague in the team's quest to win. Defensively the team played well maintaining structure under pressure and effectively digging hits and passing serves from all over the court.
The team look forward to the next round of competition. The Bay champs are to be held on home territory at the TECT Arena Bay Park on November 17 and 18. Mount Maunganui College will look to put in another solid performance there.
The 9A girls had a successful campaign, having wins throughout the weekend, only losing to one Junior A Western Heights team. For a newly established team, they worked well and had a great positive attitude under the captaincy of Courtney Mitchell. We had some awesome serving, with Briana Osborne, Briar Mitchell and Courtney standing out in the team. Mercedes Couvee and Caitlyn Lyttle were blocking with attitude. Takiri McLeod, Mikayla Riddall, Georgia Reardon, Eva Gibson and Sophia all had good games and supporters look forward to the Bay champs. The side secured their placing as second in the rankings for the Development Grade. The team is coached and managed by Loren Riddall and Jules Reilly.
The Junior A Girls had a tough weekend with some close losses and have some work to do to maintain there placing in the top six in the weekend of the 17/18.
Cricket: The combined Junior cricket team played against Te Puke last weekend. The team is a combined team with Papamoa College with some home-schooled kids as well. Blair McKenzie, who is in the NZ Indoor cricket team, came out with his bat blazing and scored 131 runs, Caleb Box scored 50 not out and Josh Earle 23.
MMC/Papamoa finished on 236/2 off 40 overs and Te Puke were all out for 84.
It is great to see the local schools and community home schoolers working together to boost numbers to be able to field teams in the local competitions and get these students active in their much-loved sport.
Te Puke
Cricket: Our boys had a great game against Katikati. They batted first, making 182/5 with outstanding allrounder Mikaere Heki taking 3/18 off six overs. In Te Puke's turn to bat Heki played a superb innings to smash a memorable century, scoring 110 off 80 balls. He and Gareth Crowe had a 98-run opening partnership to set up a fine victory.
Junior Volleyball: Round 1 of the BOP Secondary Schools Champs was held last Friday and Saturday. Our boys fought hard to cement a good spot in the top six, beating Trident and Tauranga Boys' to remain in the top four teams.
The girls' team played really well also, beating two teams and cementing themselves in the bottom six. Our junior boys' team had some great games and fought hard to keep their spot in the bottom six. All teams are performing well and are on track for their national tournament in Wellington at the end of the month.
Water polo: The water polo girls had two games last week and the highlight was a convincing win over Mount Maunganui B. A couple of international students have joined the team and are really enjoying it.