College sport: Field events take centre stage

Rangitoto College's Morgan Williams, 17, competes in the triple jump at the North Harbour SS athletics championships. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Field event athletes are set to grab most attention at the Auckland Secondary Schools track and field championships at Mount Smart Stadium today.

Baradene's Portia Bing will have a qualifying mark for the world youth championships in her sights when she lines up in the senior high jump. She has already cleared 1.70m this summer and needs 1.74m to book her spot on the international stage.

Bing, one of 11 competitors to win through from zonal qualifying with a height of 1.37m, will be challenged by a strong field including three from St Cuthbert's.

There will be interest in King's College's Ngatua Hukatai, who faces a busy day after qualifying first in the intermediate 100m, shot put and discus and third in the 200m. He set a Pacific School Games shot put record in Australia and with a 14.47m best should be too strong for today's field.

The day's top performer could be Howick College hurdler Peter Callagher, who continues to impress. His qualifying 14.17s for the 110m hurdles was well clear of second-best James McIllraith (AGS) with 16.30s.

Auckland Grammar's Morreau brothers will chase a family treble.

Sam was top qualifier in the intermediate 800m with 1m 58.93s, comfortably ahead of James Watt (2m 03.06s). He is also through to the 1500m final with the fourth-fastest time.

Younger brother Jonathon is in the junior 1500m final while older brother Matt qualified for the senior 1500m final in which Scott Russell (Botany Downs) was fastest qualifier with 4m 17.77s. The meeting starts at 3.30pm and is scheduled to finish by 8pm.

CRICKET

Auckland

The shocking weather which has dogged school cricket this year again played its hand in restricting one supposed two-day championship match to just one day and restricting play in the remaining two.

Chasing the 177 scored by King's, Rangitoto reached 80/2 on the back of a good partnership between Travis Brown and Andrew Lane but more rain at that point ended play and the points were shared.

Restricted to just one (abbreviated) innings, WBHS cashed in to beat MAGS by seven wickets with Elliott Herd leading the way with his unbeaten 35 in an innings of 85/3 in reply to the battling 84/8 by MAGS.

Resuming with nine wickets in hand and needing a further 168 runs to overhaul St Kentigern to claim first innings points, AGS came up 47 runs short as Matthew Selby bagged 4-42 for the home side as they dismissed the visitors for 135.

Play in the plate round, also disrupted by the rain, provided the day's highlight with Jared Hill claiming an amazing 7-7 for KBHS as they sent Avondale College reeling to 60-8 in their second innings after trailing by 70 runs on the first innings.

In other matches, Sacred Heart beat Rosmini by six wickets to claim first innings points as did St Peter's, who toppled Macleans.

St Kentigern's comfortable win over AGS followed last week's success in the 1A one-day final at Cornwall Park where they swamped King's.

Waikato

The calculators will be whirring when stumps are pulled on Saturday as the race to find the semifinalists in the division one 1st XI championship goes to the wire.

St Peter's continue to set the pace and are certain to take one place but the scramble to find the remaining three teams in the top four will almost certainly be decided on a countback.

The key game will be at Hillcrest High where they play Morrinsville College. Both teams, along with Te Awamutu/Otorohanga, Hamilton BHS Development, and Cambridge, are on 17 points, three behind St Peter's (who play HBHS) and separated only on averages.

Te Awamutu/Otorohanga continue to impress. Batting first, the combined side posted 223/6 with Ricky Palacio again leading the way with 67.

In reply, St John's struggled as Palacio knocked the top off their innings and spinner Sunil Singh finished the job with 5-11 from six overs.

Te Awamutu/Otorohanga won by 156 runs to succeed in their first defence of the Dave Hoskin Trophy.

Hillcrest High had an even bigger winning margin over St Paul's. Led by a 139-run opening partnership between Josh Fawcett, who scored a superb 111, and Brenden Flegg (48), Hillcrest posted 293/9. No batsman reached 20 and the innings was all over at 59.

HBHS fared even better in scoring 312 against Melville/Fraser. The die was cast when HBHS raced to 110/0 in the opening 10 overs. Matt Turton (74) and Devon Singh-Pahar (70) continued their good form as the score mounted. In reply, Melville/Fraser struggled and were dismissed for 88.

There was no such scoring as Te Aroha managed just 79 after being sent in by St Peter's School. Leading by example, St Peter's captain Ross Fitz-John bagged 5-18 from 10 overs.

Competition leader St Peter's lost four wickets in hitting off the 80 runs they needed for victory.

Morrinsville beat neighbours Matamata by five wickets in another low-scoring affair in which Cyadd Tipping (4-21) for Morrinsville and Ryan Wilson (4-27) for Matamata took centre stage.

Cambridge High posted a modest 148 after electing to bat against Thames HS. James Martin and Ross Laidlaw bagged seven wickets between them to send Thames packing for just 109.

MULTISPORT

Alana Lythe broke new ground for Marist College with her win in the junior girls' aquathon at St Kentigern College.

Lythe's victory, in a field of 26, was a first for her school on a day which saw increased numbers line up for the popular run-swim competition.

Sophie Corbridge (Kristin) completed a hat-trick with her win in the senior girls, a race she also won last year after claiming the intermediate title in 2007. She was more than two minutes clear of the field.

The senior boys again had a torrid contest before Michael Poole (AGS) got home from the host school's Sam Franklin and Alex Smith.

The intermediate girls, too, had a close race with Rangitoto's Phillippa Brown edging clear of Rebecca Burridge (Diocesan) and Brigette Hicks (St Kentigern).

Team honours were well spread among the 47 teams taking part while the social grade proved popular, especially at EGGS with 40 competitors.

TENNIS

Led by winning efforts from Chester Espie (intermediate) and junior Sion Wiggin, WBHS snapped a 25-year losing streak to claim the coveted Auckland teams' championship.

WBHS won the inaugural James Aitkenhead Shield in 1976 and a second championship in 1984. Then followed the drought.

But their strong showing in the finals at the ASB Tennis Centre earned them a three-point win over AGS.

Espie beat Aidan McDougall (Albany Junior High) 6-1, 6-1 in the singles and he and Raphael Cho crushed Ryan Henderson and Connor Smith (St Kentigern) 6-2, 6-2 in the doubles.

It was closer in the junior singles with Wiggin needing three sets to beat Niko Vulinovich (AGS), who joined David Jiang to beat Wiggin and Brynn Engbers 6-1, 6-2 in the doubles.

Rangitoto had the chance to end St Cuthbert's long-standing domination in the girls' championship but they blew that by losing the three finals they contested on finals day.

St Cuthbert's won two doubles but the key loss for Rangitoto came in the intermediate singles when Baradene's Monica Chen upset Christine Foote (Rangitoto), allowing St Cuthbert's to take the shield by a point.

VOLLEYBALL

McAuley High continued their domination of the championship with a testing four-set win over sixth seeds Otahuhu College in an exciting girls final to claim a fourth title.

Top boys seeds De La Salle won a gruelling five-set win against Rangitoto in the final. Earlier Rangitoto, seeded eighth, beat De La Salle in pool play.

Their much-anticipated clash in the final lived up to expectations.

After dropping the first set, Rangitoto hit back to level at 1-1 claiming the second set 32-30. Scores were later locked at 2-2 before De La Salle got home 15-12 in the fifth.

COMING UP

TODAY: Athletics, Auckland SS Championships, Mt Smart Stadium 3.30pm.

Cricket, Auckland premier girls (4pm, home team first), St Kentigern v Avondale, Diocesan v MRGS, St Cuthberts v Baradene, Melville Park 4a, WGHS v EGGS. North Harbour premier girls (4pm, home team first), Birkenhead v Rangitoto, Kristin v Northcote, Orewa v Carmel, TGS v Long Bay.

Softball, premier girls (4.15pm, home team first), AGGS v EGGS, Phyllis St, MAGS v One Tree Hill, Warren Freer Park, Avondale bye.

TODAY-TOMORROW: Equestrian, NZ SS Horse of the Year, Hastings.

TODAY-SATURDAY: Swimming, NZ SS age group championships division 2.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY: North Is SS senior championships, Auckland.

SATURDAY: Cricket, Auckland 1A two-day championship (11am, home team first), MAGS v St Kentigern, Kings v WBHS, AGS v Rangitoto. 1A plate, KBHS v Sacred Heart, Rosmini v St Peters, Avondale v Macleans. North Harbour premier boys (8.30am, home team first), Birkenhead v Albany Senior High, WBHS 5th XI v Kingsway, Onewa Domain 2, Northcote v TGS Gold, Rangitoto v TGS Blue, Freyberg Park 2, Long Bay v WBHS 4th XI, Orewa v Glenfield.

Waikato, 1A Championship (10.30am, home team first), round seven, St Peters v HBHS Development, Cambridge v Matamata, St Pauls v Te Awamutu/Otorohanga, St Johns v Te Aroha, Melville/Fraser v Thames, Hillcrest v Morrinsville.

MONDAY: Golf, Auckland/North Harbour premier teams, semifinals, Remuera noon, Waitemata GC 2pm, teams tba. Softball, premier boys (4.15pm, home team first), Avondale v MAGS, Onehunga v AGS, Sacred Heart v St Peters, Green Bay bye.

MONDAY-THURSDAY: Cricket NZ SS junior boys finals, Taupo.

TUESDAY: Touch, senior, Central boys/girls, Cox's Bay, North Harbour boys/girls/mixed, Sunnynook Park, semifinals/finals teams tba.

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