College sport: Avondale produces yet another champ

Don't dare suggest to Avondale College headmaster Brent Lewis his school is not the force it once was.

Last weekend seventh-former Kane Taylor added to its list of champions with his win in the Rotax Max Light class at the Auckland schools karting championships. He and Ashley Johnson combined to take third in the teams event.

Taylor is on a growing list at the college supported by the Avondale College/New Zealand Representative Scholarship programme, instituted a couple of years ago. His next mission is the national schools championships in New Plymouth on July 16-17.

Netballer Grace Rasmussen is another whose efforts the school recognises.

A sometime member of the Auckland Diamonds, Rasmussen was named attacking player of the tournament as a member of the New Zealand Secondary Schools team who won the transtasman tournament in Australia. She is also a member of the national under-21 team who will play at next month's world championships in Miami.

Kelly Mason has made a splash as a member of the national under-20 water polo team who won the junior women's world title in Perth this year. She will also play for New Zealand schoolgirls in Brisbane in December after which she will take up a scholarship at the University of Hawaii.

Leone Samu has made her mark on the volleyball court as a member of the North Island schools team who won the transtasman championships in Queensland after winning the South Queensland Cup club competition.

Petria Rennie has followed fellow college pupil Kirsty Yallop into the New Zealand women's soccer team who played two matches in the United States.

Ashlee Fidow was the first featherweight (55-59kg) to be awarded a black belt in taekwondo.

On the basketball court Avondale College have two standouts. Ben Anthony was a member of the Junior Tall Blacks who toured the US. He is already an Academy of Sport carded athlete, as is Chelsea Terei, who captained the national under-19 side in the Australian Youth Olympics and has played for the Harbour Breeze in the WNBL.

Niall Williams, 18, is regarded as one of the country's up-and-coming touch players. A member of the Auckland under-21 Maori mixed team, the Auckland open women's team and the secondary schools team to tour the North Island, Williams is also in the national open squad.

Braedyn Durbin was a member of the national junior ice hockey team who played in Bulgaria in December-January and also led the school to success at the New Zealand inline division one title.

Little surprise, Lewis takes real pride in his pupils' achievements. And, he insists, there are more to come.

Archery

The advantage King's College has recently enjoyed over Auckland Grammar extended to the archery field on Saturday although their winning margin in appalling conditions at Mt Eden's Nicholson Park was much reduced.

After a win of several hundred points in term one, the gap was closed to just nine points with King's, led by Manasvi Narula, holding out a determined Grammar challenge, led by Joe Gaffney.

The inaugural indoor team championships end this week but the top archers will be in action at the Auckland Archery Club on Sunday.

Cycling

The near icy conditions, and the absence of early-morning revellers after the rugby test the night before, gave cyclists in the fifth round of the time trial series a clearer than usual run over the 16km Auckland waterfront course on Sunday morning.

In the absence of the strong Diocesan team, Macleans College stepped up to win the senior girls' race in 25m 13s - an improvement of 36s over their time in the previous round.

St Cuthberts continued on their winning way in the junior girls but were handed a warning by Diocesan, who closed to within 23s.

St Kentigern continued their domination of the senior boys' grade, taking first and third. Auckland Grammar split the St Kentigern A and B teams.

The junior boys had the closest race, with Auckland Grammar breaking through to beat St Kentigern by 4s.

The next round is scheduled for August 7. Before that the riders will head to Ngaruawahia on July 10 for the North Island Championships. Nearly 90 teams have entered the time trials and 450 the road race.

Hockey

Auckland Grammar's three-year reign as schools champions is over, with King's College rounding off their season with a 2-1 win over their perennial rivals.

That win completed a seven-from-seven record for King's, who have now won the title 13 times in the past 22 years and go into the intercity competition as hot favourites.

Two opportunist goals from Hitesh Dahya ensured the King's victory. Ahead after just three minutes, King's held that lead at halftime. Jack Oades got the home side back to 1-1 with a well-taken goal.

The deadlock was broken when Marcus Child made an incisive run and Dahya provided the finish when he slapped the ball high into the goal.

King's finished five points clear of Grammar. Along with Mt Roskill Grammar and Macleans they will carry Auckland hopes in the intercity competition which starts today.

Massey, surprise winners of the North Harbour championship, lead the Harbour challenge with back-up from Westlake Boys High and Rangitoto College. Counties Manukau are represented by Rosehill College and Pukekohe High and Waiuku College.

The girls intercity starts tomorrow with clashes between Kristin and Rangitoto and St Cuthberts and Macleans College being the feature games.

Kartsport

Reigning secondary schools champions St Kentigern College had to battle all the way to hold out Mt Albert Grammar and take the Auckland schools title at Rosebank Rd Raceway on Sunday.

The seven-strong St Kentigern team spearheaded by Dominic Storey and Ben Dallas were taken to a countback before claiming victory over the Mt Albert pair of Alan Dunkley and Mitchell Osborne, with Avondale College claiming third.

In having the biggest representation, St Kentigern had the advantage when it came to a countback.

William Grant and Scott Rutherford steered Rangeview to victory over Blockhouse Bay in the intermediate schools race, while Clevedon took the primary schools crown ahead of Marina View.

Rugby

Auckland Grammar are back on top in the 1A championship following their 37-7 win over Otahuhu College.

Their bonus point for scoring four or more tries has taken Grammar a point clear of King's who were just as impressive in beating St Peters 36-0.

Macleans continue to prop up the table, but scored their first try of the season in going down 44-10 to St Pauls.

In a rare draw, Kelston Boys High and De La Salle finished 10-10 with De La Salle having strong games from No 8 Hendrick Tui, tighthead prop George Telea and captain Piula Faasalele.

Tangaroa, despite their hard-fought 7-6 win over Sacred Heart in difficult conditions, have dropped to fourth place.

Soccer

Mt Albert Grammar edged long-time rivals Auckland Grammar 2-1 in the match of the day.

First-half goals to Byron Paulus and Josh Smith gave the home side a handy 2-0 halftime lead.

Auckland Grammar, led by a strong game from Jacob Matthews, fought back bravely despite being reduced to 10 players when Ian Hogg was red-carded 15 minutes into the second spell.

A few minutes later they closed the gap when Michael Burgess headed home from a corner.

Westlake retained second place with a 9-1 away win over Kelston while King's dropped points in being held 1-1 at Rangitoto College.

Squash

Epsom Girls Grammar, led by Hayley MacDonald, scored their first premier division one triumph since 1987 when they edged Pakuranga College 3-2 in their final round-robin match. St Cuthberts claimed second after the three-day event at Henderson.

Joining MacDonald in the victorious team were Elizabeth Graham, Nicola Blake, Kimberly Sullivan, Katherine Graham and Julia Owens.

Three-time national champions Auckland Grammar, with their team of Justin Sayes, Fraser Gunn, Cameron Jamieson, Gregor Whyte, Alex McDonald and Chris Peek won the boys' title from King's and Mt Albert Grammar.

Epsom completed the double by taking the girls' second division from Baradene.

 

 

* Sports results

ARCHERY
(Mt Eden)

Term two inter-school teams: Kings (C. MacLaren/M. Narula/H. Mao/M. Chan) 1942 points, 1, AGS (M. Cho/J. Gaffney/A. Guillemin/J. Kwek) 1933, 2, St Peters (B. Castelino/M. Leedon/D. Joseph/K. Nicholas) 1824, 3.

* * *

BADMINTON

NORTH HARBOUR

Senior boys, section one: Kristin (1) bt Rosmini College (1) 4-4 4-4 (98-8), Westlake Boys (3) bt Takapuna (1) 4-2, Rangitoto (1) bt Westlake Boys (1) 5-3, Westlake Boys (2) bt Rangitoto (2) 7-1.

Section two: Glenfield (1) bt Kristin (2) 8-0, Westlake Boys (5) bt Long Bay (1) 6-2, Kingsway School (1) bt Northcote (1) by default, Rangitoto (3) bt Westlake Boys (4) 8-0.

Section three: Birkenhead (1) bt Rosmini College (2) 5-3, Northcote (2) bt Kristin (3) 6-2, Rangitoto (4) bt Westlake Boys (6) 7-1.

* * *

HOCKEY

AUCKLAND

Boys: Kings 2 AGS 1, Mt Roskill 1 Avondale 0, MAGS 4 St Kentigern 2, Macleans 2 AGS 2 0. Final points: Kings 21, AGS 16, Macleans 12, Mt Roskill 12, MAGS 9, St Kentigern 7, Avondale 3, AGS (2) 0.

Girls: Diocesan 2 St Cuthberts 1, St Cuthberts (2) 4 Pakuranga 0, Macleans 8 Kings 1, EGGS 6 Diocesan (2) 1. Final points: Diocesan 21, St Cuthberts 18, Macleans 13, EGGS 13, St Cuthberts 6, Kings 6, Pakuranga 0, Diocesan (2) 0.

NORTH HARBOUR

Boys: Massey 7 Rangitoto (2) 0, WBHS (2) 3 Northcote 2, Rangitoto 3 WBHS 1, Mahurangi 2 Rosmini 0. Final points: Massey 19, WBHS 18, Rangitoto 14, WBHS (2) 9, Rosmini 8, Mahurangi 7, Northcote 4, Rangitoto (2) 1.

Girls: WGHS (2) 2 Rangitoto (2) 1, Carmel 3 Orewa 0, Rangitoto 1 WGHS 1, Kristin 6 Mahurangi 1.Final points: WGHS 19, Kristin 18, Rangitoto 16, Carmel 10, WGHS (2) 8, Mahurangi 5, Rangitoto (2) 4, Orewa 0.

* * *

KARTSPORT

AUCKLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Rosebank Rd)

Rotax Max Light: K. Taylor (Avondale) 1, M. Osborne (MAGS) 2, M. Male (Strathallan) 3.

Junior national: D. Storey (St Kentigern) 1, R. Hellier (St Peters) 2, G. Smyth (Rutherford) 3.

Yamaha Light: A. Dunkley (MAGS) 1, D. Reeling (WBHS) 2, A. Johnson (Avondale) 3.

Yamaha Heavy: C. Letica (Senior College) 1, R. Rollinson (Rangitoto) 2, C. Baddeley (Rangitoto) 3.

Junior 100cc Yamaha: Smyth 1, B. Dallas (St Kentigern) 2, T. Vickers (Northcote) 3.

Junior 100cc restricted: R. Moore (Kings) 1, J. Stead (Kristin) 2, N. Cassidy (Marina View) 3.

Cadet: K. Rollinson (Murrays Bay Int) 1, A. Wilson (Matipo Primary) 2, D. Colville (Pukekohe Int) 3.

* * *

LACROSSE

AUCKLAND

Girls, pool A, final placings: Auckland GGS 20 points, 1, WGHS 16, 2, Diocesan 12, 3.

* * *

MULTISPORT

WAIKATO DUATHLON CHAMPS
(Te Awamutu)

Senior girls: S. Walker (Waikato Diocesan) 64m 29s, 1, A. Gibson (Auckland Diocesan) 66m 34s, 2, N. Treweek (Cambridge) 67m 18s, 3.

Senior boys: M. Torkler (New Plymouth BHS) 55m 18s, 1, K. Drower (St Peters) 60m 27s, 2, D. Swney (St Pauls) 62m 34s, 3.

Intermediate girls: E. Petersen (Te Awamutu) 53m 12s, 1, R. Smith (Waikato Diocesan) 56m 57s, 2, K. Pottinger (Hamilton GHS) 58m 53s, 3.

Intermediate boys: N. Coombes (Francis Douglas Memorial) 48m 09s, 1, C. Newlands (Te Awamutu) 51m 55s, 2, J. Nabbs (St Pauls) 52m 54s, 3.

Junior girls: M. Blackett (Strathallan) 40m 37s, 1, L. Morrison-Jones (Auckland Diocesan) 41m 40s, 2, T. Richards (Thames) 41m 55s, 3.

Junior boys: J. Glanville (Taupo-Nui-a-Tia) 35m 37s, 1, C. Hollamby (Taupo-Nui-a-Tia) 36m 32s, 2, J. Barnes (Taupo-Nui-a-Tia) 37m 44s, 3.

Year eight girls: M. Guy (Bucklands Beach Int) 29m 33s, 1, A. Douglas (Taupo Int) 30m 00s, 2, D. Stuart (Taupo Int) 31m 40s, 3.

Year eight boys: C. Todd (Taupo Int) 28m 24s, 1, M. Roberts (Taupo Int) 28m 32s, 2, J. Thurston (Taupo Int) 28m 34s, 3.

Year seven girls: M. Thompson (Taupo Int) 32m 23s, 1, J. Bowers (Taupo Int) 32m 37s, 2, N. Jamieson (Pukekohe Int) 33m 00s, 3.

Year seven boys: H. McCormick (St Patricks) 30m 27s, 1, B. Watson (Taupo Int) 31m 00s, 2, S. Fleck (St Patricks) 31m 25s, 3.