College sport: Talented Somali wins cross-country

Before he came to New Zealand, Shafat Salad had never run a step competitively. Born in Somalia, he immigrated in 2001 after living for two years in Ethiopia.

It was not until he ran in a cross-country race at Hamilton's Fairfield College in late 2001 that he became interested. The following year he won the New Zealand secondary schools road race. His career took off.

On Saturday he overcame difficult conditions at Wanganui Collegiate to win the senior boys' national secondary schools cross-country championship over 6km by a handy 23s from Hayden McLaren (Shirley BHS).

"It was a better race than I had last year," said Salad, 18. "I wasn't feeling well last year and finished sixth, but since then I have increased my training mileage."

Trained by Fairfield College teacher John Tylden, who first spotted him at that school race, Salad is also a more than useful track runner, having already run under the 3000m steeplechase qualifying time for next year's world junior track and field championships.

"I would also like to try and qualify for the Commonwealth Games," said Salad, who was handed his New Zealand citizenship last November.

The titles were shared by several schools at the national championships, with Pakuranga College's Kelsei Patterson running strongly to lead home Annie Keown (Auckland Girls Grammar) in an Auckland one-two in the under-16 race over 4km.

Keown's sister Esther was just 3s behind Hannah Newbould (Cashmere) in a closely fought junior race with only 7s between first and third.

The senior girls' race was won by New Zealand junior mountain running champion Ruth Croft (Rangi Ruru). Rangitoto College, led by Rebecca Spence (7th) finished second in the three-person teams race.

Auckland teams fared well, with Westlake BHS winning both the three- and six-person junior boys' races to match St Cuthberts' double success in the girls' under-16 teams races. Diocesan and St Kentigern College won the junior girls' team titles.

Basketball

The clash of last year's two top teams was not as close as might have been expected, with Westlake beating Avondale 70-55 after holding a slight edge at both ends of the court from the start.

Westlake was again led by Thomas Abercrombie, who was his usual reliable self on attack. The teams remained reasonably close until Westlake pulled away towards the end to retain their unbeaten run.

Auckland Grammar beat Rangitoto 99-63 to remain in second place, ahead of Avondale on differential.

Manurewa beat Rosehill 80-56 to also retain their 100 per cent record in the girls' championship and stretch their lead to four points over Avondale and Rosehill.

Curling

After two ends with no scoring, Rangitoto Sliders broke the deadlock with a single on the third end of their junior boys' clash with Birkenhead. It remained close throughout, with Rangitoto eventually getting home 4-2.

Corelli High continued their good form with a 5-3 win over Rangitoto Frujus in a mixed game while Massey Strikers, in the other mixed pool, continued their unbeaten run with a 5-3 win over Long Bay.

In tomorrow's feature game Long Bay, who have already beaten last year's national champions Kelston BHS, will play the Birkenhead Giants.

Hockey

Tomorrow's final round of the 1a boys' competition pits top sides King's College and Auckland Grammar against each other at AGS. Both have already qualified for the inter-city competition which follows, but there will still be plenty of edge in a traditional battle.

Today, in another top-of-the-table clash, Diocesan and St Cuthberts meet at AGS. Locked on 18 points with perfect records, there is plenty at stake.

Netball

In a major surprise, second-placed Pakuranga were held to a 30-30 draw by neighbours Howick, who had lost three of their four games.

Leaders Auckland Girls Grammar continued on their winning way, but found some resistance from middle-of-the-table Macleans in another keenly contested game.

With Pakuranga dropping points and Diocesan losing to St Cuthberts, Mt Albert Grammar and St Marys seized the chance to close the gap and jump into the top four.

In the Eastern Zone, Papatoetoe and Tamaki made it four straight and have maximum points to lead Macleans by three points.

Rugby

Auckland Grammar bounced back from their narrow loss to King's to demolish Macleans 76-0 and pick up the bonus point for scoring four or more tries. This kept them equal on points at the top of the table with Kelston BHS, who turned in a strong defensive effort to beat Mt Albert Grammar 19-3.

King's, who beat neighbours Otahuhu College 38-17, are in third place a point back.

King's raced to 17-0 by halftime, but in an excellent second half both teams scored three tries in a fiercely contested encounter.

The remaining games were closely fought. Tamaki's 14-11 win over De La Salle was the third game in which they have won by less than four points.

In a convincing effort, Westlake beat Rangitoto 31-7 in the feature North Harbour clash. In another big win, Rosmini beat Orewa 36-6. Massey were too strong for Takapuna, winning 15-0.

Soccer

Fresh from one of the most significant results in their history - the 1-0 away win over Auckland Grammar - King's College held Mt Albert Grammar to 0-0 at halftime in their senior a1 clash on Saturday.

In the end the visitors went away 3-0 winners, and take a three-point lead over King's in the championship race.

Second-half goals to Joe Simpkins (a solo effort), Damien Fonoti and Josh Mattock, from a freekick, got Mt Albert Grammar home. In six games this season they have conceded just five goals.

"It was a very good game in the difficult conditions," said MAGS coach Kevin Fallon. "The first half was keenly contested. In the second half we turned it on but we had to work for it. They have done very well.

"For me, the whole day was secondary school sport at its best.

"It does not get any easier for Mt Albert Grammar, who face old foes Auckland Grammar on Saturday.

"We are coming right," said Fallon. "After having players out, we should be pretty close to full strength. The competition has been close throughout and I don't expect there will be more than a couple of points in it."

As well as their league success, MAGS took another step towards a ninth straight Knockout Cup final with a midweek 3-0 win over Rangitoto College in the second round, which must be completed by tomorrow.

Volleyball

New Zealand savoured double-success in the transtasman contest at Tallebudgera, on Queensland's Gold Coast, with victory in the two end-of-tournament tests.

Earlier, the North Island boys beat Queensland 3-2 in a hard-fought final (30-28, 20-25, 31-33, 25-21, 15-6). In the test it was more clearcut, the New Zealanders winning 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-20).

The North Island girls also made their final, going down 3-1 to Queensland. In the girls' test the New Zealand team matched the boys in winning 3-0 (25-23, 25-9, 25-21).

Otumoetai College's Shannen Bagge was named the most valuable female player of the tournament. She was joined by fellow Otumoetai College pupils Sarah McLean, Simone Head and Renee Handley in the New Zealand team.

The strength of the sport at the Bay of Plenty school was underlined with Robert Burley, Thomas Culley and Charlie Stewart named in the national boys' team.