College sport: Knockout Cup also in MAGS' cabinet

Maclean's Ben Hunt (L) and Mt Albert's Tim Schaeffer fight for the ball during the Knockout Cup clash. Picture / Greg Bowker

Mt Albert Grammar have added soccer's Knockout Cup to their trophy cabinet after beating Macleans College 2-0 in the final at North Harbour Stadium.

It is the third time since 1998 that Mt Albert have won the Knockout Cup and Auckland league in the same season.

In a tightly contested final, both teams had their opportunities in the first half but failed to score. It wasn't until the 51st minute that Mt Albert found the net scoring off a corner pass.

Josh Smith played a short pass to Mark Withers who turned inside the penalty area, drove the ball which took a deflection from a defender and went in.

Mt Albert then found themselves a man down after Damien Fonoti was sent off for a clumsy tackle.

Playing with 10 men seemed to work in Mt Albert's favour. They scored a few minutes later after substitute Pomare Te Anau banged the ball across to Rhys Ruka who slotted it in to give them a 2-0 lead.

Multisport A broken paddle didn't stop the Rangitoto College senior mixed team from claiming the national schools multisport title at Tauranga.

Rangitoto's Bjorn Battaerd was left sitting on the startline of the 29km race after snapping his paddle as the gun fired, handing his opponents a 400m head-start while he waited for a replacement.

With a new paddle in hand, Battaerd used the strength and skills that this year won him a national surf lifesaving title in the under-16 taplin (2 swimmers, 2 board paddlers and 2 ski paddlers) relay championships to overtake at least 10 of the other competitors by the end of the first lap of the four lap, 4km course.

By the end of the second lap Battaerd was in the lead and gradually began to pull away to open a lead of over a minute at the end of the kayak leg.

Jono Hailstone, who at the start of the year won a national sprint team cycling title as a member of the Auckland under-19 team, extended the lead to over two minutes over the 20km road cycle course.

He passed over to national schools netball team trialist Kirsten Montgomery for the 5km run.

Though she had a group of boys in hot pursuit, Montgomery did not relinquish the lead.

Another notable result for Rangitoto came from third former Duncan Buchanan, who led from start to finish in the junior boys mountain bike division (2km kayak/5km mountain bike/3.2km run).

Westlake Girls High gained a second and third place in the individual intermediate and junior girls categories with Lilly Sommerville and Jessica Roets respectively.

Westlake Boys High won two team events, the intermediate and senior boys mountain bike division, while Bradley Aldrich won the intermediate boys road cycle category.

Kristin School's Harry Dillon secured third in the intermediate boys road cycle division.

* College Sport takes a two-week break for the school holidays.

Basketball

Four teams, four finals, four victories.

Northcote College's strength in basketball was evident at the Greater Auckland basketball championships and Auckland premier league finals at the North Shore Events Centre.

Northcote qualified for four of the eight finals on Friday night and won all of them - the premier girls title, the greater Auckland open grade boys and girls titles and the under-17 girls title.

In the premier girls final Northcote edged rivals Rangitoto 66-58.

Ahead by 13 at three-quarter time Northcote's performance slipped in the final quarter which allowed Rangitoto back into the game.

With five minutes to go the score was tied. Northcote then had a burst of their own, scoring 10 unanswered points, five from Tall Fern Jessica McCormack.

McCormack scored 24 of Northcote's 66 points. Her dominance on defence and slick moves on offence were contributing factors in Northcote's win.

In the premier boys final, the star-studded Westlake Boys High team, with four 2005 Junior Tall Blacks in their line-up, proved too strong for Auckland Grammar, winning 101-73.

Westlake made their mark early with Corey Webster hitting 10 points in the first three minutes.

Webster added a further 10 points in the quarter to have 20 of Westlake's 38-point haul at the first break.

Grammar struggled against towering Westlake players Warwick Siddall and Robert Loe.

Webster ended the match with 37 points including six three-pointers, four in the first quarter.

His teammate David Clarke scored 10 points and 13 assists and Siddall 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Curling

The last two semifinalists in the Auckland secondary schools girls competition have been found.

Birkenhead Girls Team Seo beat Epsom Girls Team Tiong 12-3 earning themselves a spot in the semis while Baradene College beat the Massey High Rockers 9-6.

The competition takes a break over the school holidays and resumes on October 12 with the semifinals.

In the boys semifinals the Long Bay Gliders face Birkenhead College Team Niu and Long Bay College Nuggets will play Birkenhead College Team Edwards.

In the girls semifinals Westlake Girls Icebergs will play Birkenhead College Team Seo and Auckland Girls Grammar will play Baradene College.

Coming up

Thursday: Curling, North Island Championships, Avondale. Special Olympians, ten-pin singles ribbon day, Manukau, 10am.

Friday: Badminton, New Zealand teams event, Christchurch, until Sunday.

Saturday: Cycling, New Zealand secondary schools teams event, Levin and Feilding until Monday.

Monday: Basketball, New Zealand secondary school championships, Christchurch until Sunday.

Table Tennis, New Zealand secondary school championships Auckland 27-28.

Curling, New Zealand secondary school championships, Dunedin, October 2-3.

Netball, New Zealand secondary schools championships, Blenhiem, October 3-6.

* COLLEGE RESULTS

BASKETBALL

AUCKLAND PREMIER

Boys: Westlake Boys High 101 (Webster 37, Siddall 22, Walbutton 13, Clarke 10) Auckland Grammar 73 (Binghouse 17, Babic 16, Cho 16, Fantl 14). Westlake MVP, Corey Webster; Auckland Grammar MVP, Brandon Binghouse.

Girls: Northcote College 66 (McCormack 24, Theyers 10) Rangitoto College (Nathan 17, Djokovic 11) Northcote MVP, Jessica McCormack; Rangitoto MVP, Milika Nathan.

Greater Auckland Championships

Boys

Open Grade, Northcote College 62 Mt Roskill Grammar 31; Under 17, Westlake Boys High 42 Dilworth 39; Under 15, Kelston Boys High 88 Birkenhead College 58.

Girls

Open Grade, Northcote College 58 Epsom Girls Grammar 35; Under 17, Northcote College 63 Baradene College 39; Under 15, Auckland Girls Grammar 61 Westlake Girls High 38.

* * *

CURLING

AUCKLAND GIRLS

Birkenhead Girls team Seo bt Epsom Girls Team Tiong 12-3 Baradene College bt Massey High Rockers 9-6.

* * *

SOCCER

AUCKLAND KNOCKOUT CUP FINAL

Mt Albert Grammar 2 bt Macleans College 0.

* * *

TABLE TENNIS

AUCKLAND WINTER INTERSCHOOLS

A Premier grade

Macleans College A bt St Kentigern College 6-1, Auckland Grammar A bt Macleans College B 6-1, Auckland Grammar B bt Mt Albert Grammar 5- 2, Auckland Grammar C bt Auckland Grammar D 7- 0.