KEY POINTS:
Orewa College and Wentworth College will play an all-North Harbour final of the Auckland SS premier golf championship over 18 holes at the Huapai GC on Monday. The schools beat Mt Albert Grammar and St Kentigern College respectively in this week's semifinals.
Played in a varied matchplay format, Orewa, led by No 1 Todd Baek, came from behind at the halfway point to beat MAGS 38 1/2-33 1/2 at Helensville. Wentworth, with Sam Shin as their No 1, edged St Kentigern College 37-35 at Maungakiekie.
The key match of the final promises to be the clash between Koreans Baek and Shin.
Orewa, beaten by AGS in last year's final at Remuera, have Christine Shin playing at No 2. She, like other team members, is a member of the nearby Peninsula GC. Their No 4 is Michael Campbell who has to live with his "Cambo" nickname.
Archery
Auckland Grammar needed a perfect last arrow from Jay Gong to snatch a come-from-behind four-point win over Kings College in the first inter-school match of the year at Nicholson Park on Saturday.
Kings, fielding an all-novice combination, held a 24-point lead at the halfway point coming back strongly over the 20m distance after newcomers Onehunga HS had surprised by taking the early lead over the short range.
Kings had their lead trimmed to nine-points going into the final 25m quarter and it then came down to Gong's last arrow at 50m to decide the winner. He fired an X (inner 10) to secure the narrow win with Onehunga holding on for third.
Three matches are scheduled for term two.
Cricket
Normal transmission has resumed with St Peter's School through to their fifth straight 1st XI division one final.
Led by a match-winning double from in-form Josh Nelson, St Peter's crushed St John's College by five wickets to book their place in Saturday's final against Hillcrest High, who beat Hamilton BHS 3rd XI by the same margin.
Nelson, who scored an unbeaten 91 earlier in the week in a losing effort against St Paul's Collegiate in a crucial Gillette Cup clash and followed that a day later with an unbeaten 101 against Kristin School away in their traditional fixture, first starred with the ball against St John's.
After a slow, but controlled start, St John's reached 67-2 at the halfway point of their 50 overs. Captain Hayden Mourits then seized the initiative to score 73 from 67 balls. But, with 10 overs remaining and seven wickets in hand, they failed to accelerate the scoring as Nathan Lawry and Nelson claimed key wickets.
After early setbacks, St Peter's recovered with Fraser Kilgour kick-starting the run chase which Nelson continued to again end the match undefeated, this time on 88.
Opting to bat first in the other semifinal, Hamilton BHS 3rd XI lost an early wicket but hit back with a 62-run second wicket partnership between Michael Santner and captain Vaughan Stock. They failed to build on that as off-spinner Simon Roots struck and bagged 4-19 from his 10 overs.
At 45-3, Hillcrest's chances did not look great but Michael Heron's maiden half-century contributed to a resolute and match-winning partnership with William Kokaua.
In plate matches, Matamata College swamped St Pauls to win by 152 runs and Cambridge High sneaked home by 11 runs over Fraser High to book places in Saturday's final.
* Northern cricketers were upstaged by St Bedes College's Steven Golding . Playing in the Canterbury SS competition, Golding smashed the hapless Sydenham attack mercilessly to score 358 in an innings which began at 2.30pm and ended at 6pm when he was bowled after smashing 39 sixes and 21 fours.
Dragon Boats
The long haul south to contest the national championships on Christchurch's Lake Roto Kohatu paid off for two Auckland schools.
EGGS (girls) and Kaipara College (mixed) soon proved the teams to beat.
The girl's grade was keenly-contested with the champion Auckland crew having one of their races called as a dead heat. They went on to score a narrow win in the final.
The mixed grade was just as competitive with Kaipara and Upper Hutt College going stroke-for-stroke throughout the day's racing. The Helensville-based crew held on to win by 1s. Shirley BHS restored local pride in taking the boy's title.
EGGS, Kaipara and Shirley BHS will represent New Zealand in junior racing at the world championships in Sydney in September.
Waka Ama
The crews for the first of 175 scheduled races will take to the waters of Lake Okareka at the three-day national secondary schools championships today.
More than 1200 paddlers are expected in Rotorua for the championships. They will race over an eight-lane course either 250m straight or 500m with a turn.
Paddlers will race in W1, W6 and for the first time, W12 classes with two age categories, senior (Years 11-13) and junior (Years 9-10).
Water Polo
Sacred Heart's upset 5-4 win over New Zealand SS champions Rangitoto College in the premier boys' last round-robin match has thrown up an interesting semifinal.
Rangitoto, who finished fourth after dropping that match, will now play top qualifier and long-time rivals Westlake BHS in one semifinal at the Millennium Institute on Friday, while Sacred Heart will play Auckland Grammar at Sacred Heart in the other.
The final will be played at the Millennium pool on Sunday as the finale to the season's champion-ship.
The girl's semifinals will also be played on Friday with Massey meeting Rangitoto at the West Wave pool. In a keenly-contested affair, Massey went down 8-6 to WGHS, who remain unbeaten.
WGHS will play Diocesan at Sacred Heart in the other semifinal with Diocesan encouraged by their 6-0 last round win over St Cuthberts. There was a three-way tie for second with Massey taking that spot on a countback from Rangitoto and Diocesan.
The play-offs and finals will be played on Sunday at Sacred Heart and the Millennium.
Yachting
The strength of the sport at Westlake BHS and Westlake GHS was again underlined with good wins in the Auckland SS team's racing championships at Takapuna Beach.
The boys beat Long Bay College 3-2 and the girls were too strong for St Cuthberts College, winning 4-2.
Over at Bucklands Beach YC at Half Moon Bay, four teams contested the south zone championship with Auckland Grammar and St Kentigern College winning through to the best-of-three final with AGS taking the honours.
WBHS, WGHS and AGS will contest the national finals in New Plymouth from April 15-21.
Coming Up
Today: Orienteering, Auckland SS team's relays, One Tree Hill/Cornwall Park, 11am.
Today - Thursday: Cricket, year 9/10 boy's finals, Taupo. Softball, North Is SS division 2, New Plymouth.
Today-Friday: Softball, NZSS division one continues, Hastings.
Waka Ama, NZSS championships, Lake Okareka, Rotorua. Today from 10am, tomorrow from 9.30am, Friday (semifinals/finals) from 9.30am.
Today-Saturday: Volleyball, NZSS championships continue, Tauranga.
Today-Sunday: Rowing, Maadi Cup regatta continues, Lake Karapiro.
Tomorrow: Diving, Auckland SS championships, West Wave Aquatic Centre, 10am.
Friday: Equestrian, North Is SS dressage, Cambridge.
Water polo, premier semifinals, boys, AGS v Sacred Heart, Sacred Heart 7.40pm, WBHS v Rangitoto, Millennium Institute 8.40pm. Girls, Massey v Rangitoto, West Wave 8.30pm, Diocesan v WGHS, Sacred Heart 8.30pm.
Saturday: Cricket, Auckland 1A championship, 2nd round 2nd day (home team first, all 11am), WBHS v KBHS, St Kentigern v AGS, Rosmini v MAGS. 1A 2-day plate grade, 2nd day (home team first, all 11am), TGS v Rangitoto, Macleans v Avondale, Sacred Heart v Kings. 1B 2-day championship, 2nd day (home team first, all 12.30pm), Liston v AGS, Pakuranga v Papatoetoe, Rangitoto v St Kentigern, WBHS v St Peters. North Harbour premier (home team first, all 8.30am), Birkenhead v WBHS 4th X1, Kristin v TGS, Rangitoto v Glenfield. Waikato, championship final, St Peters v Hillcrest. Plate final, Matamata v Cambridge. Play-off 9th-10th: Morrinsville v Hamilton BHS 4th X1.
Touch, zones one and two qualifying tournament, Avondale Racecourse from 11am. Wrestling, NZSS championships, Hamilton.
Saturday-Sun: Athletics, North Island SS championships, Towers Track, Mt Smart Stadium, Saturday, track from 9am, field events from 9.30am. Sunday, from 9am.
Sunday: Cricket, Auckland SS v Canterbury SS, Kings College, 10.30am.
Water polo, premier finals (Millennium pool), girls 6.10pm, boys 8.10pm.
Monday: Golf, premier boy's final, Orewa College v Wentworth College, Huapai GC noon.
