Students show their sporting side
Marlborough’s college sporting teams from across a variety of codes took part in the annual secondary school sports week over the past week.
Teams from Marlborough Boys’ College, Marlborough Girls’ College and Queen Charlotte College took time off from their studies to represent their school, meeting with varying levels of success at fixtures played out around the nation.
MGC FOOTBALL:
Flying the flag locally was the First XI football side, who were involved in the Gary Sowden tournament at Blenheim’s A&P Park from Monday until Thursday. They beat Upper Hutt, Massey and Rolleston, drew with Rangiora, and lost to Hillmorton and Nelson. Their final match, against Nelson, was decided by a penalty shootout after the scores were tied 1-1 at fulltime, the visitors prevailing and claiming ninth place, leaving MGC 10th. Coach Ian Thomas said this was “a good result considering how many young players are in the team”.
NETBALL:
The MGC senior A netballers finished 15th in the A grade at the South Island championships in Christchurch. They beat Rangi Ruru (37-21) and Avonside (4125) in pool play to finish second in their group and qualify for the top 16, but struggled thereafter. They went down 39-25 to Columba in their final pool match, then lost to Kaiapoi (40-30), Christchurch Girls’ (50-32) and Cashmere (3428) in post-section play. In their semifinal they lost 38-30 to James Hargest before finishing on a high note, beating Rangiora 3819 in the battle for 15-16.
HOCKEY:
The Hockey First XI attended the Federation Cup and Marie Fry Trophy tournament in Hamilton. They were up against some high-powered opposition but gave a good account of themselves, picking up a draw and a win on their way to 24th position. Losses to Taradale (3-1) and St Cuthberts (3-0) plus a 0-0 draw with Hamilton in pool play, saw them drop into the Marie Fry section. They opened with a win over Marian, prevailing in a penalty shoot-out after the match was drawn 3-3. This was followed by a 2-1 loss to Napier, a 2-1 defeat by John Paul College and a 3-1 reversal against New Plymouth.
MBC HOCKEY:
The First XI hockey side went one better than their third placing last year during the Johnson Cup tournament in Nelson. MBC raced through to the final with four commanding wins, without conceding a goal. They beat Rolleston 7-0, Dunstan 4-0, Cashmere 2-0 and Whanganui 2-0 in the semifinal. In the decider they came up against home side Nelson and, after a spirited encounter, went down 2-1. Their second placing means they will progress to the next tier Rankin Cup in 2025.
RUGBY:
The college’s under-15 side travelled to Christchurch for the annual invitational tournament, finishing a very creditable third. After opening with wins against Shirley (19-5), Rangiora (50-12) and Southland (49-0), MBC then lost to both Timaru (20-7) and Nelson (43-28) before recovering to down Waitaki (18-12) in the play-off for third and fourth.
FOOTBALL:
The MBC First XI competed at the top level – taking on the nation’s top sides at the boys’ premier tournament in Auckland from September 1-6. Although competitive throughout MBC found the going tough, losing all their seven matches and scoring just one goal along the way. In their final match they took on Scots College and lost 1-0.
BASKETBALL:
Both the MBC senior and junior teams took part in their respective South Island zone four tournaments in Dunedin. The senior boys found the going tough, scoring just one win, a 72-68 victory over Burnside, on their way to 24th position. The juniors had more success, beating Shirley 73-71, Middleton Grange 99-73, Rangiora 68-65 and Kaiapoi 7667 on their way to a very creditable sixth position.
SHOOTING:
Two teams from MBC and one MGC combination competed in the national schools smallbore shooting champs at Athletic Park. In the first-up inter-schools match on Saturday the MGC team did well, scoring a total of 859.28 to finish sixth (Gemma Bishell-Fox 290.14, Amelia Rowe 287.09, Gemma Rae 282.05). The MBC Two team finished eighth on 847.27 (Kevin Barnard, 291.12, Zac McIntyre 281.10, Riley Morriss 275.05), and the MBC One team came 12th with 845.20 (Willem Rowe 287.08, Dylan Mathieson 284.08, Reuben Henry 274.04). The match was won by Cambridge High School with a score of 871.35.
The top shooters from this match gained selection in their respective Island teams, with Kevin, Gemma Bishell-Fox, Amelia, and Willem gaining selection in the 12-person South Island combination. The North Island team won the match 1940.75 to 1928.72. Kevin continued his good form, scoring 195.06, and winning a spot in the NZ team, other local scores were: Gemma 189.04, Amelia 187.07 and Willem 190.03.
On Sunday morning the NZ team shot cards for a postal match against a Great British team, who will shoot their match at a later date. Kevin again shot well, scoring 197, only a point behind the top scorer in the team.
Those not in the NZ team shot a Plate match, with mixed school teams shooting for honour and glory, and a little bit of redemption. Marlborough scores were Willem 197, Gemma Bishell-Fox 196, Amelia 193, Gemma Rae 192, Reuben 189, Dylan 188 and Zac 186.
Top scorer in the schools’ match and top overall shooter was Bryn Blacklaws, who started his shooting career with the RSA club in Blenheim before his family moved to Dannevirke. Bryn’s family are well known in Marlborough shooting, with his grandmother Kim Bishell, and his great-grandfather Merv Offord both Marlborough and NZ representatives.
CYCLING
On the last weekend in August, 100 riders from schools as far north as Auckland and as far south as Dunedin arrived in Seddon to contest the Cycling New Zealand Schools Southern Tour. Amongst the competitors were nine Marlborough riders, including Neve McKenzie who was riding for St Kentigern’s College. Riders contested two stages on each day with the time trial and criterium on Saturday and the hill climb and road race on Sunday. Saturday’s two stages both doubled as national championships and under-13 rider Honor McKenzie from Bohally Intermediate won gold in both of them with Poppy Stocker taking silver.
Neve McKenzie won the U17 time trial and was second in the criterium while her brother, Finn McKenzie, was third in the U20 time trial. Bruce Tunnicliff from MBC rode strongly to post the fourth fastest time in the U14 section. On Sunday, Honor and Poppy continued a tight tussle for control of the U13 grade with Poppy winning the hill climb and the road race after Honor crashed halfway through the stage and was unable to regain the bunch. Neve was dominant in the U17 grade taking both of Sunday’s stage while Finn was third in the hill climb and Bruce finished third in the road race.
Overall results for the tour: GU13 - Poppy Stocker won the yellow jersey and the Queen of the Mountains Jersey and was second for Sprint Ace. Honor McKenzie won the Sprint Ace Jersey and was second in the other two categories. GU17 - Neve McKenzie won all three categories. BU14 - Bruce Tunnicliff was third in the Sprint Ace and King of the Mountains. BU20 - Finn McKenzie was third in the tour leader and sprint ace.
QCC
The Queen Charlotte College netball side attended the SISS tournament in Christchurch, contesting the B grade. The girls from Picton found the going tough, winding up 28th after winning just one game, a 33-16 victory over Northern Southland.