The Ashburton College junior boys’ rugby side takes a break from their tournament in Queenstown to pose for a photograph in front of the snow-capped mountains.Ashburton College’s golf team’s shot at national glory has fallen short.

Playing in the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Golf Championships in Palmerston North the team of Brent Kirdy, Wilson Hii, Josh Ackerley and Brayden Wood had a tough day at the office on Monday, ending up 16th out of 16 teams.

The championships were a one-day, 36-hole event, with Ackerley producing the team’s best performances, shooting an 83 and an 86.

While the team was done, Ackerley was staying on to compete in the New Zealand Under-19 Championships.

Meanwhile, down in Dunedin it was better news for the Ashburton College A netball team, with two wins from two outings on day one ensuring they’d finish in the top 16.

They beat Mt Aspiring College 43-21 before taking out a nail-biter against Otago Girls’ High School 34-33, and a win over Nelson College yesterday morning would have seen them top their pool, but they went down 41-28.

They then took on Rangiora in their first cross-pool game yesterday afternoon and lost 40-25.

In the netball tournament’s C grade, Mt Hutt College picked up two wins on day one – beating Rolleston College 25-20 and East Otago 38-11.

Yesterday they beat Cheviot 30-29 and Aparima College 23-19.

In Blenheim at the Gary Snowden tournament, the Ashburton College football girls’ 1st XI played well in their first game, coming away with a 3-3 draw against Villa Maria, with Amy Pearson nabbing a hat-trick for the Ashburton side.

Their second game against Avonside Girls’ High School was neck and neck early on and Avonside led 2-1 at half-time.

Despite struggling with dismal weather and fatigue the Ashburton girls levelled it at 2-all, but Avonside ran away with it from there, winning 6-2.

Up the front for Ashburton Pearson once again shone scoring both goals, with fantastic linking and attacking from Maggie Tarry, while down the other end Gemma Taylor played well in the goal, saving many other shots.

In Invercargill, at the Audrey Timlin Memorial Tournament the Ashburton College girls’ hockey first XI had a second loss late on day one, going down 3-1 to Craighead, with Kate Donald scoring their sole goal off a penalty corner.

They played Cashmere yesterday afternoon and were unlucky not to score in what was an even game, going down 1-0, with two pool play games remaining today.

In Timaru at the Johnson Cup, the Ashburton College boys’ first XV hockey side went down 3-0 to Taradale High School on Monday night, spending a lot of time on defence and unable to convert the chances they did get in the second half.

Yesterday they took on Hutt Valley High School and the game ended in a 1-all draw, with both goals coming indirectly from first-half penalty corners and neither team able to break the deadlock in the second half.

In Queenstown at the Rural Livestock Junior Rugby tournament, Ashburton College followed up a loss in their first game with a win in their second, beating Wakatipu High School 33-14, but lost to Waimea 19-12 yesterday morning.

Meanwhile in Ashburton, in the Chris Arthur Cup hockey tournament for girls’ second XI sides, after two games each it was Christchurch Girls’ High School and St Cuthbert’s College on top of pool A, and St Margaret’s College and Westlake Girls’ High School on top of pool B.

Tomorrow, the Schick Southern Cup basketball tournament will get under way at the EA Networks Centre, with the Ashburton College senior boys’ first game set to be against Cashmere B at 8.30am.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 5 September 2018