Ashburton’s Veronica Wall (right) and her New Zealand under-23 quad have finished fifth in their A final at the world under-23s in the US. Photo Rowing NZAshburton rower Veronica Wall and her New Zealand under-23 quad crew mates have finished fifth at the 2019 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in the USA.

The Kiwi quad made it through to the A final courtesy of a second placing in a repechage and were one of four New Zealand crews contesting an A final in Sarasota-Bradenton early yesterday morning (NZ time).

In calm weather after a couple of days of delays due to severe weather, the quad of Wall, Laura Glen, Katherine Lush and Kathryn Glen placed fifth in the final, in a time of 6:40:430 minutes.

The race was taken out by Great Britain in a time of 6.31:800 minutes, with Germany in second, Romania third and Switzerland fourth.

Rounding out the race was the crew from the Netherlands, who finished more than nine seconds behind the Kiwi girls.

In other A finals raced overnight Saturday, the New Zealand women’s pair of Ruby Willis and Grace Holland were sixth in the women’s pair, and the men’s quad of George Howat, Ben Kirsop, Mark Taylor and Jonathan Kumarich were also sixth.

In a very tight race, the New Zealand men’s coxed four of Angus Macfarlane, Luca Kirwan, Blake Bradshaw, Flynn Watson and coxswain Natalie Bocock placed fourth in the men’s coxed four A final, finishing just 0.8 seconds off third and just 1.4 seconds off first place.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 28 July 2019

Ashburton Swim Team members who attended the Canterbury Short Course Championships were (back, from left) Mitchell Veix, Bailey Tait, Blake Farr, Bree Middleton, (front) Hannah-Mae Joyce, Lucy Reeve and Hannah King. Photo supplied.A strong team of young Mid Canterbury swimmers produced some top results at last weekend’s Canterbury Short Course Championships in Christchurch.

Open to all swimmers aged 12 years and over, the Ashburton Swim Team sent seven swimmers to the event and between them they came home with a fair haul of medals.

Blake Farr won the 800m freestyle and took top 10 placings in the 50m butterfly, the 100m freestyle and the 100m individual medley, while Hannah-Mae Joyce also picked up a top 10 finish in her 800m frestyle event.

Hannah King won her 800m freestyle final and was third in the 200m breaststroke, as well as finishing in the top 10 in her 200m individual medley, 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 400m freestyle and 100m individual medley events.

Bree Middleton added to her growing medal collection with a win in both her 800m and 200m freestyle finals, and took silvers in both the 50m freestyle and 200m individual medley.

She also finished in the top 10 in the 100m backstroke.

Bailey Tait was second in his 100m freestyle final, while Lucy Reeve took a third placing in her 300m butterfly as well as top 10 placings in the 800m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

Also making a large contribution to the medal haul was Mitchell Veix, who won both his 400m individual medley and 400m freestyle events, as well as finishing second in the 50m, 200m and 100m butterfly, and third in the 200m freestyle.

Veix also finished in the top 10 in his 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle races.

It was a great weekend for the young team and they were back in the pool this week training hard ahead of the season’s next big challenge.

On August 3 and 4 they will head to Timaru for the Timaru Winter Meet, which would be the first ever competition for some of the Ashburton club’s newest members.

After that a number of swimmers are eyeing up the South Island Championships, which will be held in Dunedin from August 16-18 – an event which swimmers had to qualify for.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 26 July 2019

Stacey Smith Grant claims a pass during her side’s first loss of the season on Thursday night, at the hands of College A. Photo Erin TaskerCollege A may be the youngest team in the Mid Canterbury Netball premier one competition, but their latest win means that they are officially the team to beat.

They came away with a 37-32 win from their top-of-the-table clash with a previously unbeaten United A at the EA Networks Centre on Thursday night, and as a result moved to an outright lead on the points table at the mid-point of the season’s third and final championship round.

It was a game that started off as most expected it would, with the two sides going goal for goal, until United A managed to get a small roll on, only for College A to come back with a roll of their own to lead 9-7 at quarter time.

College extended that lead to five early in the second quarter, and although United got back to within two by half-time, College A weren’t giving them much room to move and weren’t going to give up their lead easily.

Both sides made changes in the third, with United switching Alice Hamill to goal attack and Stacey Smith Grant moving out to wing attack, with Nat Shaw entering the game on defence.

For College A, Dani McArthur moved to the shooting circle to join the steady-as-ever Hayley Tallentire, while Emma Stagg and Grace Adams joined the fray in the mid-court, and it was those changes which had the most impact early on, with College A extending their lead to eight.

United A grabbed a couple back to trail 29-24 at three quarter time, but for United A to make up that deficit, something needed to change.

So United coach Claire Tappin did just that, bringing Anna Edzes back on at goal keep after a quarter off, and it was a move that paid dividends early, with United again getting back within two goals.

But, United made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes late in the game which the young College side took advantage of, and moved back out to a five goal margin by full-time.

College A coach Kaye Kennedy said a big effort from her mid-court and circle defenders meant they picked up a lot of ball before United could get it to the steady Olivia McLennan under the hoop.

“I was pleased with our ball retention and once again Hayley (Tallentire) had a high shooting percentage to finish it off,” Kennedy said.

The night before that game, the College side had gone down 40-36 to St Margarets in the Canterbury secondary schools’ netball competition, SuperNet, in Christchurch.

That was a big improvement on their last outing against St Margarets, though, so Kennedy said it had been a good week.

United A coach Tappin said her team was simply outplayed by a better team.

She felt her side stood up well to College’s strong circle defence, but they made their fair share of errors and were disappointed in themselves.

But it also helped to motivate them.

“We’re stronger for the loss now, rather than in the semis,” Tappin said.

The result meant that with just two games remaining before finals, the young College side were three from three in the final round, while United A, Hampstead A and defending champions Celtic A had two wins each.

Methven A and Mt Somers were still without a win in this round, with Mt Somers suffering the heaviest defeat of the latest round, beaten 41-15 by Celtic A on Thursday night.

Celtic A coach Ange Leadley said her team produced a good, solid 40-minute performance.

“Things we have been working on all came together and the girls really delivered a strong performance,” Leadley said.

Meanwhile, Methven A’s disappointing run also continued, with Hampstead A handing them a 32-23 defeat.

Meanwhile, in premier two, Southern A notched up another big win, downing Hampstead B 51-25, while the night’s other two games were closer affairs.

Celtic B beat Methven B 24-19, while Ashburton College B downed Celtic C 28-22.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 26 July 2019