Ashburton College 1st XI cricket. Photo supplied.Ashburton College’s first XI cricket side is about to embark on a four-match international pre-season tour.

The team is bound for Australia on a trip that will see the young players get some valuable game time ahead of the 2018/19 season, and pick up some new skills along the way.

Game one of the tour will take place on Sunday at the Caloundra Cricket Club and it will be a 50 over game. The following day they’ll have a coaching session with Alan (Butch) Gale, head coach of the Matthew Flinders Cricket Club, before playing a T20 against Sunshine Coast Grammar School on the Tuesday.

The following day the side will take on a team from the Sunshine Coast Cricket Association in a T20 under lights, before finishing up with a 50 over game against Matthew Flinders Anglican School’s first XI on the Thursday, and returning home on the Friday.

The Ashburton College first XI has been training hard in the weeks leading up to the tour and enlisted the services of Mid Canterbury Cricket coach Garfield Charles for both the build-up, and as tour coach.

With the tour taking place in the second week of the school holidays.  Nine families of players are also making the trip across the Tasman to support the side and have a family holiday at the same time, meaning there will be no shortage of support on the boundary for the Ashburton boys.

After returning home the college cricket side will turn its attention to the Canterbury secondary schools’ cricket competition.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 4 October 2018

Lanelle McArthur (left), Shania Harrison-Lee (middle) and Emma Smith have successfully defended their title at the New Zealand secondary schools’ target shooting match. Photo supplied.Lanelle McArthur’s secondary school shooting days have come to a successful end.

McArthur and team-mates Emma Smith and Shania Harrison-Lee headed to Rangiora at the weekend to compete in the New Zealand secondary schools’ target shooting match and could not have wished for a better outcome.

The Coronation Target Shooting Club trio defended the title they won the year before at the shoulder-to-shoulder match, topping the leaderboard with a score of 877.42 ahead of second placed Fielding High School on 873.27 and third placed Palmerston North Boys’ High School on 860.22.

The school shoot opened the big weekend of shooting, with each team member shooting three cards, and as well as those three cards each being enough to secure Ashburton College the title.

Harrison-Lee’s individual effort was also the day’s best which saw her named the captain of the South Island team for a shoot against the North.

All three Ashburton College students shot in the match against the North Island, which was won by the South, and McArthur was the top shot in that which resulted in her being named the captain of the New Zealand team for a postal shoot against Great Britain on Sunday.

That New Zealand team featured all three Ashburton girls again and the results of that shoot are not yet known.

McArthur was also the shoot’s overall top woman, with her total score of 492 a record for the top girl trophy at the competition.

For McArthur, a Year 13 student, it was the last time she will shoot for Ashburton College, while Harrison-Lee and Smith are year 11 students this year meaning that – along with a new team member – they’d be able to take aim at a hat-trick in the national match next year.

Despite being defending champions heading into this year’s event, McArthur said there were no nerves.

As a shooter, you couldn’t afford to get nervous.

“It’s a very mental sport and if you have too much on your mind or you’re stressed or nervous you’re going to shake and you’re not going to do well,” McArthur said.

All three Ashburton shooters are no strangers to top competition either. Just last month they combined to win the New Zealand secondary schools’ championships postal shoot.

For that they had to send away for rounds of targets which took them out the team title, while Harrison-Lee was the top overall individual and won the B grade championship, in which Smith was third.

McArthur was the master grade champion in that shoot and third overall.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 3 October 2018

Ashburton Swim Team members Blake Farr and Bree Middleton are off to the national short course championships next week. Photo supplied.When top swimmers from across New Zealand and further afield line up next week for the national short course championships in Auckland, two Ashburton swimmers will be among them.

Jennian Homes Ashburton swim team members Bree Middleton, 15, and Blake Farr, 14, will be flying the flag for Mid Canterbury at the New Zealand Short Course Championships, which are being held at the Sir Owen Glenn National Aquatic Centre.

All up there will be 699 swimmers taking part in the championships, with some coming from as far away as Switzerland, America, Fiji and Australia to battle it out for honours in the water.

The championships are a five-day event which start on Tuesday, with age group racing in the morning sessions and the open age finals in the evening sessions.

The national short course championships are raced in a 25-metre pool and both Farr and Middleton will be competing in their favoured freestyle events where they are hoping to make waves and come away with podium finishes.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 29 September 2018