Search
Ashburton College’s Phoenix Andrew looks for the hoop during the Schick Southern Cup tournament at Ashburton’s EA Networks Centre yesterday. Photo Matt MarkhamAshburton College’s senior boys backed up their opening win at the Schick Southern Cup secondary schools’ basketball tournament with a massive victory in their second game.
Playing at Ashburton’s EA Networks Centre, the Ashburton boys beat Cashmere High School in the tournament opener on Thursday morning before taking on Dunedin’s Logan Park High School later in the day and winning 121-32.
Quin Ritchie top-scored for the Ashburton boys with 40 – including eight three-pointers – while Marc Juntilla scored 22 and Abel Wilson scored 20.
Yesterday they took on Kavanagh College and took another strong win, 99-34.
Coach Brian Kerr said his side had expected a tighter game than the night before and wanted to make sure their headspace was right.
“It was, as Ashburton College were very clinical, as their press was again effective and the finishing on the fast breaks were good,” Kerr said.
Ashburton raced out to a 31–5 lead after the first quarter and that was pretty much game over. The final three quarters were about ensuring they kept their structures in place, which they did adequately, Kerr said.
Ritchie and Juntilla top scored with 21 points, with Sam Pearce adding 20.
Today was the tournament’s final day, with the boys’ and girls’ finals set to be played at the same time – 3.30pm – with the boys’ final on court one and the girls’ final on court three.
This week has been secondary schools’ tournament week, with sporting tournaments being held around the country.
The Ashburton College girls’ basketball team were down in Invercargill at their zone four premiership, and they were eyeing up a 10th place finish heading into their final match against Timaru Girls’ High School (TGHS) today.
Yesterday morning they fell to a heavy loss to the tournament’s top seeds, St Hilda’s, 84-51. St Hilda’s were missing a few players during pool play due to some being in Dunedin at the South Island Secondary Schools’ Netball Championships, but they returned to ensure their team was full strength by yesterday, and were now a force to be reckoned with, the coach of the Ashburton girls Mark Douglas said.
The Ashburton girls were set to take on Nayland College last night before the tournament wrapped up today with their game against TGHS.
They were set to finish somewhere between 10th and 12th spot and Douglas said the tournament had been a great learning curve for a young, inexperienced side.
In Timaru, at the Audrey Timlin tournament, the Ashburton College girls’ first XI hockey team headed into a round robin with the bottom three teams yesterday to finish their tournament.
They started their day with a narrow loss to Otago Girls’ High School (OGHS). OGHS scored first before Ashburton got one back through Kate Donald just before halftime to make it 1-all at the break.
Marika Mellisa scored early in the second half to put Ashburton ahead, but OGHS fought hard and scored a further two goals off penalty corners to win 3-2.
In their final game against James Hargest – a school they’d beaten the day before – they finished on a high with a 3-2 win thanks to a second half fightback.
James Hargest led 2-0 at the break but Ashburton College sprung into life in the second and two goals to Donald and another to Kate O’Reilly saw them take the win.
In Invercargill, Ashburton College’s boys’ football first XI finished their tournament on Thursday in 10th place out of 21 teams, and later in the day Nick Eden was awarded the tournament’s most valuable player award, as chosen by opposition coaches.
In Ashburton, the Chris Arthur hockey tournament for girls’ second XIs wrapped up yesterday with St Margaret’s beating St Cuthbert’s in the final 2-1.
While most teams were finishing up at their tournaments, Ashburton College and Mount Hutt College’s golf croquet teams were just getting ready to start. They were at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Golf Croquet Championships which were being held at Waikanae and Paraparaumu today and tomorrow.
By Erin Tasker© The Ashburton Guardian - 8 September 2018
Ashburton College’s Fotu Hala goes on the charge during his side’s win over Cashmere at the EA Networks Centre yesterday. Photo Matt MarkhamAshburton College’s senior boys’ basketball team started the Schick Southern Cup basketball tournament with a win at Ashburton’s EA Networks Centre yesterday morning.
The home side took on Cashmere High School in the opening game of the tournament, which formed part of the national secondary schools’ tournament week, and won 76-62 with Sam Pearce top scoring with 18 and Quinn Ritchie adding 16.
The side recovered well after a slow start where they trailed 11-2 early on and 23-17 at quarter time, going on to completely dominate in the second quarter, restricting Cashmere to a single basket and leading 39-25 at halftime.
Cashmere started the third quarter strong, but there was no panic from the Ashburton College boys and their zone press caused problems for Cashmere as the lead extended to 67–42.
Cashmere finished strongly, but the margin was too much.
Ashburton College coach Brian Kerr said his side was caught off guard with Cashmere applying a full court man to man press early on and didn’t adapt well, but a timeout helped settled nerves.
“They were fast and pretty clinical as a whole. The zone press again worked really well for the most and it was a good first up display,” Kerr said.
Ashburton College headed into the tournament – for non-qualifiers for nationals – as firm favourites to take the title out and last night they were due to take on Logan Park in their second game.
Today they were set to play Kavanagh at 10.15am in their next game, and Hagley tonight in the 7pm game.
The school’s senior girls’ team was in Invercargill at the zone four premiership and they finished day one with a 76-60 win over Avonside Girls, and a 76-71 loss to James Hargest.
Also in Invercargill, at the Linwood Tournament, Ashburton College’s boys’ football first XI took on Tairei yesterday afternoon in their final match of the tournament and went down 4-1, to finish 10th out of 21 teams.
Earlier in the day they picked up a 3-1 win against Dunedin’s Logan Park High School, with Nick Eden continuing his stellar tournament scoring all three of his side’s goals.
In Dunedin at the final day of the South Island Secondary Schools’ Netball Championships, Ashburton College started with a loss to Dunstan High School yesterday morning 43-36, putting them into a play-off for 15th spot yesterday afternoon against Cashmere High School. They won that 34-21.
In the tournament’s C grade, Mount Hutt College played off for third spot against Amuri yesterday afternoon, after losing their semi-final to Waimate High School 31-20.
In Timaru at the Audrey Timlin hockey tournament, Ashburton College’s girls’ first XI finally recorded a win on Wednesday night, beating James Hargest 3-2.
Goals to Tayla Love, Kate Donald and Kate O’Reilly gave Ashburton College a 3-2 lead at halftime, and they managed to keep a rough second half scoreless to secure the win which put them in fifth place in their pool.
That put them into a round robin with the bottom three teams, and last night they were due to take on Otago Girls’ High School, before playing James Hargest again today.
Back in Ashburton, at the Chris Arthur hockey tournament for girls’ second XIs, finals action was set to hit the Ashburton hockey turf today. The final was set down for 12.30pm.
Ashburton College’s Keno De Leon faces off against Burnside High’s Jayon Thomas during the South Island Schools’ Chess Championship yesterday. Photo supplied.Droves of young chess players descended on the Ashburton Intermediate School hall for the South Island Schools’ Championship yesterday.
The air was thick with concentration as 64 competitors from Dunedin, Christchurch, Ashburton and beyond faced off in five rounds.
The event was organised by the New Zealand Chess Federation, and saw trophies handed out for the top primary, intermediate and secondary competitors.
Ashburton Chess Club’s Ken Pow said it was around the eighth time Ashburton Intermediate had hosted the championship.
The standard of play was high, as all competitors had already qualified for the national championships, he said.
By Katie Todd © The Ashburton Guardian - 5 September 2018
Photo Erin TaskerEmma Smith prepares to take aim during the inaugural Phoenix Junior and Schools Team Championship at the Phoenix and Coronation clubs’ West Street range on Saturday.
The competition was taken out by the Ashburton College 1 team of Lanelle McArthur, Smith and Shania Harrison-Lee with a score of 877.043, and a team from North Canterbury (Alex Boyd, Angus McIlraith and Billyjo Wells) was second with a score of 849.026.
A Target Shooting Mid Canterbury team – Ben Thomas, Sam Smith and Charlotte McKenzie – finished third with 847.024.
© The Ashburton Guardian - 5 September 2018
There were mixed results for Mid Canterbury’s secondary school sports teams around the country yesterday as the national secondary schools’ tournament week kicked off.
Down in the deep south in Invercargill, a Nick Eden hat-trick helped the Ashburton College boys’ first XI football team get off to a perfect start at their Linwood Tournament.
They took on Verdon College and won 6-0, with Eden scoring three goals, Ben Holland scoring two, and Keegan Gentle adding the other.
But in their second game they took on Massey and things didn’t go so well.
They lost 4-0 and coach Mike Pearce said they were simply outplayed on the day by a stronger team.
In Timaru at the Johnson Cup hockey tournament, Ashburton College’s boys’ first XI took on Cashmere yesterday morning and went down 2-0.
But it was a close match, with Cashmere only scoring their second goal with a couple of minutes left on the clock.
Team manager Jason Vannini said Cashmere simply had more possession and his side’s goalie saved a number of shots.
“We had a few on target, but not enough territory in the game,” Vannini said.
In Invercargill at the Audrey Timlin Memorial Tournament, the Ashburton College girls’ hockey first XI were a bit slow to wake up in their first outing against Lincoln High School and were down two goals by half time.
They came out stronger in the second half though and Jenna Turnbull finished off a good team goal, but unfortunately the clock ran out before they could get any more, going down 2-1.
In Queenstown, at the Rural Livestock Junior Rugby Tournament, the Ashburton College Under-15 team suffered a narrow loss in their opening game, beaten by Gore High School 22-17, before taking on Wakatipu late yesterday afternoon.
By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 8 September 2018
On Saturday Joel Leo was part of the Mid Canterbury A rugby side, but next week he’s in Taupo as part of the Heartland Under-19 side. Photo Tupea Elia Mata’uA young front-rower who plied his trade for the Celtic senior rugby side this year will next week run onto the field in Taupo as part of the Heartland Under-19 side.
When the Heartland team for the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under-19 Tournament was named late last week, Ioelu (Joel) Leo’s name was there. And no one was more surprised than the 19-year-old himself.
He finished work at ANZCO and checked his phone to find a missed call. He rang the number back and discovered it was the Heartland under-19 team coach.
“I was like ‘for real?’. And he said ‘yeah, I’m ringing you with the good news’,” Leo said.
The Jock Hobbs tournament was a key calendar event for New Zealand’s emerging young rugby talent and it would kick off at Owen Delany Park in Taupo on Sunday, and would feature a combined team selected from Heartland Championship provinces, coached by Horowhenua Kapiti’s Aleni Feagaiga.
It was the biggest opportunity of Leo’s career so far and he planned to make the most of it.
Like many young rugby players, his dream was to one to become a professional rugby player and he was working hard to go as far as he could, and keen to learn.
Leo came to New Zealand from Samoa with his parents and sister around six years ago and his family have been a tremendous support. Leo said his grandmother rang him from Samoa every Saturday morning with words of encouragement.
He attended Ashburton College and aside from a year playing for the school’s first XV, he had played for Celtic since he arrived.
He’d represented Mid Canterbury through the age groups and this year was part of the Mid Canterbury A development side and, although he was nominated to play for New Zealand Marist this year, he didn’t make the cut.
He was disappointed to have missed out on that but was over the moon to have made the Heartland Under-19 team.
A hooker who is also capable of playing either propping position, Leo heads to Taupo not knowing how much of a role he’ll get to play in the tournament, but with games being televised he was determined to play to the best of his ability.
“I’ve just got to do my best and hopefully it will come through,” Leo said.
The side’s coach Feagaiga said having a Heartland team encouraged young players to stay involved in the game beyond college and aspire to be part of the tournament, while giving them real opportunities to develop their game.
There were four players who were currently playing in the Heartland Championship included in the squad.
“It’s great that these guys can remain playing for their Heartland Union, but also be involved in a national set-up where they can stick their hand up for the New Zealand U20s team,” Feagaiga said.
While most teams had been together for a few weeks, the Heartland team would only get a couple of training runs before the tournament kicked off. Leo headed north yesterday to meet up with his team-mates.
The tournament would run until September 15 and was part of a week-long event that saw the teams assemble on Saturday, and included development programmes for the players, parents, coaches and referees which were run on the non-game days.
There were also position specific workshops with Super Rugby coaches, as well as sessions focusing on player education and life skills.
The tournament would involve 16 teams and around 400 players, with one team from each of the Mitre 10 Cup provincial unions competing along with an Auckland development team and the combined Heartland team.
Auckland A and Counties Manukau headed into the tournament as defending champions of the Graham Mourie Cup and Michael Jones Trophy respectively.
By Erin Tasker© The Ashburton Guardian - 7 September 2018