Ashburton’s team that headed to the weekend’s South Island Swimming Championships was (from left) Bailey Tait, Bree Middleton, Blake Farr, Mitchell Veix, Alex Chapman, Hannah King, and coach Shane Jones. Photo supplied.Ashburton swimmers have returned from the South Island Championships with a number of medals to show for their efforts.

The championships were held in Christchurch from Friday to Sunday and saw almost 300 competitors from around the South Island hitting the water to vie for South Island supremacy.

The Jennian Homes Ashburton Swim Team sent a relatively small team of six to the championships and they performed well, making finals and picking up a number of medals.

Blake Farr won gold in the 200m freestyle, silver in the 50m and 100m freestyle and bronze in the 400m freestyle.

He also finished sixth in the 400m individual medley.

Bree Middleton won two golds, in the 200m and 400m freestyle, and took silver in the 800m freestyle along with fourth placings in the 100m and 50m freestyle and a fifth in the 200m individual medley.

Having to swim two years above her age, Hannah King was also in fine form, coming home with a 100 per cent personal best time record, including an outstanding swim in her 800m freestyle race where she dropped 17.77 seconds off her personal best time.

Also chopping a chunk of his personal best in the 50m freestyle was Mitchell Veix, who took 4.96 seconds off his previous best.

Meanwhile, Bailey Tait was seventh in her 50m butterfly race and eighth in her 800m individual medley, and Alex Chapman – swimming at his first South Island championships – was 14th in the 200m breaststroke.

The event was a great lead up to Short Course Nationals which would be held in Auckland in early October, which Farr and Middleton had already qualified for.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 29 August 2018

Ashburton’s Taonga Mbambo in action at the Australian Cross Country Championships on the Sunshine Coast. Photo supplied.Taonga Mbambo proved that he could more than keep pace with some of the best cross country runners from both Australia and New Zealand at the weekend.

The year 13 Ashburton College student was part of the New Zealand team which headed across the ditch to race in the Australian Cross Country Championships and he finished 12th.

He was also the third New Zealander to cross the finish line out of a total of 82 athletes in the event held on the Sunshine Coast, and Mbambo was happy to finish so far up the field in what was his first overseas racing experience.

The race was won by Murdoch McIntyre from New Zealand in a time of 20.14 minutes.

Mbambo raced home in 21 minutes for the 6km course and overall he and his New Zealand team-mates finished third.

They then went on to participate in a road race relay, in which they also came home third.

It had been a big few months for Mbambo.

Just a few days before heading to Australia, he took part in the Canterbury Road Race Championships and placed first in the under-18 men’s section in a time of 18.52 minutes.

Earlier this month he was part of the Canterbury athletics team that contested the New Zealand Cross Country Championships and out of a field of 43 Mbambo was third in the men’s under-18 section, covering the 6km in 22.07 minutes.

His selection for the team to head to Australia followed his sixth placing at the New Zealand secondary schools’ championships in Taupo in June.

The Australian trip was the last of the cross country season for Mbambo, but there was little time to sit back and relax, with the summer athletics season just around the corner.

He would now turn his attention to training for track events, where he was also a formidable opponent over the longer distances.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 August 2018

A goal in the dying seconds stole victory from under Ashburton College A’s noses and sealed Methven a place in the 2018 Mid Canterbury Netball ACL premier one final on Thursday night.

Methven A had trailed the entire game until Leanne Clemens calmly slotted that final goal with six seconds left on the clock to win it for her side 29-28, breaking the hearts of the young college players.

Methven A will now take on Celtic A in the final after they took out the night’s other, vastly different semifinal, downing Mt Somers 47-27.

That result may have never really looked in doubt, but it was a different story in the game between College A and Methven A. College A led 8-6 at quarter-time and had extended their lead to 16-12 at half-time.

Methven A roared back into the game in the third quarter, tying the scores up a couple of times but never actually taking the lead, and, at three-quarter time, College A’s lead had been reduced to just one at 22-21.

College A still looked to have the edge, but Methven A wasn’t going away and with just one minute left on the clock they drew level again at 28-all to set up an intense final 60 seconds.

College A had the centre pass and got the ball to the shooting circle, but what could have been the winning shot missed and Methven A pounced on the rebound and, despite a huge defensive effort from College, managed to get the ball to the steady hands of Clemens who slotted the winning goal.

Methven A coach Maree Firth said she was stoked with the way her girls dug deep and never gave up.

“Someone said to me after the game ‘how’s your heart?’. I think my heart ran away,” Firth said.

She said College A played well and fought all the way.

“We were never out of it, but we were never in it either,” she said.

“We knew that we had some mature heads and we just wanted to play percentage netball.”

While gutted to have fallen so short, College A coach Kaye Kennedy said she was proud of how far her girls had come this season. She said if someone had asked her in round one if her girls would be in the semi-finals and getting so close, she’d have told them her young side wasn’t ready yet.

“I’m proud of the girls because they have come such a long way and it was just a great game of netball and a great spectacle for the spectators,” Kennedy said.

“(Methven’s) experience probably showed in the end and we had a couple of umpiring decisions that didn’t go our way at crucial times, but you can’t control that, that’s just the way it is.”

In the night’s second semifinal, Mt Somers faced a huge ask against this season’s frontrunners, the unbeaten Celtic A. The two sides met in the final round last week and Celtic A won by 20 and although Mt Somers looked like they were going to push them a lot harder this week when they trailed by just a couple of goals mid-way through the second quarter, by fulltime the margin was again 20 goals.

Methven A shooter Leanne Clemens prepares to claim a feed into the circle during her side’s dramatic semifinal win over Ashburton College A on Thursday night. Photo Erin TaskerCeltic A was up 9-5 in the first quarter when they lost centre Julia McLeod with an ankle injury, but Debbie Summerfield picked up where she’d left off and Celtic A led 11-6 at quarter-time.

Mt Somers rallied in the second quarter and got back to within a couple of goals before Celtic A really put the foot down. They picked up intercepts across the court and put together a string of goals to lead 25-15 at half time.

By three-quarter time the margin was 17, at 37-20, and although the final quarter was closer, the game was already decided.

Celtic A coach Angela Leadley said her side played as a team and looked after each other.

“Sala Bueta (goal shoot) owned that court, demanding the ball. She has just improved out of sight this season and she kept us in the hunt for a while there,” Leadley said.

Mt Somers player/coach Kate Oliver said the game didn’t feel as one-sided as the scoreline suggested and she was proud of her side.

Mt Somers were the new kids on the block this season, forming a new team and starting in premier two before being promoted to premier one after the first round. To make the semifinals of the top flight was a big achievement and Oliver said they were now focused on finishing third.

While Celtic A and Methven A play off in the big show next week, Mt Somers and College A will square off in the third place play-off.

Hampstead A and Celtic B played off for fifth place on Thursday night and ended up sharing it, after the game ended in a 30-all draw.

In the premier two semi-finals on Thursday night United A and Southern A produced big wins to seal places in next week’s premier two final. United A beat Celtic C 54-17 while Southern A beat Ashburton College B 44-23, while Methven B won the play-off for fifth against Rakaia A 35-30.

United A and Southern A both started their seasons in premier one, but were relegated to premier two after rounds one and two.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 24 August 2018