Sports News Term 2, Week 4

Last Wednesday saw the last of our winter sports get started, with School Sport Canterbury competitions now underway for all codes.  We have a large number of teams competing in many different sports, and it has been great to see SMC so well represented on the courts and fields around Christchurch.  

BADMINTON
This year, we have 11 teams competing in the School Sport Canterbury Wednesday afternoon competition.  This week saw their second competition round, with a number of games being hosted at SMC each week.  Amanda Hardy took a team of five to compete in the Canterbury Secondary Schools team championships recently.  The team competed well in the one-day tournament and finished 3rd.  

BASKETBALL
Last week, after a bit of a slow start, the Senior A team fired up to claw it back, getting within nine points of the higher-ranked Cashmere team.  It was great to see the teamwork and effort kicking in as the girls stepped up on defence, claiming steal after steal and converting them into points at the other end.  

This Tuesday, the Senior A girls took on Kaiapoi in the first home game of the season.  Kaiapoi, who were South Island runners-up last year, were always going to be a tough battle, but the girls came out strong and gave it their all.  Lucie Davis had another good game, taking the ball to the hoop and taking control at the point.  Taylah Davis rebounded strongly, and it was good to have Lucy Farrell back after a couple of weeks of sickness, which helped with rebounds, too.  The team worked together well and is showing a lot of potential for the weeks ahead.

The Friday night competition has seen two rounds of play already, the first was on that ghastly Friday night when everyone appreciated playing an indoor sport.  Wet girls turned up to SMC but quickly dried off as they ran and laughed, shot, dribbled, and passed their way through the game. Our Junior A team had a great game to start the season, but narrowly went down to Rangiora by 2 in the end. Overall, the feedback from the teams was that it was great fun and they can’t wait until next week.  

Last Friday saw reduced numbers in our junior teams, but it was great that several girls stepped up and offered to play two games, meaning we could field all our teams.  There was a fierce battle at Hagley for our senior pink team, but our girls managed to keep their composure against a physically strong team to come out with the win 39-31.

Week three will be another cracking week of basketball.  There are always games at SMC on a Friday night, so pop down and support a team. 

CANOE POLO
On the 17th and 18th of May, a group of girls from St Margaret's College competed in the South Island secondary schools canoe polo tournament held at Jellie Park. Pippa Anderson, Yazmin Haddock and Izzy Hill, all Y11, Zara Rose, Y10 and Georgie Halliwell, Y9, placed third overall in the Senior girls category. Pippa Anderson and Georgie Halliwell also placed second in the Junior girls category, competing with a Christchurch combined team. Zara Rose was named in the South Island Secondary Schools tournament team.

If you are interested in finding out more about the sport or giving Canoe polo a go, email Zara Rose at rosez@stmargarets.school.nz

CROSS COUNTRY/ROAD RACE

On Tuesday 13th May the Canterbury Secondary Schools Road Race was held at North Hagley Park.   We had some amazing results with Sascha Mitchell Y9, setting a blistering pace and completing the 3km course in 9:59min. This was the fastest Year 9 time of boys and girls and the fastest girls' time overall, fantastic job Sascha.  Well done to everyone who competed.

EQUESTRIAN
Mother's Day was an early start for our equestrian girls and their families, with the Canterbury Secondary Schools One Day Event taking place.  This is where girls compete in 3 separate events in one day as part of a team.   First off was the dressage, where we had some great performances and as always, Emily, the coach, along with the riders and their parent, had all their horses looking exceptional. Unfortunately, it was at this stage that Tara Morgan encountered some issues with her horse being lame, and shortly after, was forced to withdraw from the remainder of the competition.  However, the teams continued on and headed out to either the show jumping or the cross country.  It was a perfect day for riding, and with everyone out jumping somewhere, there was lots of SMC to be seen around.  Although we didn’t end up with a placing for our teams this time, we had some great individual results. Sophie Gibb, Y11 placed 6th at 95cm.   Emi-Lee Elvy, Y9 placed 10th at 80cm while Briar Sharp, Y10 continued her great form coming 1st at 80cm. 

Well done to all the girls and families for another fantastic day of riding and representing St Margaret’s in such a positive light.   The competition side of equestrian takes a wee break for school events over the winter. It will be back with an expanded South Island Equestrian Championships in August, where we look forward to four straight days of competition at McLeans Island during tournament week. 

FOOTBALL
Two SMC teams had their first competition games last Wednesday, bringing home two great wins.  The 1st had a massive 11-0 win over Avonside, while the 2nd had a closer 3-0 win over Rolleston in what was a bit of a battle.  This week, we will see another round where the teams face off against Marian and Cashmere.  Good luck, teams, for another week of success.

Well done to Trelise McEwan who is proving to be a Football and Futsal star.  At the end of 2024, Trelise and her Canterbury U17 Futsal team won the U17 National championships.

During term one this year, Trelise was a valued Canterbury Premier Women's Futsal team member who made the national league's semi-finals.  And in the April holidays, Trelise, along with her New Zealand U18 Football team, competed in the Dallas International in America, playing against teams from UK, Mexico, Samoa, USA and many other countries, all of whom displayed a high level of skill. The team was fortunate to be billeted with wonderful families, ensuring the girls got to experience so much of the American culture.  Excellent stuff Trelise, keep up the great work.

GYMNASTICS
We have a number of girls doing great things and achieving amazing results in the world of gymnastics.  Faye Lichen is just back from her trip representing New Zealand in Canada, and came back with some amazing results. She is the Junior Manitoba province champion and came first in all 4 apparatuses (hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon) and the all-round champion. At the Koop cup she came 10th overall and all her apparatuses placed top 10.

Hannah Jai also achieved good scores with first in Hoop, second in clubs, 5th for ball and second overall for the Koop Cup in Toronto and first in ball, clubs, hoop and first overall in the Manitoba comp in Winnipeg.  Brilliant achievements for all your hard work girls, way to go.

HOCKEY 
Canterbury U18 hockey teams have been announced and St Margaret’s has a fantastic number of girls making teams.  Congratulations to everyone who has been successful in making one of these teams. Canterbury U18A and U18B Women will compete in the National Under 18 Women’s Tournament from the 29th of June to the 5th of July in North Harbour, and all Under 18 teams will compete in the Mainland Cup over King's Birthday Weekend in Christchurch.

Canterbury U18A - Sophie Booth, Margo Dalling, Zara Gamble, Tilly O'Donnell, Bianca Skilton-Woods, Stella Valentine

Canterbury U18B - Lily Ballin, Greta Dalling, Lily Young

Tasman U18 - Millie Spear, Ciara Hartland

Canterbury U18 Development - Alice Macdonald, Genevieve Surridge, Maya Young

NETBALL
With another record number of teams competing in netball this year, the girls have been busy playing in both the Wednesday Schools competition and the Saturday club competition.  The Senior A girls have started the season strongly with a win over Cashmere in the Wednesday Supernet competition, looking to hold onto their 2024 title.

A number of St Margaret’s girls have been selected for Canterbury representative teams. 

Canterbury U16 Red - Sophie Ockwell

Canterbury U16 Black - Jasmine Ginnever, Alex Campbell

Canterbury U16 White - Milla Cox

Good luck to these girls when they compete in the 2025 U16 Tupuranga championship being played at EA Networks Centre in Ashburton at King’s Birthday weekend.

TABLE TENNIS
Another exciting achievement for Tracey Hsia is being selected to represent New Zealand U19 in the upcoming 2025 Oceania Youth Table Tennis Championships, which will be held in Christchurch from 12–16 June.

Tracey also recently competed at the Southland Open Table Tennis tournament in Invercargill.  Tracey had an exceptional tournament and achieved the following results:

Open Women’s Singles – Winner

Open Women’s Doubles – Winner

U19 Girls’ Singles – Winner

U19 Combined Doubles – Winner

U15 Girls’ Singles – Winner

U15 Combined Doubles – Winner