Sports News Term 3, Week 2

The holidays have been a busy time for our SMC girls who have been out representing the school, their region and even their country with some incredible results.  We are so very proud of all of the amazing achievements at this level, not only during the holidays but also throughout the year.

Recently added to the mezzanine floor of the gym is a representative wall showcasing the incredible achievements of these girls who have made representative teams or achieved national titles.  It became quickly apparent that we need a bigger wall, given that there have been so many incredible achievements. We look forward to adding to it as more girls achieve their goals this year.  

This weekend and early next week, we are hosting winter quad tournament.  We will welcome Craighead Diocesan, Columba College, St Hilda’s Collegiate and Rangi Ruru Girls' School.  Badminton, football, hockey and netball will be played at a number of venues on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  Thank you to those families who are hosting billets from St Hilda’s.This is a special opportunity for our girls to create lifelong friendships with girls from other schools.  It will be an exciting few days of competition.

Basketball
Over the holidays, Basketball held both the U18 and U16 Nationals and both Lucie, Y12 and Taylah Davis, Y10, were representing Canterbury at these National tournaments.  Lucie was playing for Canterbury U18B in Christchurch.  Lucie had an outstanding tournament and was one of the key playmakers and rebounders in her team, helping them to finish in 9th place.  Taylah was playing for the Canterbury U16A team, who were hot favourites to win.  After a clean sweep of games in pool play and finals, Taylah and her team were faced with the home team, Wellington.  It was an epic final that went to overtime, with Canterbury clinching the national title.  Taylah played an instrumental role in her team being a force on defence and getting some instrumental blocks and stops.  Congratulations, Taylah, on being a national champ.

Cricket
Lexie Boon, Y11 and Jessica Gearry, Y10, both represented Canterbury U18 during the holiday for Indoor Cricket.  The U18A team took out the bronze medal after missing out on making the final by one run.

Lexie Boon also competed with the Canterbury U22 back at Matariki weekend, where her team came 3rd at Nationals in a strong competition in Wellington. 

Well done to Pippa Bocock, Y10  Ciara Hartland, Y12  and Lexi Boon for being selected into the Canterbury Cricket Girls Academy.

Cross Country/Road Race
Amelia O’Connell Y7, competed at the Canterbury Cross Country Champs on Saturday at Ascot Park. The race was 2km with two sets of hurdles to jump over.  Amelia gained 3rd place in the girls under 12 grade.

Elsie Seeto, Y11, placed 3rd in the U18 long course Canterbury Cross Country in the last weekend of the holidays.  

Cycling
Congratulations on another amazing result for Emma Crawford, who placed 1st in both the U16 Individual Time Trial and Road Race at the South Island Secondary Schools Road Cycling Champs. Emma competed representing SMC at Ruapuna over the holidays. Excellent job, Emma!

Golf
Olivia Guan, Y6, is currently over in America playing golf at the FCG Callaway World Junior Golf Championship - At Mission Hills North, the Gary Player Signature Course (Palm Springs, California) and Uswing Mojing Junior World Championships - At Singing Hills Golf Club at Sycuan (San Diego, California).  We look forward to hearing about her trip when she returns.

Gymnastics
Cherry Zhu had a busy holiday competing in rhythmic gymnastics. She started by heading to Dunedin to compete in the Otago Championships, where she placed 1st in Hoop, 1st in Clubs and 2nd in Ribbon to finish 2nd overall. Cherry was then off to compete for New Zealand in the Australian National Championships on the Gold Coast.  Unfortunately, Cherry suffered an injury during practice and was unable to compete.  We wish you a speedy recovery, Cherry.

Hockey 
The holidays were a busy time for a number of our SMC girls who were representing their region at the U18 hockey nationals in North Harbour.  A special congratulations to Sophie Booth, Stella Valentine, Lily Young, Margo Dalling, Bianca Skilton-Woods and Zara Gamble, who were all part of the Canterbury U18A team that took out the National title.  An excellent result for our girls, who were also joined at the tournament by Lily Ballin, Greta Dalling, Genevieve Surridge, Millie Spear and Ciara Hartland representing other teams.

Korfball
Good luck to Emma Hoskins, who is heading off on Saturday to China with the New Zealand U21 Korball team to play in the IKF U21 Asian Oceanic Korfball Championships.  Best of luck, Emma, wishing you all the best for the trip and your games.

Netball
The first week of the holidays, Christchurch hosted the annual Junior South Island Secondary Schools Year 9 and Year 10 Netball tournament at Nga Puna Wai. It was an exciting week for both our teams, staying together with coaches and managers at the SMC boarding house.  The Year 9 team, coached by Leanne Chamber and managed by Amanda Hardy, were named the “Chippie Chicks” and for a number of these girls it was their first tournament experience.  Starting strong the first day with wins over Garin and Wakatipu, the girls faced their first loss against Dunstan before a nail-biter of a game where they came out 1 point victors over Marlborough.  A tough loss to Girls High before the team finished with three straight wins over Kaiapoi, Central Southland and Mt Aspiring, placing them 5th in the tournament.

The Year 10 girls, coached by Kelsey Bewley and Hannah Romano and managed by Stacey Holder, started with a hiss and a roar, beating Hillmorton, Queens High School and Nelson Girls convincingly.  A tough game against Marlborough Girls, finishing with a three-point loss, meant the team was out of title contention, but could still finish strong, and that is exactly what they did. The next four games saw good wins over Cashmere, Villa Maria, CGHS and Rangi Ruru, placing them also 5th in the tournament. Both teams represented SMC beautifully, with enthusiastic and positive attitudes, improving their skills and confidence and giving 100% all week.  

SMC Sport Prefect, Lulu Inglis, along with Annie Francis and Belize McQuarrie, were representing Canterbury at the U18 Netball Nationals in Waitakere, Auckland, during the holidays.  The team blitzed the opposition in pool play. They then crossed over with Manawatu to get into the top 8. After winning this game, they faced Auckland, the previous year's champions, in the quarter-final. A win here saw them through to the semis, where they faced Dunedin in a very close game that they only lost by two goals. The last game saw them against a challenging Wellington team, which was too strong in the final quarter.  The team finished 4th overall in what was a very tough but enjoyable competition. 

Well done to our Netball umpires who have been recognised with Whistler Awards this season. Bronny O’Sullivan - Ruby, Sophia Prince - Gold, Millie Eccleton - Bronze and Silver, Sophie McGuire - Bronze.

Rowing
Our Heads of Rowing, Aine Leeson and Coco Flood, both Y13, leave this weekend with the New Zealand U19 rowing team to compete in Lithuania at the U19 rowing world champs.  We wish Aine and Coco the very best of luck for the remainder of their training and the upcoming event.  

Pictured below are Aine and Coco after accepting the cup earlier this year for Canterbury Rowing Best Girls’ School.

Rugby
The combined St Margaret’s and Rangi Ruru 15 aside rugby team have played a number of games in the Wednesday competition. This is a recap of when they took on the Marian 1st XV recently. A strong first half led to our team scoring plenty of tries in a truly entertaining game of running rugby. Strong performances from Pippa Bocock and Savena Fagalima in the backs set up a great run from Year 9 player Grace Lindley for her first-ever try. The forwards dominated the opposition and were well led by Ellie Scotland.

The second half continued the dominance of the game with many more tries being scored and many of the newer, inexperienced players gaining valuable time on the park with Poppy McDonald scoring a try, and several players trying new positions as they learn the game. This was just what the team needed to raise the spirits and prove that with each game, we are getting better and building momentum as the season progresses.

Skiing
Chloe Drinkwater, Y11 and Tyler Macphail, Y9, hit the slopes over the holidays and represented SMC for skiing and snowboarding at the Canterbury Secondary Schools Slope Style competition at Mt Hutt. Tyler placed 3rd in the junior snowboarding, while Chloe was 1st in the senior skiing.  

Swimming
Good luck, Sydney Alva, Y11 Olivia Vivian, Y10  Millie Bell, Y12 and Kathy Gai, Y9, when they compete later this week in Auckland at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Swimming Championships.  

Tennis
Aliyah Daly, Y10, has been away on the Gold Coast, competing with the New Zealand U15  team during the holidays.  They faced teams from all over Australia and the Pacific in the U15 Australian Champs.  They played some close and challenging matches and finished in fifth place.  Way to go, Aliyah.

Trampolining 
Amelia Middleberg, Y7, competed in the South Island trampolining champs just before the holidays. She received a bronze medal in synchronised trampolining and a 5th in individual trampolining in her age category of  11-12 years.  Her individual trampoline score has qualified her to attend the New Zealand trampoline nationals, which will be held during the September holidays.

Volleyball
Congratulations to Hannah Millar, who was named in the New Zealand U20 women's development team.  Hannah competed in an internal tour of New Zealand over the holidays. 

Julia Mitchell and Delilah Brown travelled to Fukuoka, Japan, to play with the New Zealand U20 women’s team.  They played a variety of teams, both club and university, with some challenging games.  It was a 10-day tour around Fukuoka, which is Japan’s 5th largest city, where they got to experience the Japanese culture, food and lifestyle along with visiting places like Hiroshima.  A valuable experience both on and off the volleyball court for these superstars.

Water Polo
Zoe Crosbie and Abbey McCormack-Young, both Y12, competed in the New Zealand U18 water polo nationals, representing Canterbury in Hastings during the holidays. With tough competition from Auckland teams, the team faced many challenges, but still showed great teamwork and fight, finishing 5th overall.

Upcoming Events

25th July - Independent schools winter tournament, Year 5-8

27th - 29th July - Winter quad tournament

24th - 27th July - New Zealand secondary schools swimming championships

3rd August - Rainbow tournament Y3-8 netball

3rd August - Walking/Tramping Club - Mt Herbert

2nd - 3rd August - Canterbury secondary schools' gymnastics