TENNIS It was another great season for College tennis with the players involved in a number of major tournaments over summer. In January, Liam Adams won the national U14 doubles title and Dylan Heap took out the national U16 singles and doubles titles. In team competition, Liam, Edwin Dargue and Nic Schneideman were members of the Canterbury U14 team who won the national team event title, while Dylan and Will Schneideman were part of the Canterbury U16 team who came third in their competition. The Senior A team have been very successful in interschool competition this term. They defended their Canterbury Schools’ title with a win over Christchurch Boys’ High School, and then repeated this at the SISS champs, beating CBHS 4–2. The team was undefeated at the NZSS championships after pool play, having beaten Hamilton Boys’ High School 6–0, Westlake Boys’ High School 4–2, and St Kentigern College 4–2. The team faced Wellington College in the semi-final and were 2/all after the singles. There were plenty of opportunities in both their doubles matches, but the boys could not win the vital points and eventually lost 4–2. They then lost their final match against St Kentigern to finish a very creditable fourth in New Zealand. In the final tournament this term, the Canterbury Schools’ Senior Tennis Championships, Dylan Heap won the senior singles title, while Will Schneideman was runner-up in the Y11 grade. In the senior doubles competition, Will and Sam Bubb lost a super tiebreaker and finished runners-up. College had 18 teams competing in the Wednesday competition, covering all grades. The two top senior sides finished the term at
the top of their pool in the Premier Grade, while College A3 and B1 sides were first equal in the B Grade Division 1 competition. In the Junior (Year 10) competition, the top College side was third after the term’s competition and the Year 9A side were second. VOLLEYBALL This term eight College volleyball teams competed in the CSS weekly competition. Teams worked hard over the term and had a number of close games, but were not always able to win the vital points. The Senior A team had a very good term in the Senior Boys’ Division 1 competition, making it through to the division final. In a close game, the team lost the final against Ellesmere College, but the match was played in great spirit. It was a very competitive game, with the first set very close (25–27), and the team served strongly and had a number of great pick ups. They rallied to take the second set 25–20, again on strong serving. Despite a late rally in the final set, the team lost the third set 25–16, and the final 2–1. SAILING The College sailing team, consisting of mostly Year 10 and 11 boys, spent three hard days competing in the Top of the South Teams’ Racing Competition in Picton over Summer Tournament Week. This event had three-on-three match racing on a back-to-front- sideways S shaped course, which is very exciting for spectators. The race had 14 other teams, many with much older Year 12 and 13 students, all vying for a place in the Gold Fleet, the top seven teams during the finals day. During the full round robin, which had 13 races, there was some excellent competition. However, the light conditions on day one were a challenge for the team and College registered only one win.
College sailors were most successful on the second day, when conditions became breezier and more steady, making it very similar to the usual conditions on Lyttelton Harbour. With five wins in the bag, the team was very close to the Gold Fleet and, had they beaten old rivals Christchurch Boys’ High School, they would have made it. It was a very tight race, but a small technical error forced a penalty to the leader, a College boat, so we had a disappointing loss in the last beat to windward to the finish line and just missed entering the Gold Fleet. Day three, the last race day, proved to be very unlucky, with the boys losing many close races. This was mainly because of a strong gusty northwest wind which gave some opponents lucky shifts and earned them the victory on the line. The team finished sixth in the Silver Fleet. MOUNTAIN BIKING Despite the Port Hills fire affecting the new mountain biking adventure park, the newly-created schools’ single track race series was held on Wednesdays at the park. College had a number of riders competing across the four grades and, at the end of the series of races, was seventh overall. In the CSS champs, Michael Audeau was fourth in the boys’ 13 years grade, Ben Dando came 11th in the boys’ 15 years grade and Sebastien Lallemant was seventh in the boys’ 16 years grade. The last races in the series were held during Summer Tournament Week. In the A Grade, Michael was 11th, Ben Dando came fourth in B Grade, Thomas Stephens was second in C grade and Jeremy Kinley came third in D Grade.
College Issue 32 2017
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