Christ’s College has celebrated a huge week of summer tournament sport, and impressive results across a range of school sports.

These achievements include being recognised as the 3rd best team in New Zealand junior cricket, victories at the national triathlon titles, outstanding results in track and field, superb wins at the regional surfing contest, third place for College water polo players at the South Island championships, a top-four finish at the national volleyball championships, a top-five place at the New Zealand tennis titles and a 13th win in the Maadi Cup.

Athletics

College track and field athletes made their mark this summer, with Charlie Cameron claiming 2nd in the U20 pole vault at the national club championships in Hastings, and finishing 3rd in the senior pole vault with a personal-best 4.33 metres.

At the Canterbury athletics event, College finished with 13 titles, 10 2nd places and eight 3rd places. The title winners were PJ Palamo (U14 shot, discus and hurdles), AJ Madondo (U15 triple jump and 100m), Armani Lemalu (U15 discus and shot put), Charlie Cameron (U19 pole vault), Marcus Hamilton (U19 discus and hammer), Jasper Moss (U19 para 800m and 1500m) and the senior 4x400m relay team. AJ Madondo also broke the U15 triple jump record set in 1979, and Armani Lemalu broke the U15 discus record set in 1982.

Cricket

The College Colts XI finished 3rd at the National Secondary Schools’ Cricket Championships in Palmerston North after qualifying for the first time.

Following a regional win over St Andrew’s College, the College team impressed at the national event when beating John McGlashan College (and claiming the unofficial South Island title), Tauranga Boys’ College and St Patrick’s College, Silverstream. College only lost to Napier Boys’ High School on the final ball and narrowly to Auckland Grammar School.

Read the full report here.

Rowing

Christ’s College reclaimed the Maadi Cup, proving too strong in the premier event at the National Secondary Schools’ Rowing Championships for a record 13th time.

In total, College won six medals at the week-long event on Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge.

The College U18 eight powered away from runner-up Auckland Grammar School, crossing the finish line more than six seconds ahead to win the flagship race in 6:06.47.

The U18 crew of stroke Archie Batchelor, Gus Orr, Liam Alexander, Louie Bethell, Johnny Lee, Angus Wynn-Williams, George Trolove, Thomas McEwan and cox Hamish McCulloch sped straight to the lead for the all-the-way win.

Three College crews competed in the premier U18 eight event, with the other crews finishing 6th in the B Final and a superb 5th in the A final.

Following the regatta,Abe McArthur was named as an U18 South Island triallist, while Liam Alexander, George Trolove and Thomas McEwan were selected for New Zealand Junior trials.

Sailing

Christ’s College took 7th spot in the Gold Fleet at the Top of the South regatta in Nelson.

Day one was sailed in light conditions, with local teams faring better and College in the Silver Fleet for day two. However, with better winds and good racing, the College team won five out of seven races on the second day to return to the Gold Fleet. The last day produced a closer race and a good win to take the team to 7th overall.

Surfing

College won the top school award at the Canterbury school scholastic surfing contest following a stellar showing by a group of talented surfers.

Tai McKenzie was 1st and Max Airey 3rd in the U14 grade, while Jack McKenzie won the U16 grade and Gus Priest was 2nd and Adam Zhu 3rd in the U18 grade.

Tennis

College Senior A finished 5th at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Tennis Championships at the Scarbro Tennis Centre in Auckland.

The team of Nathan McKenzie, Nant and Nont Prachuabmoh, Liam Barrett and Jasper Johnson had a busy season, winning the Canterbury schools team championships and being on track to a South Island title until bad weather cut short the tournament.

Despite losing a team member on day one to injury at the national titles, the team members continued to play their best and compete well. College was eventually rewarded with a very good 4–2 win over King’s College Auckland.

Triathlon

College triathletes secured three national titles, with Oli Aitken winning the U14 event in just over 37 minutes and Henry Hiatt finishing 8th and Ben Crawford 10th.

In the U16 individual event, Art Aitken was 6th in a field of 28.

In the mixed team relays, Oli and Henry teamed up with two Christchurch Girls’ High School students to claim the U14 national title, while Art led a mixed team to victory in the U16 event.

Christ’s College won the Overall School Points Cup.

Volleyball

The College Senior A volleyball team took 4th spot in a Division Four debut at the national secondary school titles in Palmerston North, winning four games and losing five.

Earlier in the term, the team impressed in the Monday night Premier competition, finishing with four wins and two losses, and was 6th at the Canterbury championships The boys also won the South Island Division 2 schools title.

Water polo

College was 3rd at the South Island Secondary Schools’ Water Polo Championships at Jellie Park, scoring a great win over Christchurch Boys’ High School in the play-off.

In pool play, College was too strong for St Bede’s College B, Burnside High School, Shirley Boys’ High School, Mainland and Christchurch Boys’ High School B before being beaten by a very good St Andrew’s College team in the semi-final. In the play-off for 3rd, College dominated CBHS in the first two quarters, pulling away in the final quarters to win 9–2.

College was led by Isaac Aitken, Jacob Clements and Tom Thyne, with the team fortunate to also have senior players Joshua Ford, Brad Crestani, Bradley Shearer and Sam Falvey.

Goalie Guy Greening played well throughout the tournament, along with Luke Moore, Alex McEwan, Sam Chittock, Matty Hickman and George Wilson.