Congratulations to two outstanding students:

Shane Black

In December Shane competed in the Tae Kwon Do World Championships in Argentina. He excelled winning the following awards
* Gold medal Team Power Breaking
* Silver medal Individual Speciality
* Bronze medal Team Specialty
* 4th Individual Power Breaking
* 5th in Individual Pattens

Joseph Millar

Joseph continues to excel in National competitions, his latest achievements being at the NZ Secondary School Championships, Twizel, December 2009 where he won:
* Gold Medal Senior Boys 200m
* Silver Medal Senior Boys 100m

December 9, 2009

Aquinas Colleges’ young sportsmen and women are finishing the year in nothing but sheer glory.
The college’s athletes took away top place at the recent BOP Zone schools’ athletics day, finishing first with 80 points, followed by Bethlehem College with 66 and Central zone with 65. Other competitors comprised Pongakawa, John Paul College, Waihi College, Katikati College and Coastal Zone.
Aquinas’ successes are as follows: Year 8 Boys 100m sprint, 1st Matt Strong, 2nd Ben Short; Year 8 Boys 300m sprint, 2nd Angus Raiman; Year 7 Girls 800m 2nd Lili Crombie; Year 7 Boys 800m 1st James Sharp, 3rd Cayne Dew; Year 8 Grils 800m 1st Anneke Grogan; Year 7 Girls 1500m 2nd Lili Crombie; Year 7 Boys 1500m 1st James Sharp, 2nd Cayne Dew; Year 8 Boys 1500, 2nd Matt Strong; Year 7 Girls High Jump, 2nd Grace Eglinton; Year 7 Boys High Jump, 2nd Liam McFall; Year 8 Girls High Jump, 1st Lauren Dennehy; Year 8 Boys high jump, 2nd Justin Priestly; Year 7 Boys long jump, 3rd James Wood, Year 8 Girls long jump, 1st Lauren Dennehy, Year 8 Boys long jump, 2nd Devin Kellett; Year 7 Boys 4×100m relay, 2nd Aquinas, Year 8 Girls 4×100m relay, 1st Aquinas; Year 8 Boys 4× 100m relay, 1st Aquinas College.
• In cycling news, Aquinas College entered a relay team in the iconic Around Taupo Cycle Classic and the Aquinas Riders finished in second place in the intermediate division. The team comprised James Sharp, Lili Crombie, Callum Hoare and Tom Carter. They completed the race in five hours and 52 minutes. Each of the team members had to bike 40 km over the tough course around Taupo with all of them completing their part in under 1.5 hours. An awesome effort.
• In Underwater Hockey news, Year 10 student Sean Gibbs represented the Tauranga Underwater Hockey Under 18 Boys Team at National event in Nelson just recently and came away with a Silver Medal. He has also been invited to trial for the National Under 17 Team.
• Meanwhile, the Tinman Triathlon last weekend was no huge hardship for Alice McFall who finished second in her division of the sprint section.

Nov 4, 2009

Aquinas College Year 10 student James Cooper has been invited to join Squash New Zealand’s development squad for 2010.
From this Development Squad, players with the potential to move on to the World Junior Squads are identified.
James will attend National Squad Camps, have access to train at the National Squash Centre, and be put on a training schedule that he will log for the duration of the year.
His selection followed the National Squash Championships held during the school holidays. He was placed second in the Under 15 Boys’ Grade at this event.
James is a member of the Aquinas Sport Academy.

October 7, 2009

Aquinas College water polo champ Anthony Murphy got a taste of some very tight, top-level competition these holidays.
Anthony is a member of the Tauranga Under 18 Men’s Water polo team that competed at the New Zealand Under 18 Water Polo Championships recently and came home with a silver medal.
His team narrowly missed out taking top place in the competition – in a very tightly fought match.
The Tauranga squad played Waitakere A team in the finals with the full-time score sitting at eight all. The game went in to extra time – three minutes each way – with a resultant final score of 10,9. It was always going to be a tough game for Tauranga, as the Waitakere team consists of at least five New Zealand players.
Anthony has competed at many top water polo events over the years. He has been a representative sportsman since the age of 13, having been a member of Tauranga’s Under 14 and Under 16 water polo squads. He has also clocked up swimming successes.
Meanwhile, the silver medal comes hot on the heels of another medal-winning event for the Tauranga team. The Under 18 squad recently competed at a Northern Regional competition and won bronze.
Anthony’s Tauranga Under 18 teammates come from Otumoetai, Tauranga Boys’ and Mount Maunganui colleges, with the team coached by Paul Kayes.

This achievement was hot on the heels of attaining a bronze medal at the Northern Regional Competition.

September 16 2009

Aquinas College may be a small school but it aims big.
This spirit was evident at the recent NZAIMS games, when Aquinas – a Year 7 to 13 college - came away with two medals and a tournament team placing.
Aquinas College’s two medal recipients were Luke Cooper who won Gold in the Squash, Individual Boys’ competition; and Olivia (Lili) Crombie who finished third, winning a bronze medal in the Cross Country Individual Year 7 Girls’ event.
Joanna Tarris was named in the girls’ football tournament team.

September 8, 2009

Three Aquinas College golfers are proving they have the likes of birdies and eagles down to a tee.
Ben Shanly, and brother and sister Warwick and Virginia Barnett, are all enjoying great golfing success of late.
Ben has been selected to play in the Eagles U17 2009 National Tournament. He was the gross winner of the John Manihere Schools’ Golf Tournament at Kawerau earlier this year. He also played in the Carrus open, narrowly missing the cut with a 72,75.
Golfing success is not simply a 2009 thing for this Year 12 student who learnt to play golf at his grandfather’s side when only nine years of age.
He made the 2008 Junior Interprovincial Squad and was announced Junior of the Year at Tauranga Golf Club last year. In 2007 he was 3rd gross in 2nd division at the World Schools’ Golf Challenge.
Meanwhile, at only 14 years of age, Virginia Barnett leads the girls’ qualifiers for the Booth Shield Team (Bay of Plenty), which competes at Mount Maunganui at Labour Weekend.
This Year nine student was also selected for the under 19 Bay of Plenty Girls’ Squad to play Waikato.
The talent is shared in this family, where 16-year-old Warwick leads the Bay of Plenty Under 19 Qualifying School with 250 points and three events to go. This Year 12 student plays off a 7 handicap.

Sept 1, 2009

From duathlons to table tennis and from synchronised swimming to rowing – Aquinas College is celebrating recent success in all.
A small team of four students represented Aquinas College at the Secondary Schools’ Duathlon Championships in Fielding recently and returned with some excellent placings.
Outstanding performances came from Lili Crombie who finished second in the Year 7 Girls’ race, and Alice McFall who also finished second in the U14 Girls’ event.
The Year 7 and 8 races consisted of a 2.5 km run, 10 km bike and a 1.5 km run, while the U14 circuit required competitors to tackle a 2.5 km run, 10km bike and another 2.5 km run.
James Sharp and Thomas Carter also placed highly with James finishing 6th in the Year 7 race and Thomas 7th in the Year 8 race.
The event was part of the Contact Tri Duathlon Series.
On the rowing front, four Aquinas College students have been selected for the BOP Inter-Provincial Under 21 Rowing Crews. They are: Victoria Melsom and Hannah Raos who are B crew in the quad and eight; Amy Kelly in A crew in the 4 and 8; and Heather Scott in A crew as coxswain for 8 and 4.
Three junior Aquinas College table tennis players finished third in their division of a tournament at Bethlehem College late last month against teams from throughout the Western Bay, Rotorua and Taupo. While the Aquinas team of Brandon Vickers and Caitlin and Brigid Flay out-gunned any local Western BOP competition two Taupo Nui A Tia teams got the better of them.
Meanwhile, Sophie Barnard, Alicia Wheatley, Lara Wilson and Sophie Ning have all qualified to compete in the national synchronised swimming competition later this month.

August 27, 2009

Two Aquinas College students have slam dunked their way to the national basketball competitions.
Mark Kelly and Ashton McQueen are members of the Western BOP Under 15 Representative Team that has qualified to compete at the nationals in Christchurch in October.
It will be the second time the two have had the honour of travelling south to compete nationally – both were members of the Under 13 Western BOP Rep team that travelled to Dunedin for the 2007 nationals, and won!
Ashton has been in WBOP rep teams each year since 2006 when he was in the Under 13 team. He has been named in the 2009 Aims Tournament team.
Mark has been a representative basketballer since 2007. This year has been a great year from him. He captains the Western BOP Under 15 team, he is in the 2009 Under 15 Pacific Basketball Team and he was also named this year in the New Zealand Under 16 basketball team. All this at the tender age of 13.
Both Mark and Ashton play for the Aquinas College Senior A team coached by Aquinas teacher Peter Braid.

August 12, 2009

Rotorua and Gisborne sporting exchanges.

It was one of those classic games that was truly inspirational and makes sport the wonderful character-building vehicle we know it is.
The game in question was the recent senior boys’ basketball match between Aquinas College and Rotorua’s John Paul College.
The senior boys played exciting basketball throughout the game with the score never being more than six points either way. At the end of ordinary time the game was all tied up at 54-all.
In extra time – with the home crowd making more noise than a school assembly – the teams went point for point to seven seconds to go when Mark Kelly pulled off an impressive swat of the opposition’s possession to clinch a two point victory for Aquinas (to the audible disbelief of the Rotorua crowd.) Final score: Aquinas 68, John Paul College 66.
The sports exchange also included football, hockey and netball, with the girls’ football ending in a four-all draw, and the boys suffering a one-nil loss. John Paul College won the hockey (5-2), but Aquinas took away the netball honours (48-42.)
Since then another out-of-town sports exchange has been fiercely battled.
More than 70 Aquinas Year 9 and 10 students took to the road on Sunday heading down to Gisborne for a couple of days of sporting competition and camaraderie.
The sporting contests were all even after the first day with Aquinas winning
both the boys’ and girls’ basketball but missing out in the volleyball.
After a great Powhiri on the Monday morning it was off to the various sporting venues for the remainder of the games. The Y9 netball was a thrilling match with the final score locked up resulting in a draw. Campion proved a bit strong in the Y10 game and ran out comfortable winners there. Boys soccer was a close affair but again Campion edged ahead to win 3-2. Girls soccer was a one sided affair with a crack Aquinas team easily winning 7-2.
It was a difficult task for the Aquinas combined gender hockey team who found themselves playing on grass for the first time in many years. (due to Gisborne having no artificial turf) It seemed no matter how hard they tried they could not establish any rhythm whereas Campion, quite used to this version of the game, were able to advance the ball more frequently into the circle and ended up netting three times to Aquinas’ one. Certainly it was a challenging experience for the Aquinas players.
The last sport was rugby and Aquinas, who had never lost to Campion, soon found out that this was to be a very difficult record to defend. Some interesting rule interpretations (no lifting in the lineouts, halfback restricted to the mid-line of the scrum) flummoxed the Aquinas boys and Campion were able build on an early lead to run out the winners 28-7. Suspicions that Campion used several Y11 students in their team have already added spice to next year’s encounter.
Overall it was a marvellous couple of days with all attending staff and students having a great time. Aquinas looks forward to hosting Campion next year.

August 5, 2009

Aquinas College speedster Kristen Vermeulen drove away from the BOP Speedway Association Prizegiving recently with a boot-full of trophies.
The Year 13 student has clocked up success in her first season in the Super Saloon Class at Baypark Speedway. Kristen took away the prizes for the Most Improved First Year Driver and the Most Consistently Best Prepared Car and Crew winner in the Super Saloon Class.
She was also awarded the overall club trophy for Person Deserving the Most Encouragement.
Kristen began car racing when she was only 11, racing ministocks, mostly at her home track of BayPark but also at many other venues throughout the North Island.
Her proficiency at racing has been proven time and time again. Last year, in her last season of racing ministocks, she won the Ministock Gold Cup championship at BayPark and went on to be announced first overall at the Baypark Speedway Association’s annual prizegiving. Also last year she was declared fourth overall in New Zealand in the young achievers’ ministock racing category. Other achievements in 2008 alone included awards for Top Female Driver at Baypark and First at South Pacific Championships at BayPark. She competed against drivers from throughout the North Island to finish second at Huntly Mega Day, third at Wanganui Spectacular and third at Kihikihi Stampede.
Kristen, who is the daughter of Karen and Willie Vermeulen, is the only member of her family competing in car racing. But, she suspects she inherited her need for speed from her Dad who used to race cars and jet skis years ago.
She remembers clearly BayPark’s early days.
“I was about nine when it opened and I used to go and watch the ministocks and say ‘wow, I want to do that’.”
Kristen’s BayPark days are far from over as she plans to stay in the Bay and begin a social science degree next year through the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

July 29, 2009

Four Aquinas College students proved their prowess in the pool when they competed in a major synchronised swimming event recently.
Sophie Barnard, Sophie Ning, Alicia Wheatley and Lara Wilson all competed in the North Island Inter-Schools’ Synchronised Swimming Championships over the school holidays and all come away with medal positions. They also won the right to compete in the National Inter-Schools’ Championships.
To represent their school at the nationals, the swimmers had to be placed in the top three in each category. The four Aquinas girls were placed first in the intermediate team; Alicia and Lara took second place in the Intermediate Duet and Sophie Barnard came third in the Intermediate Solo.
The event, which was hosted by Tauranga Synchro at Baywave Aquatic Centre, was open to Intermediate and Secondary schools across the North Island. The winning Aquinas girls are all Year 8 students.
They will be competing in the Nationals in Wellington in September.

July 22, 2009

Aussie Review

The Aquinas College 1st XV Tour to Australia was a great success for the boys, coaches, managers, parent helpers and parent supporters!
This was the second time the college had attended the Gold Coast Tournament and this time, knowing what to expect, made things easier on the players. Things like “downtime” and learning how to relax between match days, or how to lift for performances after being battered and bruised an hour or two earlier are all crucial things and part of Tournament life. Consequently the knowledge gained from our experience two years ago stood us in good stead.

We played in a pool of five teams and after winning our first three games against Australian opposition (Galston High School NSW, St Augustine’s College Queensland and Melbourne High School Victoria) we guaranteed ourselves a shot at the semi-finals.

Unfortunately our good run came to a halt against Queen Charlotte High School who played really well to beat us in the first half, before we made a good comeback in the second half but could not over haul their lead. By the final day of the week we were pretty battered and sore and could not manage to win either game to secure a top three finish. However, in finishing forth overall out of ten teams we came away with plenty of satisfaction results wise.

The behaviour of all players on and off the field was exemplary and a credit to the school. We look forward to travelling again in a few years time…Argentina looks inviting!

July 8,2009

Aquinas College BMX whiz Stephen Reece has found an action packed way to fill his holidays – preparing to represent NZ at the World BMX Championships.
The Year 8 student will be competing in Adelaide later this month.
Stephen, who has been racing since he was six, has competed in six New Zealand National Championships and many races all over the country. This will be his first World Championship event.
His training schedule has involved seven rides a week, plus away-from-home training and racing.
“It’s a great challenge. And I’m training hard so that when I’m wearing the New Zealand shirt I know I’m going to be the best I can be. It will be an awesome journey,” Stephen says.
The 12-year-old has a BMX philosophy he’s hoping will boost his performance in Australia – “Once you are motivated by desire rather than fear then the trail is yours.”
He says few people are surprised he has ended up so committed to BMX racing.
“I’ve always been a speedster. At three-years-old I would race my bike – my sister’s hand-me-down bike down a steep hill where we lived. There were no trainer wheels for me. It just seemed the natural sport for me I guess.”

June 24, 2009

Aquinas College rowing ace Kris Reily-Simmons has been deemed Tauranga Rowing Club’s Most Promising School Boy Rower.
The year 13 student has just been awarded the Butler Cup which acknowledges the club’s rower with the most promise.
Kris, who has rowed for Aquinas College for the past four seasons, spent nine days late last term at rowing’s high performance centre at Karipiro and was selected to the Under 18 North Island team. He was the stroke in the quad and the top single rower representing the North Island against teams from Victoria and the South Island. He and his team were undefeated in that Tri series in both the single and quad events.
Kris has a healthy collection of silver and bronze medals to his name from excellent performances at prestigious events such as NZ Secondary School Maadi Cup Regattas, North Island Secondary School Championships and NZ Club Championships.
During his early rowing days at Aquinas he was part of a squad of Eight, then in a Quad and a Four. In the past season he rowed with the BOP Academy, allowing him to row in combined crews in club events. He then chose to single scull for school regattas.

June 3, 2009

Aquinas College student Shane Black will be missing a bit of school later this year, but his teachers aren’t making a fuss.
Most people know not to mess with this Year 12 student, as he’s a world-class Taekwon-Do champ, well versed in things like heavy weight sparring.

Shane has just been selected to represent New Zealand at the Taekwon-Do World Championships held in Argentina in November.
He will be representing New Zealand in five events: First Dan Patterns; Heavy Weight Sparring; Specialty; Power; and Team Sparring, Patterns, Specialty and Power.
Being selected to represent his country isn’t a new experience for this 17 year old.
In 2006 he attended the World Champs in Honduras where he collected two bronze medals. In 2007 he was once again selected for the same honour and returned from the Canadian event with a gold medal, three silvers and one bronze. Last year he also competed at international level at the Slovenian Open where he received two third placings.
“I’m not sure what my chances will be this year,” he says, “but I’ll be aiming high.”
Shane, who is one of five children, started Taekwon-Do when he was eight. There’s one brother in particular that he spars with – big brother Ross, a Bay of Plenty Polytechnic student.
Ross, 18, also competed in Canada and Slovenia, and he too has been selected for the 2009 World event in Argentina, so the brothers will be travelling together.
The boys will first compete at the Stars Series Tournament in Wellington next month, as all those selected to represent New Zealand for the World Championships are expected to enter.

May 27, 2009

Aquinas College student Courtney Wilson is well and truly proving her prowess on the court.

Courtney - a Year 9 student who plays in the Aquinas Year 10 A netball team - has recently been selected as a member of the Harbourside Netball Under 15 Representative. She will be playing in tournaments in Whakatane, Te Puke and Hamilton.
It’s not the only court she excels on, as Courtney also has finely tuned basketball skills. In January Courtney toured Australia with Basketball Pacific, the NZ Basketball Development squad.
Aquinas College is also celebrating Cross Country and Golfing success this week.
Ben Shanley scored a Boys’ 1st Gross placing (71) in the Manihera Memorial Schools’ Golf Tournament held in Kawerau recently. He wasn’t the only Aquinas student happy with the end result. Alro Colete was placed 1st in the Boys Nett (65) with Warwick Barnett 2nd (66) in the Boys’ Nett.
Aquinas took a fourth placing in the team prizes thanks to efforts by Ben Shanly, Sam Semple, Richard Kang and Warwick Barnett.
Meanwhile, Aquinas was right up there finishing in the top three in all bar one event (the senior girls’) in the 3-man and 6-man final results from last week’s Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools’ Cross Country competition.
An especially pleasing result was Alice McFall’s 1st placing in the junior girls’ race.

May 20 2009

Aquinas pupils are this month clocking up some impressive results in running, multisport and netball.
The college scored two firsts, and other good placings, at the recent Tauranga Open Cross Country event held at Waipuna Park.
Alice McFall finished 1st in the U14 Girls’ event and James Sharp took top placing in the U12 Boys’ run. Thomas Carter was fifth in the U12 Boys’, Lili Crombie fourth in the U12 Girls’ and Grace Thompson 16th in the U12 Girls’.
On Friday Seth Merrett took part in the BOP Secondary Schools Multi Sport Champs, finishing first in the U14 Boys section. The race included a kayak leg, mountain bike leg and an off road run.
Talented Aquinas sprinter Joseph Millar just keeps pulling success out of the bag. Joseph was recently announced as one of five Tauranga recipients of a BayTrust Athlete Scholarship. The scholarship awards are given twice a year from a pool of $20,000.
In March, Joseph won the national 100m title, breaking the 11 second barrier – a time that also ensured his qualification for the World Youth Games in Italy in July.
Meanwhile, three Aquinas College girls have been selected for Netball Bay of Plenty Age Group Representative Teams for 2009.
They are: Dannielle O’Connor (Year 10), Alice McFall (Year 9) and Charlotte Curach (Year 10).