What a brilliant week it was in The Bay for the AIMS GAMES. AC had 120 keen kids competing and representing Aquinas College with pride across 18 Teams.
A special congratulations must go to our Medal Winners!
- Holly van den Borst – Gold in Rhythmic Gymnastics
- Kieran Death – Gold in Rock Climbing
- Ashton Matuku – Silver in AWD Table Tennis
- Isla Wills – Silver in Open Trampoline
- Eliana Hulsebosch – Silver in Mountain Biking
- Ella Hill – Silver in Squash
We all started the week with early morning rises, to get to our games on time and determined to do our personal best.
The Cross Country event was a great start to the week, albeit wet and cold!! Our Cross Country runners didn’t let the weather dampen their excitement as we arrived at Waipuna Park. Our 9 runners gave their all on the course and we achieved some wonderful results. Special Congratulations to Holly Fausett who came 10th and Emma Rogers who came 13th in the Y7 girls race.
In Gymnastics, Isla Wills earnt Aquinas a Silver Medal! She competed in Open Double Mini Trampoline and bought home the goods!! Close behind Samara Aleksich coming 6th in Open Novice Trampoline. Zoe Haydock also had a good day at competing brilliantly in the Individual Aerobics gaining 5th overall. Holly van den Boorst then bought home Gold with her beautiful Rhythmic routine.
This year was a first for Mountain Biking. Eliana Hulsebosch took a break from Netball and Taylor Svendsen from Rugby Sevens, to head to Summerhill to compete in the event. Eliana had a great run and took out at the Silver in the Y7 Girls Division.
Rock Climbing was held over the first part of the week with three competitors, Emma New, Anna Hartman and Kieran Death. Anna and Kieran fought tough to make it through the Semi Finals, then Kieran came through to make it into the Finals and came out on top, bringing home a Gold Medal to Aquinas.
Water Polo also had a great week in the pool. After winning all of their pool matches they were placed into the top 16 and then with another win, to the Top 8. They finished 7th overall and had the best result for Tauranga Schools. Well done Isaac Schuler for getting MVP of the week.
At the Trustpower Arena we had Basketball and Futsal teams playing. Basketball 3 on 3 came 11th overall doing their very best and achieving their goal. The 5 aside Basketball Boys also had a tough week battling some great teams, but all had a great time through the week. The Futsal Boys had a stellar of a week also winning all games through pool play. They competed really well together but faced some tough opposition in the cross over pools. They ended up finishing 7th overall.
We only had one competitor in the Sailing this year Gabriella Carter. She did well coming 4th for the year 8 girls and 22 out of 32 people.
Football was based out at the Gordon Spratt Reserve and won one of 10 games. Although they did not win many they still showed great companionship throughout the rest of their games.
Over at Blake Park, Hockey had a great week losing just one game in pool play. This took them to play off for 17th – 38th. After further wins through the week, they finished 18th and won 6/8 games. Netball was very close to winning their pool but lost by only one point it was a hard loss but they pulled through. They played some great teams in cross over and enjoyed their time together. Rugby Sevens won one game and the rest they lost although they didn’t win much, they had a great time with the Fijian rugby team and pulled through to do their very best. Squash was also held at Blake Park with Ella Hill and Finn Pryor both competing. Ella had a great week starting as the 2nd seed and taking out a Silver medal in the final.
Badminton and Table Tennis were located at the QEYC, Memorial Park. Although no stand out results were achieved, everyone competing had a great time.
MultiSport got out to a very sodden McLarens Falls. A few changes were required by the organisers around the venue due to the weather we had at the start of the week, but that didn’t dampen our spirits! Holly Fausett raced her wee heart out and placed 10th in the Year 7 Girls Race and Nathan Holmberg 18th in the Year 7 Boys. A very special mention to Hunter Sands who sacrificed his own race to tend to another competitor who came off his bike in the Mountain Bike leg. What a star!
The Hip hop team put a lot of work into their routine in the lead up to the event. They placed 21st overall. Their MVP was Greer, they did super well overall with all their work they put into it.
The 3 swimmers that competed in AIMS Swimming event were Asa Banbury, Izzy Jones and Henry Scholes. We had a really fun time together. All together we competed in 13 races. We had plenty of personal best’s (PB) and made three finals. The first final was the 200m backstroke that Asa Banbury competed in. He did really well getting a PB and finishing 5th overall. The next final AC had 2 people racing in the 200m free. Asa Banbury finished 6th and Henry Scholes 7th.
We all had the best time meeting others and getting closer to our team. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone making it possible. We could have never been able to do it without all the organisation or the teams. Well done to everyone who participated.
Written by Kitty Finnimore and Asa Banbury
