NZ Secondary Schools' Swimming Champs
Hamilton, 11 – 13 September
Lynfield College was well-represented at the NZSS Swimming Champs by a strong team of junior swimmers. The event, which is run by Swimming NZ, is well supported by schools from throughout NZ (111 schools were represented) and the competition is of a very high standard. Our team of Samantha Martin, Jackson Potauaine, Aaron Tahu and Luke Tahu represented the College superbly, both in and out of the pool.
 Samantha - butterfly |
 Jackson - backstroke |
 Aaron - butterfly |
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Luke (left) was the most successful swimmer, with a Gold in the 50m butterfly and Bronze in both the 100m and 200m freestyle races. He also set personal best times across his six races. Samantha had a particularly busy time, with entries in seven races. She recorded a personal best in the 200m freestyle and gained a creditable best result of 5th in the 200m butterfly. Aaron produced four personal best times in his races and Jackson a personal best in his 50m backstroke. The College would like to thank the swimmers for their efforts at this event and the parents for supporting it, so that it could happen. Congratulations to all involved. We look forward to continued success in 2016. |
Winter Sports Teams Finish Well
As the winter sports season comes to an end we can look back on the performance of our teams over the last few months with pride. There have been some outstanding successes at every level. The last two weeks have been very exciting as several teams from various codes fought it out for top spots.
Rugby league
For the second year running our Rugby League team participated in the Premier 1st XIII competition. The first round’s highlight was a great win over Avondale 20-14. Losses to St Pauls, Manurewa and Papatoetoe meant that we would be competing in the Bowl section in round two. At the end of the second round we were third which earned us a semi-final spot against Manurewa. Although we narrowly lost 14-6, overall the team finished 4th in the bowl which the boys can be proud of. With most of the team returning, everyone is looking forward to 2016.
Rugby
The 1st XV played in the 1C grade this year. Big wins over Selwyn and Kia Aroha in the first round had the team well placed for the business end of the season. Again they defeated Selwyn and Kia Aroha but lost to Sancta Maria and Waitakere which meant they finished 3rd in the regular season and would have to play Sancta Maria in the semi-final. It was their 2nd game in three days (having played Mt Maunganui on the Thursday) and they competed admirably but were beaten by a better side. Finishing 3rd is a good result and we are looking forward to 2016. We wish the Year 13 players who are leaving all the best in the future.
Football (girls)
The Girls First XI had a mixed season, finishing 7th from 12 in Premier 2. We had a shaky start to the season with lots of new players, including 5 juniors. However, the girls finally gelled and resurrected the season by 3 wins from 3 just after the midpoint including a great win against Kings College. The season was capped off nicely with a fantastic 4-2 win against Mount Manganui where the girls played with passion and flair to gain the victory they deserved. Kelsey Sutton scored a hat trick to win the match ball and Kelly Pinner was awarded Player of the Day with one goal and 2 assists.
We say good bye to some real quality players who have served the team well over the last few years, notably Sonil Metha, Kelly Pinner, Ruby LeMarquand and Teneil Pillay and look forward to our upcoming tour of Australia at the start of September.
Basketball (girls)
After qualifying for the Greater Auckland Champs, the U19 Girls’ Basketball team found the competition at the higher level quite tough but an excellent challenge and very enjoyable. They had 2 close losses (to EGGS and Pakuranga) and this experience will be very valuable when they enter the 2016 season.
Hockey
We had an increased number of boys and girls teams this year, giving 7 teams in total. This will bring strength and depth to our hockey next year. The competition has been intense at all levels and all teams have shown real grit and determination to dominate and win many games.
1st XI Boys - winners of the Open Boys B/C Championship. After a very tense and exciting game of excellent hockey, this team defeated Kelston Boys 4-3 in the semi-final last week. The final against Howick College was played on Wednesday and about 30 Lynfield supporters witnessed a great game which ended in a 1-1 draw.
1st XI Girls winners of the Open C Championship. In another nail biting game Lynfield fought back in their final against Rutherford on Thursday, to score a goal right on full time to draw the game 2-2!
Annual Sports Exchange Results
The annual Lynfield College/Mt Maunganui College sports exchange took place at Mt Maunganui on Thursday 13 August – fortunately a fine, sunny day!
This exchange has been a highlight on the sporting calendars of both schools for 56 years. The top teams in 7 codes competed for the overall trophy based on the number of games won and lost.
This year Mt Maunganui showed its dominance and the advantage of being the ‘home’ team. Congratulations to our students for their fantastic sportsmanship. They were in every sense one big Lynfield team who had an awesome sports day they will remember for many years.
Results as follows:
| Event | Won By |
| Golf | Mt Maunganui |
| Basketball - Girls | Mt Maunganui |
| Basketball - Boys | Mt Maunganui |
| Football - Girls | Lynfield |
| Football - Boys | Lynfield |
| Waterpolo | Mt Maunganui |
| Netball - Premier 1 | Mt Maunganui |
| Netball - Premier 2 | Mt Maunganui |
| Hockey - Boys | Lynfield |
| Hockey - Girls | Mt Maunganui |
| Rugby | Mt Maunganui |
| Debating | Lynfield |
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2015 Tennis Champions
The Tennis Championships have been held over several weeks and the results are detailed below. Fine weather for the first day of the event meant many matches were completed, but unreliable weather over the next few weeks resulted in the finals being stretched over several days.
Congratulations to all the division winners, as well as to all competitors, for their exemplary sportsmanship.
| SINGLES | CHAMPION | RUNNER UP |
| SENIOR BOYS | Callum Magee | Jerome Schischka |
| SENIOR GIRLS | Vanessa Pimenta | Diana Lim |
| YEAR 11 BOYS | Casey Newbrook | Andrew Isdale |
| YEAR 11 GIRLS | Casey Scott | Neve Stanimiroff |
| YEAR 10 BOYS | Final still to play | |
| YEAR 10 GIRLS | Emily Liston | Caitlin Schischka |
| YEAR 9 BOYS | Duncan Poland | Ishaan Bhide |
| YEAR 9 GIRLS | Anjali Hira | Rachel Ling |
| DOUBLES | CHAMPIONS | RUNNERS UP |
| SENIOR BOYS | Callum Magee & Jerome Schischka | Simon Stanimiroff & Jae Young Heo |
| SENIOR GIRLS | Vanessa Pimenta & Diana Lim | Did not complete |
| YEAR 11 BOYS | Felix Barrett & Casey Newbrook | Andrew Isdale & Daniel Adams |
| YEAR 11 GIRLS | Casey Scott & Neve Stanimiroff | Kitty Sun & Phoebe Liu |
| YEAR 10 BOYS | Josh Boasman & Josh Moraes | Aaron Zhang & Jimmy Zhang |
| YEAR 10 GIRLS | Caitlin Schischka & Amy Cui | Did not complete |
| YEAR 9 BOYS | Duncan Poland & Jason Moraes | Ishaan Bhide & Joshua Lobo |
| YEAR 9 GIRLS | Rachel Ling & Brianna Magee | Anjali Hira & Sameera Reddy |
Top Row (Left to Right): Felix Barrett; Vanessa Pimenta; Jae Young Heo;
Middle Row: Diana Lim; Duncan Poland; Rachel Ling;
Bottom Row: Larissa Naismith; Thomas Yang; Casey Newbrook.
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Fun on the Water - Dragonboating
Dragon boating involves 80 students - more than any other summer sport! Our 4 crews of 20 paddlers have been training hard for the past 6 weeks at Westhaven, with our boys team training 2 hours/week and the other 3 crews 1 hour/week.
The Lynfield team descended on Lake Pupuke on Sunday 22 March for a day of fun and rivalry in the Auckland Secondary Schools Dragon Boat Championships. Arriving at school at 6.15am didn’t seem to dampen any enthusiasm; in fact everyone seemed pumped and ready to put their best paddle forward from the moment we arrived at the lake. This regatta has an atmosphere like no other school sports event and it was great to see so many of our paddlers’ families enjoying the atmosphere.
There were 32 teams from a wide variety of schools throughout Auckland. Unlike most other schools, our crews were composed of Year 9 – 13 students. Congratulations to all 4 teams who paddled to the max! At the end of the pool rounds the boys were 1second behind the fastest crew but unfortunately their sweep lost control twice in the final costing them several seconds. They paddled extremely well to make up time and finish a very creditable 3rd.
Results were:
Lynfield Fire (boys) 3rd Boys Grand Final
3rd Open 200m
Lynfield Legends (girls) 1st Novice Girls final
Lynfield Fury (mixed) 4th Mixed Bowl final
Lynfield Flame (girls) 4th Novice Girls final
Latest News - the boys competed in Nationals this last weekend and came back with gold (200m 10 man boat) and silver (200m 20 man boat.)
Congratulations to everyone!
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Triumph in the Field - Maddison Wesche (Year 11)
Such a succession of titles ...every week Maddison Wesche betters her previous best performance! Congratulations Maddy!
At the Western Zone Athletics Maddy wowed the crowds (literally) as she competed in the Intermediate Girls Shot Put. She won with a put of 14.62m creating a new Auckland Secondary Schools record! This smashed the previous record of 14.26m which she created last year.
Then it was on to the Greater Auckland Secondary Schools Athletics Championships and Maddy won the Intermediate Girls Shot Put convincingly, setting another new Auckland Secondary Schools record…..3 times! Her 2nd throw broke the record she set last year at the same meet, then her 3rd throw bettered her new record. On her 5th (and final) throw she again broke her record with a distance of 15.35m, which was 1.33m further than any other competitors in this event.
At the Australian National Athletics Championships in Sydney 2 weeks ago Maddy won GOLD, making her the Australian U18 Women’s Shot Put champion.
Next up was the NZ National Athletics Championships held in Wellington during a terrible storm. Maddy won gold in both the ‘Junior’ (U20) and ‘Youth’ (U18) age groups so now holds 2 New Zealand titles.
This last weekend Maddy competed in the North Island Secondary Schools Athletics Championships at Mt Smart stadium. Maddy took out the Intermediate Girls Shot Put (as we have come to expect) BUT she set a new record of 15.35m which:
a) Was further than any of the senior girls (who use the same weight shot put)
b) Broke Valerie Vili’s record set in about 2000.
The next step in Maddy's brilliant year is her preparation for the Junior World Champs in July.
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Swimming Successes 2015
A strong turnout for the time trials for Zone team selection was an encouraging start for swimming in 2015. Several very successful senior swimmers who had supported the sport throughout their time at the College left at the end of last year, so we were hoping for a replenishment of talent from students new to the school, especially the Year 9s. Fortunately, this proved to be the case.
Thirteen swimmers were selected to represent the College at the Zone Meet:
Amy Bernstone, Leland Clarke, Sophia Clark, Amy Cui, Shaun Davy, Lisa Davy, Breanna Magee, Samantha Martin, Rohan Mukherjee, Jackson Potauaine, Brecon Rose, Aaron Tahu, Luke Tahu
Top three finishers in their events at the Zones were Luke (four top three finishes), Leland (three), Samantha (two) and Brecon (one). The relay results were very good, with the Junior Boys team of Aaron, Jackson, Luke and Rohan winning both the freestyle and medley races.
The results of the Intermediate Girls team were also encouraging as the team consisted of three Juniors and only one Intermediate aged swimmer. They finished with a third place and a fourth place. This bodes well for next year.
| Getting through to the next stage is a much more difficult task. Only the top eight from the four Auckland Zones qualify for the Champion of Champions, so it is possible to win a race at the Zones and still not get through to the finals. Luke was the only swimmer to qualify for an individual race at the Champions Meet, the butterfly. The Junior Boys relay team at right, qualified in both the freestyle and medley races. At the Champions Meet, results went largely to seedings, but the freestyle relay team improved to a creditable fourth placing. Coming up later in the year are the North Island Secondary Schools Championships in Palmerston North and the NZ Secondary Schools Championships in Hamilton. We are hoping for some entries and some good results from those events as they include longer distances than the 50m races in the local events. |
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Congratulations and thanks to all of the swimmers who trialled, made the Zones team or qualified for the Champions Meet. Thanks also to the parents/ caregivers who were able to offer their time to help out. The strong Junior contingent, in particular, is very encouraging. We wish those competing in the upcoming events all the best.
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Athletics Day - Fantastic!
Perfect weather + fun events + House rivalry + enthusiasm = a fantastic day for all.
A rotation of 11 events (a mixture of track and field and tabloid) created a huge amount of fun and competition during the morning. The most noise and excitement was generated in the Obstacle Course as junior classes and senior houses tried to get as many participants successfully through the course in 7 minutes.
The House Captains had worked extremely hard to involve all students in the presentation of their House Mascot. They really let their creativity flow as they came up with some amazing ideas, ranging from unicycle to saxophone, to impress the judges. This competition and Best Dressed House, were both judged by an independent panel of staff who did not find it at all simple to find clear winners!
The sprint finals and relays (house and form class) were hotly contested and showed we certainly have talent at all levels in these track events.
Congratulations to overall winners, Reid house who discovered participation was the key to success as the whole house ran, threw or jumped to the max.
Final results:
1st Reid
2nd Lewis
3rd Fatialofa
4th Faumuina
5th Bray
6th Zorocich
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