School Competition News

Team John McGlashan College. Photo © Jo Dowling

4 Oct 2017 – All three titles at the 2017 NZ Secondary Schools Curling Championships were decided by single point margins.

John McGlashan College held their nerve to score 3-pointers in the 4th and 5th ends to win the Boys' deciding match against Maniototo Area School 6-5.

Maniototo won the first in the best-of-three series 6-4. John McGlashan took the second 11-3, then conceded an early lead in the decider before storming back to win their school's first national title.

Kavanagh College scored a deuce in the last end of the Girls final to edge Epsom Girls Knock Out 6-5, and Birkenhead College hung on to beat Lynfield College 4-3 in the Mixed title decider.

Auckland Schools semi-finals. Photo © Liz Matthews

4 Sep 2017 – St Dominics College created a first for their school when they won the Girls' title at the Auckland Secondary Schools Curling finals last month.

Joelle Burt, Janine Aunzo, Aicia Doyle and Azimah Ali finished at the top of the standings after the round robin. They won their semi-final convincingly and then headed EGGS Benedict 6-3 in the final to claim the title.

Lynfield College Gold (Esther Tomkinson, Jason Xu, Niamh Masterson and Aldi Ting) left it very late in the Mixed Final, scoring 6 in the last two ends to beat their schoolmates Lynfield Red 7-6.

Girls winners Maniototo Area School - Lucy Neilson, Courtney Smith, Tash Whyte, Anna Clarke. Photo Dianna Whyte / NZCA

27 Sep 2016 – The top Boys and Girls teams from Maniototo Area School showed their class at the recent New Zealand Secondary School Championships, winning both titles on home ice at Maniototo Curling International in Naseby.

The Maniototo Boys #1 team did not have everything their own way. Hamish Walker's strong Otago Boys High School side opened up a five point lead after four ends of their round robin match and continued to win 6-5. Both teams were unbeaten through the rest of the preliminary round, so OBHS went into the final as top seeds.

24 Sep 2016 – The Lynfield College Gold Mixed team of Esther Tomkinson, Aldi Ting, Niamh Masterton and Tanmay Arora backed up their 2015 title with a 7-1 win in the Auckland Schools Mixed final at Paradice Avondale last week.

The team had had a variable season, winning only half of their pool matches, but were too strong in the final for promising 2016 newcomers Long Bay College Alpha.

9 Sep 2016 – The top Boys and Girls teams from Maniototo Area School dominated the 2016 South Island Secondary Schools Curling Championships.

Five Boys and two Girls sides lined up in the tournament at MCI Naseby over the weekend of 3rd and 4th September.

8 Sep 2016 – Auckland’s Birkenhead College scooped the Boys, Girls and Mixed titles at the recent 2016 North Island Secondary Schools Curling Championships.

The event was held during Winter Tournament Week (29 August - 1 September) at Paradice Avondale.

2015 Girls champions Otago Girls High School, L-R: Michelle Bong, Diana Yeritsyan, Emma Sutherland, Mhairi-Bronté Duncan, Heloise Fitzpatrick

29 Sep 2015 – The Otago Girls High School curling team of Emma Sutherland, Mhairi-Bronté Duncan, Heloise Fitzpatrick, Diana Yeritsyan and Michelle Bong backed up their 2014 NZ Secondary Schools Curling Championship title with a 9-6 win in the final of this year's event in Auckland

Silver went to the novice Epsom Girls Grammar side of Renee Zhang, Toshiko Frederiksens, Sanchita Vyas and Shreya Raniga, the top qualifiers after a 3-1 win-loss record in the round robin.

OGHS had completed the round robin with the same 2-2 record as EGGS Sophie and Maniototo Area School, but qualified for the final by virtue of a marginally superior average draw shot distance. Their 144.5 cm was only just ahead of the 144.8 cm recorded by the EGGS team.

EGGS Sophie added the Auckland title to their North Island win earlier in the month

25 Sep 2015 – Birkenhead College, Epsom Girls Grammar and Lynfield College took home the major trophies after the final round of the 2015 Auckland Secondary Schools Curling Championshipa at Paradice Avondale last night.

EGGS Sophie and EGGS Benedict were locked at 5-5 going into the last end of the Girls Final. Sophie Tran, Anna Parson, Jaden Godfrey, Claire Crooks and Alyse Johnson handled the pressure to score three and claim the title..

10 Sep 2015 – Emma Sutherland played the shot of the weekend with the last stone of the tournament to win the 2015 South Island Secondary Schools Curling Championship for her Otago Girls High School team, with teammates Mhairi-Bronté Duncan, Heloise Fitzpatrick, Diana Yeritsyan and Michelle Bong.

Holly Thompson and her Maniototo Area School side of Jessica Smith, Ashleigh Smith, Tash Whyte and Courtney Smith looked as if they had done enough to avenge their preliminary round loss to the Otago Girls side. As Sutherland came to play her final stone, Maniototo were sitting with a well guarded shot stone that would have broken the 5-5 deadlock, won them the game and the gold medal.