We're catching up on some of the sporting achievements of our students over the past few months...

Sarah Edwards - Water Polo:

UPDATED: Congratulations to Y13 water polo player Sarah Edwards who has been named in the NZ Women’s U18 Water Polo team to play in next month’s Australian State Championships.

The selection follows her performance in a recent U18 squad trip to the Gold Coast where the team played Australian state teams. They beat most of their opponents, which included both male and female sides. Fellow Year 13 student Ava Sands was also part of the NZ contingent.

Just 13 women have been named in the NZ U18 side travel to Canberra for September’s State Championships. 

She and Ava were named to NZ’s 45-member World Champ development squad in December and have survived several selection cuts. Just 35 players remain but this will be whittled down to a 16-member team ahead of February’s World Champs in Doha.

The Aquinas pair travel to Auckland each Saturday for squad training. All but four members of the development team are based in Auckland. 

Basketball Representatives:

Aquinas basketball is definitely on a roll… Eight of our basketballers represented Tauranga in the NZ Championships, with Issy Gillard and Ineka Cartwright’s team crowned second-best in the nation.

The Year 10 students played in the Tauranga U15 team which won all of its games until coming up against Waikato in the final. The U15 nationals were held in Auckland last weekend.

In Wellington, senior students Sophie Rogers, Te Rina Timutimu, Shaydene Macdonald and their U17 team finished a massive fourth! Sophie then won the honour of being named to the U17 Tournament Team.

The U17 Tauranga team of Ky-Mani Kaumoana, CJ Flavell and Michael Wade finished an impressive seventh. All students were playing for Tauranga City Basketball Association’s A Rep teams. An amazing result — well done all!

Tilly Martin - Gymnastics:

Join us in celebrating the accomplishment of Year 7 gymnast Tilly Martin who at just 11 years old won gold and two bronze medals at the 2023 NZ Gymnastic Championships. The medal haul is even more impressive given that it is Tilly’s first time competing at nationals!

She finished third in the vault, third-equal on beam and fourth on floor in the women’s artistic Step 6 category. Her scores were high enough to then be counted in the BOP team which was named overall Step 6 champion.

A fantastic result that comes from hard work… Tilly trains 17 hours a week at the Argos Gymnastics Club and has been doing gymnastics since the age of seven. Congratulations Tilly!

Reece Cobb - Gymnastics:

Another Aquinas gymnastics celebration… This time it’s a standing ovation for Year 12’s Reece Cobb who has solidified her title as NZ’s top gymnast and taken one step closer to her goal of competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Reece was crowned NZ’s 2023 Women’s Artistic champion after a stellar performance at the national champs in Tauranga during the July holidays. It is the second year running that she has won the title. 

Emily Wade - AFL & Rugby:

Did you know that we have an NZ-level AFL player in our ranks? Year 12’s Emily Wade was selected for NZ’s U18 Women’s AFL team that took on Australia in a Trans Tasman battle earlier this year.

Added to that, Emily recently trialled to play rugby for Hong Kong in the upcoming Asia Rugby U20 Sevens tournament. (Emily grew up in Hong Kong where she played both rugby and AFL.)

Not surprisingly, Emily is a skilled rugby player too. She was selected to play for Western BOP’s U18 women’s side in the 2023 Youth Development Cup held in Whakatane last month. (She won selection to the BOP U16 Girls squad last year.)

Emily currently plays in the Chiefs Manawa secondary school's 1st XV rugby competition for Tauranga Girls College. Way to go Emily! 

Zoe Wilkinson - Swimming:

Congratulations Year 13 swimmer Zoe Wilkinson who won bronze in the 200m butterfly at the NZ Secondary School Swimming Champs last month.

She notched up a swim of 2:21:49 to clinch third in what is one of the toughest pool events. Zoe swam in the 17-18 age group. (Last year, she won gold in the 200m butterfly at the national age champs and bronze at the short course met.) An amazing result Zoe!

Six other Aquinas swimmers also competed in last weekend’s nationals: Kate Dekker (Yr 13), Hunter Sands (Yr 11), Asa Banbury (Yr 12) and Tessa Harvey (Yr 11). Congratulations to all.

Taylor Harris (Aquinas Alumni) - Basketball:

Congratulations to alumni, Taylor Harris, who took to the court for the Aotearoa Māori U19 Men’s basketball team last month. The side was in Arizona to take on the best Native American teams in the USA.

More than 1,300 student-athletes took part in the 20th Annual Native American Basketball Invitational which also encourages participants to pursue higher education. The event includes a NABI College & Career Fair, Educational Youth Summit and Scholarship Fund.

Taylor, who graduated from Aquinas last year, was a leading figure in many Aquinas basketball teams. A fantastic achievement Taylor — huge congratulations from your Aquinas whānau!

Emma Rogers - Basketball:

A huge Aquinas congratulations to Year 11 basketball superstar Emma Rogers and her NZ teammates who have won bronze in the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championships. Third place guarantees the NZ team a spot at the 2024 FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup in Mexico!

Emma and the NZ team clinched bronze in a tough 66-63 win against Chinese Taipei on Sunday. The Asian Championships was played in Jordan in the Middle East — a 20-hour-plus trip from NZ for Emma and the team.

Emma is not the NZ team’s only Aquinas connection… Former student Courtney Wilson travels with the 12-member squad as the team physio. (Go Aquinas!!) An amazing result Emma, ka mau te wehi!