Year 12 student, Shania Callender, reports for the Bay of Plenty Times and Mount Maunganui College.

Molly Shivnan

A special mention goes to a very accomplished Mount Maunganui College sports student, Molly Shivnan. Molly Shivnan is a talented Year 12 swimmer and surf life saver who has recently been selected for multiple swimming and Surf Life Saving squads and teams; she is now part of the New Zealand Youth Squad for Surf Life Saving. She will, therefore, be attending the NZ youth squad high performance camp from the 14th to the 16th of June.

The NZ swimming squad which Molly is also part of is preparing to go to Australia to compete at the Australian State champs, with a camp for this squad being held from the 17th to the 21st of May.

Another extremely impressive achievement of Molly’s is her recruitment into the NZ Open Surf Life Saving 2019 Sanyo Cup Team. This team of New Zealand surf life savers is to compete in Fukuoka, Japan, from the 18th to 25th of June. The Sanyo Cup is an annual international surf life saving event run by the Japan Lifesaving Association in which many different countries with competent surf life saving students compete. Some of the other countries included in the competition this year are Australia, Japan, Britain and the USA, and Mount Maunganui College is very proud to have Molly Shivnan attend.

Molly also raked in impressive results in the NAGS 2019 16 yr swimming nationals. She brought home gold in the 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle. Two silver medals were also earned by Molly in the 100m freestyle and 400m individual medley, as well as three bronzes in 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 200m freestyle. Molly also placed fourth in the 50m backstroke and 100m backstroke, all of these outstanding results a great display of Molly’s talent.

Holly Sheaff

Holly Sheaff is a year 11 Mount Maunganui College student who at the secondary schools canoe slalom competition took home a variety of impressive results. Holly placed in the top Under 16 women’s single kayak category at the competition. She also placed second in the Under 16 women’s single canoe, as well as first in the double canoe women’s category in which she competed with Kahlia Cullwick. In the downriver, Holly placed third in the Under 16 women’s category, and in the extreme slalom placed with an overall third in the women’s category. These impressive placings are a result of a lot of talent, hard work and time Holly Sheaff has put into canoe and kayak slalom.

Kahlia Cullwick

Kahlia Cullwick, another year 11 student at Mount College, also proved her talent at the secondary schools canoe slalom competition. She placed second in the single kayak Under 16 women’s category and brought home an impressive first in the single canoe Under 16 women’s category. Hard work paid off as she and Holly raked in first in the double canoe Under 16 women’s category, as well as a fourth in the Under 16 double canoe mixed, in which Kahlia was paired with Cole Anderson from Tauranga Boys’ College. Kahlia also achieved an impressive first in the Under 16 women’s downriver category, and all of these combined top results led her to be recognised and rewarded as the Top Overall Under 16 Woman; an admirable achievement.

Kahlia Cullwick and Holly Sheaffs’ results gave Mount Maunganui College the Top Small School Award; an award given to the best scoring school with less than 10 competitors.

Canoe Slalom Nationals

In the Canoe Slalom Nationals, Kahlia Cullwick placed second in the Under 16 women’s single kayak category, as well as first in the Under 16 single canoe women’s category. In the Under 16 double canoe category, where Kahlia was paired with Cole Anderson from TBC, a first was earned. Holly Sheaff and Kahlia Cullwick paired together to compete in the Under 16 double canoe men’s category; where they placed third.

Mount Maunganui College is overall extremely proud of our successful sporting students, and wish luck to all of our Winter Sports Teams; basketball, football, hockey, rugby and netball. It will be exciting to see how well the winter sports students play this season.

Athletics

The North Island Athletics Secondary Schools championships were held at the Tauranga Domain last weekend. Highlights for Mount College students included Charlotte Drabble’s impressive results, in which she won Senior Girls Long Jump and came 4th in the Senior Girls 100m sprint. Colby Brennan was another successful student, winning his 400m Senior Boys heat, but in terms of time placed 5th. Both these athletes qualify for the NZSS Athletic Championships which will be held in December, and Mount College is excited to see the students’ success.

Surfing

Another Mount Maunganui College student that was very busy over the holidays was Anna Brock, who just recently had her 14th birthday. She competed in the South Island Surfing Championships which were held Dunedin. She placed 4th in the Under 16 girls and 3rd in the Under 20 division. She then travelled to Raglan, which is recognised as one of the best surfing beaches in New Zealand, to compete in the Open Women's Raglan Pro Surfing Competition where she gained valuable surfing experience.

Waterpolo

Our Premier Girls Waterpolo team played in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Premier Competition which was held over the recent school holidays. This young team played some outstanding waterpolo against the best teams in New Zealand. The Mount Maunganui College team finished in 6th place.

Our Senior A boys team played in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Division 2 competition, which was held in Rotorua. The team only had 2 losses over the week’s competition and finished in 10th place.

Swimming

The Mount Maunganui College Swimming Sports took place on the 20th of March, and many of our school’s swimmers raked up many impressive results.

Tanner Baxter was the winner of the senior boys division, with an overall 12 points. Angus Porter won the intermediate boys division with 12 points. Poppy Wilson was the junior girls winner, finishing with 12 points, and Zander Loots, with 6 points, was the junior boys winner.

Molly Shivnan is a very talented swimmer who at the swimming sports broke 5 school records. She broke the girls 200 metre freestyle record with a time of 2:13.49, the senior girls 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:21.00, the senior girls 100 metre freestyle with 1:02.10, the senior girls 100 metre backstroke, in which she got a time of 1:09.55, and finally the senior girls individual medley with a time of 1.35.00. She was the champion of the senior girls division for the school swimming sports with an end score of 18 points.

Zyleika Pratt-Smith is another skilled Mount College swimmer, who broke 2 school records in the intermediate girls. Zyleika had a time of 1:22.30 in the hundred metre breastroke, breaking the previous school record. She also broke the 100 metre backstroke school record with a time of 1:10.00. Zyleika went on to win the intermediate girls division with 15 points.

Our swimmers also proved their success at the Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Swimming, held at Bethlehem College. Molly Shivnan was the overall senior girl’s champion, and Zylieka Pratt-Smith was the overall intermediate swimming champion. It has overall been a very successful few weeks for our school swimming students.

Other News

Other news for Mount College includes the 1st XV Boys Rugby team having a pre-season game against Bethlehem 1st XV at Mt College on. It resulted in a convincing win for Mount; the team has been training really well over the last 6 weeks and this has clearly paid off.

The 1st XI Boys Football team partook in a pre-season game against the Otumoetai College 1st XI Boys; the result was a 2 all draw. Brothers, Colby and Mitchell Brennan, were the goal scorers for the Mount College team. The surprise “player of the day” went to Stefan Heuberger, who impressed with his play in the mid-field as he normally plays as goalie for the team.