Sports Prefects: Holly Rowcroft and Ruby Flannery

Term 2 has been another amazing term for sports at St Hilda’s! We had all of our winter sports start up, with a large amount of participation from all year groups. Our competitive teams are putting on great performances every week and getting some amazing results. It’s also great to see a large number of social teams in a variety of sports, as it allows everyone to have a bit of fun and get some physical activity in each week. 

We have continued on with our weekly movements this term, setting up activities such as yoga with Ms Harper, dodgeball and volleyball in the gym and an addition this term was a staff vs students game of dodgeball! Our weekly movements allow girls to connect with other year groups, break school work up with some physical activity and even watch their teachers get hit with dodgeballs! 

One of our key events this term has been the annual Cross Country at Ross Creek. Sadly due to weather we had to cancel the whole school cross country but were still able to set up a successful day for the competitive and PE assessment runners! We still had a great turn out of competitive runners from all Year groups, including the Year 7 and 8s. We can’t wait for all the fun events planned for next term, some key ones to look forward to are swimming sports and winter quad! 

Holiday sport equipment clean out!!

Over the holidays, clean out your room and find any old sports equipment that could be re used and bring back to school for our collection! Early in Term 3, we will be doing a sports equipment collection to donate to Sport Otago and Replay to then be passed on to young rangatahi that are less fortunate and don't have the ability to access sports gear. So find those old racquets, balls, sticks or boots and bring them along. Term date to be finalised.

Cross Country- Honor Garden

This term has been busy for our runners with four Otago Secondary Schools Cross Country. There has been a great group of girls participating enthusiastically with some individual races and other team events which were great for people to give it a go with their friends

The first event in the Cross Country series that took place at the beginning of May was the individual Logan Park Road Race which was 2.5km long. This was held down at Logan Park fields on a sunny day. We had four runners representing St Hilda's. Zoe Lithgow placed 3rd and Harriet McKay 6th in the Junior Girls category and Honor Garden placed 5th and Stella Dineen placed 7th in the Senior Girls. It was a great event to start the Cross Country season.

Next up was the Caversham Relay Race, held out at Kettle Park by St Clair on a cold, windy day.  Despite the weather we had three teams of four giving it their all and supporting their teammates. The course was a 1km loop done twice by each teammate. We all came away smiling, very happy with everyone's effort. The Junior Blue team placed 2nd which consisted of Zoe Lithgow, Harriet McKay, India Garden, and Katie Watt. The Junior Grey team placed 7th with Xanthe Saunders, Sophie Small, Brodie Nutting, and Molly Hurring as the runners. In the Senior category, Honor Garden, Stella Dineen, Sophie Sheppard, and Mae Dineen placed 3rd.

The third Cross Country event was the Milton Relay held at Milton Showgrounds. The girls had a great time supporting each other and running the course which included obstacles such as jumping off a loading ramp and climbing over a fence. The Junior Grey team placed 4th with Sari Perkins, Sophie Palmer, Brodie Nutting, and Xanthe Saunders. The Junior Blue team had Molly Hurring, Grace Chamberlain, India Garden, and Katie Watt which got a strong 8th place.

The last of the series was the Otago Championship Cross Country hosted at Kaikorai Valley College. It was a challenging course with muddy, uneven, and difficult terrain over a 3km course for the Junior categories and a 4km course for the Senior category. Five competitors from St Hilda's went out with determination and perseverance and we came away very successful after a great day. First up was the U14 girls which was a speedy race. Zoe Lithgow finished in a great 2nd place while Harriet McKay battled it out to get 10th. The next race was the U16 girls with Honor Garden placed 1st. The last race was the U19 girls where Katie Moore got a 4th place finish closely followed by Stella Dineen in 6th. 

Unfortunately our school Cross Country was postponed twice but it was compulsory for Year 11 and Yr 13 PE and optional for any other students, competed at Ross Creek. Despite the fewer entries it was a very fast race with two records broken by Zoe Lithgow in Year 9 and Honor Garden Year 12. The Year 7 and 8 Champion was Ruby Burgess, Year 9 was Zoe Lithgow, Year 10 Kenzie McLachlan, Year 11 Charlotte Aburn and Ruby Hore, Year 12 Honor Garden, and Year 13 was Charlie Byers. Overall it was a fun, enjoyable Cross Country season and was great to compete against other school individuals and teams. Hopefully, we will see everyone again next year.

Netball - Aya Moetaua

This winter season has been a fantastic term filled with many tournaments and opportunities to play some netball. St Hilda's have been showing off their skills and improving each week. This year we have over 20 teams competing in the Saturday competition and 3 teams competing on Thursday in the junior competition. After round one we have multiple teams winning and moving up grades. We have social and competitive teams out there doing St. Hilda's proud. Our teams are gearing up for the next round before term break, while our Senior A and B have a 4 week holiday to fine-tune their skills. Overall the netball players at St Hilda's have been showing great competitive spirits and sportsmanship. 

The Year 10A, 10B and Year 9A and B were lucky enough to compete in the Roncalli tournament where all grades had some tough competition. But their determination was shown with an outstanding outcome of all four teams winning their own grade. Which is an amazing result. There were some other super results through the Otago Secondary Schools tournament that was held in Dunedin. The 9A,10A, Senior B, and Senior A all participated in this tournament where the Year 9 team won their semi-final in a close 4-point game, and all the other teams won their semis convincingly. Our Senior Bs and 10A ended up taking out the finals with our Senior A and 9A taking up second place. There was some excellent fight and passion shown in these finals.  

Our Year 7 and 8 teams (Bears, Panthers and Lions) have started their season well. They will look forward to the festival day in August. All teams have more games to look forward to for the rest of the season carrying on next term. There are South Island Secondary Schools to look forward to for some of our Junior teams. We send all our luck to both teams and can’t wait to hear the results. Next term the Senior A have their South Island tournament and Winter Quad to look forward to. A special shoutout to some amazing St Hilda's players who have been selected into Dunedin representative teams. Charlotte Aburn, Mia Wall, and Bonnie Turner were selected to play in the U16 Dunedin team and Perri Hore, Ruby Flannery and Aya Moetaua were selected to play in the U18 Dunedin team. Congratulations and good luck for any tournaments. Can’t wait to see everyone's results at the end of the season!! Keep it up girls.

Trap shooting- Isla Wilson

This term has been a great start to the trap shooting season. Girls have been heading out to the Dunedin Clay Target Club to practice every Wednesday and Thursday, 4 - 5 pm. We’ve had some amazing development in skill while having fun and a few laughs along the way. So far we have had girls go down to competitions in Invercargill, where Isla Wilson placed 2nd in Point Score Ladies, and Dunedin, where Isla Wilson placed 2nd Single Barrel Ladies. Coming up in term two we will be attending competitions in Balfour, Dunedin, Alexandra, Timaru and later Nationals in Christchurch to finish off the season. Practice will continue all throughout the year, even in Term 4 and new girls are welcome to come out at any time. It’ll be great to see how the rest of the season plays out!

Rugby - Charlotte Va’afusuaga

This term our 2024 1st XV Rugby team has had a great season so far, our team this year is very fresh and is made up of a lot of players who are completely new to the game. Although our team doesn't have as much experience as other teams in our competition, all of our girls give 100% on the field which really shows. Our first game of the season was against Columba College which we played with only one training as a team under our belt. Unfortunately, we went down to them but since then have had more trainings and games helping us grow as a team which has shown through our most recent scores. Our last game being against South Otago which we won 99 -15 and the game before that scoring 98 - 5 against Taieri College.

We have also been lucky enough to have the Development girls from Year 10 and 11 join us for one of our training sessions and had one Year 10 student, Anahera Koni, make her debut for 1st XV in our game against South Otago. Although our 1st XV has been on a high the past games, our Development and Junior girls have also been tearing up the competition, both teams having convincing wins scoring over 50 points in all games. We look forward to seeing all of our St Hilda's teams grow and also look forward to hearing about some great results as the season progresses. 

Congratulations to Charlotte Va'afusuaga who has been selected into the Otago Spirit Women's Rugby team and to Hannah Norris who was named as an Apprentice Player.

Swimming - Charlotte Aburn

Many of our St Hilda's girls competed in multiple events over Term 2. Victoria Aburn, Cleo Black, Bella McEntyre, Evie Gilmour, and Lily McGrath competed in the King's Birthday Swimming Meet, Victoria Aburn got 1st in the 400m free, 2nd 200m IM, 3rd 100m free, and 1st 200m free. Cleo Black competed in multiple different races getting a few PBs and coming 8th in the 50m backstroke. Lily McGarth got 1st in the 50m breast, 2nd 200m IM, 2nd 100m free, 1st 50m free, 1st 100m breast, 4th 50m fly and 1st in the 100m IM. Bella McEntyre got 1st in the 400m free, 3rd 50m back, 7th 50m breast, 4th 200m IM, 4th 50m free, and 1st in the 200 free. Evie Gilmour got 5th in the 50m back, 3rd 100m fly, 4th 100m back, 11th 200m IM, 6th 50m free, 5th 200m back, and 6th in the 100m IM. A few of the girls competed in the skins race as well, Bella McEntrye got 2nd in the 14-15 age group winning $100 and Victoria Aburn got 1st in the 12-13 age group winning $200.

Many of our girls competed for St Hilda's in the Otago Secondary School Championships, Inge Erasmus got 1st in the 200 breast, 13th 50m free, 2nd 100m breast, 9th 50m fly, 6th 50m breast, and 7th in the 100m free. Victoria Aburn got 6th in the 50m free, 2nd 200m free, 1st 400m free, and 3rd in the 100m free. Cleo Black got top 10 in the 50m free, 50m breast and 100m breast. Charlotte Aburn got 2nd in the 50 free, 1st 200 free, 1st 400 free and 1st in the 100 free. Evie Gilmour got 3rd in the 50m free, 2nd 50m fly, 3rd 50 breast, 50m back, and 2nd 100m free. Bella McEntyre got 1st in the 50m free, 2nd 100m IM, 1st 50m fly, and 1st in the 200m free. Lily McGrath got 2nd in the 50m free, 1st 100m IM, 1st 100m breast, 1st 50 breast, 1st 50 back and 1st in the 100m free. St Hilda's also had 2 relay teams, one getting 1st in the 4x 50m medley relay and another getting 1st in the 4x 50m freestyle relay.

Over the school holidays, Lily McGrath, Bella McEntyre and Charlotte Aburn all competed at the National Age Group Championships. All the girls came back with amazing results, Lily getting 2nd in the 50m breast and also breaking the Otago record. Lily also came back with a 4th in the 200m and 100m breast, and 6th in the 200 IM. Bella got 3rd in the 400m free, 2nd in the 800m free and 5th in the 100m free. Charlotte got 2nd in the 400m free, 4th 200m free, 3rd 100m free and 6th in the 50m free. 

Football - Lily Dillon

This season St Hilda's 1st XI Football girls have improved immensely as a group. Our first game against Bayfield High School came away as a draw, from then on we have won two games being against South Otago and Logan Park. We also had a very intense game with Columba's 1st XI, only coming away with a loss of 0-1 because of them scoring in the last bit of the second half. It has been awesome to see a mix of year groups gaining connections within the team being; Year 11, Year 9, Year 12, and Year 13. It was also awesome to hear about one of our team mates Freya Des Fountain's achievement of being a part of the NZSS Squad who went away to Australia. Freya played four games with three of them being clubs in Australia and the other was the Afghanistan Women's Team. They came away with three wins out of four which is an awesome achievement as they had never played together before. We are excited as a team to play in the upcoming Winter Quad Tournament next term. 

Basketball - Jannah Hooper

This term St Hilda's Basketball has started off very well, with multiple teams entered into competitions. A lot of new players which is good to see and also good to grow Basketball here at St Hilda's. We have our Senior A team and Junior A team competing in the premier grades and also have a Senior team competing in the A Grade on a Friday night. There is two Year 7 and 8 teams competing on a Monday night also at the Edgar Centre which is cool to see and also have many Social Basketball teams throughout the year groups. There is lots of talent coming through which is very exciting for feature St Hilda's Basketball. Our Senior and Junior teams will have a tournament just here in Dunedin next term, against many schools from around the South Island, which will be a great experience for all of us, so we will be training hard for that hoping to come out with a great result. I wish all our teams here at St Hilda's good luck for the rest of the season. Make sure you come support our teams, the games are very exciting and great to watch. 

Curling - Zoe Simpson

This year at St Hilda’s we have five eager players, Zoe Simpson, Jordan Light, Madeline Homer and Lindsay Black. Throughout this term starting on the 29th of May, the St Hilda’s Curling team has had a few games over the past couple of weeks and has been undefeated from the beginning, until our game with Columba College. Sadly we didn’t end up winning with the score being 5-2. During the beginning of the season, we had Lindsay Black joining our team and has been making amazing progress over the last few weeks that she has been playing on and off. We have all been improving and learning new skills from Jess who is an asset to the team. We have all had a great time just getting out on the ice and having fun. We’re excited to see what the rest of the season pans out like! Our goal for the season would be to finish in the top three. 

Aerobics - Lindsay Black

Aerobics at St Hilda's is looking a little different this season. We might be spread across many other clubs but all of our athletes have been putting in the hours and working so hard. We have about 25 athletes spread around different clubs but we all come together at competitions. 

This year we’ve already had the Pacific Open held in Christchurch. It was awesome to invite some Aussies from over the ditch to give us some tough competition. Over the two days of competing with loud music, heaps of cheering, and lots of sparkles, it was awesome seeing so many St Hilda's athletes making finals and even medaling up on the podiums. We had six athletes who were lucky enough to medal so it was an awesome achievement. 

Throughout the season whilst still training hard we’ve had a few Kickstart competitions. Which are newly introduced by NZCAF this year. They are a great opportunity for athletes to get out on stage and give it their absolute best. We’ve had a few athletes even receiving Technique, Aerobic, and Artistry awards at these competitions, which is awesome!  

With the season still picking up, we’re all getting excited and ready to go for regionals which is just around the corner. Heaps of preparation and training still to go on though, bring on Nationals in September! 

Hockey - Millie Roy and Amelie Brown

Hockey at St Hilda’s is a great passion of many, so far there has been some great competition and fun from the first half of the season. We have nine teams entered in the Otago Hockey competition this season, with our 1st and 2nd XIs in Division 1, Year 9A, Colts and the 3rd XI in Division 2, the Year 9B in Division 3 and the Year 7 and 8s in the Intermediate Grade. Our 1st and 2nd XI competed in an exchange earlier in the season against Methodist Ladies’ College from Perth. This was an awesome opportunity to play a different style of Hockey while having some great competition to start the season. In the April holidays, the 1st and 2nd XI travelled to Christchurch to compete in the ANZAC tournament playing teams from all over New Zealand. This was a good way to kick start the season with challenging competition.  Coming up in August is Winter Quad, hosted by Columba College, played between five schools, St Hilda’s, Columba, Craighead, St Margarets and Rangi Ruru. Our 1st XI will be taking on these schools in Dunedin in hopes of taking out Quad. Later on in the year our 1st XI will be building towards Federation Cup in Hamilton, while the 2nd XI will be competing in the Chris Arthur Cup in Dunedin. Our 1st XI had some friendly competition against an Old Girls' team, this was a hard, fun challenge. The Juniors have had a great start to the season taking on tough competitions and 1st XIs from high schools around Otago. The Year 9A beat Bayfield High School 1st XI 4-0 and beat Columba College 2nd XI 4-1. The 3rd XI beat Columba College 2nd XI 1-0. The Colts drew 0-0 with Logan Park 1st XI and drew 1-1 with St Kevin's 1st XI. Our Year 7 & 8s have been competing in the Intermediate six-a-side Grade, playing schools from around Dunedin. This competition is a great way for them to learn and develop hockey skills as well as have fun with their friends. 

STILL LOOKING FOR BILLET FAMILIES: Winter Quad Exchange

IF YOU ARE IN THE QUAD BADMINTON, FOOTBALL, NETBALL, HOCKEY teams, please discuss with your families and if you can assist, please put your name down.

This is a great part of the Quadrangular tradition and it needs your support.

This year, Columba College are hosting our annual Winter Quad Tournament. As our agreement when one of the Dunedin schools is host, the other school assists with billeting. With three schools each bringing around 40 students the need to have both local schools helping with billets is essential for this tradition to continue.

We appreciate all our billet families who provide a bed and welcome visiting students into their home. This is one of the most memorable experiences of their schooling life.

Winter Quad will take place Sunday, 4 - Tuesday, 6 August. You would also be responsible for providing dinners, breakfast and lunch to participating students.

Billeting form

Rachael Parker

Director of Sport