A drizzly day did not dampen spirits at the Tauranga Girls’ College Athletics Day held at the Domain on Monday, 27 February.

Over 150 students competed in traditional track and field events, and records were broken despite less-than-ideal conditions.

Congratulations to Ruby Jones, who broke the Intermediate Girls' Discus record, and Saskia Rhind, who broke the Senior Girls' Shot Put record. 

Our overall Athletics Champions in each grade are:

Junior Girls Champions

1st - Izy Tongalea

2nd - Ella Robinson

2nd - Matilda Valentine

Intermediate Girls Champions

1st - Ruby Jones

2nd - Maia Poutawera

3rd - Ava Laking

Senior Girls Champion

1st - Saskia Rhind

2nd - Ella Vrieze

2nd - Olivia Hala

Following this event, 23 athletes went on to represent Tauranga Girls’ College at the Bay of Plenty Athletics Championships on 8 March 2023. 

Further records were broken at this event. Ruby Jones broke the BOP Intermediate Girls Discus record from 1984 with a throw of 37.89m, and Ella Robinson broke the Junior Girls Long Jump record with a 4.76m jump. 

21 athletes have qualified for the next event, the WaiBOP Athletics championships, on Tuesday, 21 March, at Porritt Stadium in Hamilton. 

The following students obtained the top three placings:

Junior Girls

Nina Varley - 2nd 300m

Ella Robinson - 1st Long Jump (R), 1st High Jump

Lilah Joe - 1st 800m, 2nd 1500m

Matilda Valentine - 3rd 3000m

4x 100m Relay team - 1st (Ella Robinson, Makylah Hema, Manaia Rolleston, Izzy Player)

Intermediate Girls

Maia Poutawera - 3rd 100m, 2nd 400m

Carli Van Der Merwe - 3rd Long Jump

Ruby Jones - 1st Discus (R), 1st Shot Put

Ava Jane Rashleigh - 3rd Discus, 3rd Shot Put

4x 100m Relay team - 1st (Maia Poutawera, Carli Van Der Merwe, Ava Laking, Ruby Jones)

Senior Girls

Honey Cooney - 2nd 200m

Olivia Hala - 1st 400m

Ella Vreize - 2nd 800m

Saskia Rhind - 1st 100m Hurdles, 1st High Jump, 1st Shot Put, 3rd Javelin

Sunny Davis - 2nd Long Jump

Maia Kahura - 2nd Discus, 2nd Shot Put

4x 100m Relay team - 1st (Honey Cooney, Olivia Hala, Mia Quirke, Saskia Rhind)

Other Athletics Achievements

Saskia Rhind has also achieved highly in regional and national competitions over the past months. She recently competed in the U18 Waikato Championships, placing 1st in Hurdles, 2nd in High Jump, and 3rd in Shot Put. She also competed in the U18 Combined events / Heptathlon Nationals and finished 2nd overall. This performance has meant she has qualified to travel to Australia in April to compete in The Chemist Warehouse Australian Junior Championships in Brisbane. We wish her all the best in this competition.

Maia Poutawera recently competed in the NZ Athletics Track and Field Championships in the U18 grade. She competed in the 100m final (8th), was 5th in the 200m final (PB) and 5th in the 400m. She was also a member of the winning WaiBOP 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay teams.