Hero photograph
 
Photo by Waikato Diocesan

Sports News

Dio Communications —

Our Mission: To achieve excellence in sport and physical activities at all levels within a caring and rewarding atmosphere.

Cross-country

It was a great afternoon of racing at the Central Zone Cross-country Championships at the end of May. An enthusiastic group of students got involved and gave it their all.

We achieved some fantastic results including Chloe Housley (Year 10) placing 3rd in the U16 race; Ruby Wilson (Year 9) placing 4th in the U15 race, and Isabel Melville (Year 11) placing 4th in the U20 race.

In the team categories:

● 1st - Year 9 Girls 6 to Score - Ruby Wilson, Bella Cochrane, Brooke Devaney, Lucy Hadley, Fleur Street, and Iris Webb

● 1st - U16 Girls 6 to Score - Chloe Housley, Scarlett Munro, Casey Spencer, Jesimae Strawbridge, Hayley McIntyre, and Georgia Roberts

● 1st - Year 9 Girls 3 to Score - Ruby Wilson, Bella Cochrane, and Brooke Devaney

● 3rd - U16 Girls 3 to Score - Chloe Housley, Scarlett Munro, and Casey Spencer

Everyone completed the event with Dio spirit and did themselves proud!

Our students headed to Ngatea to take on the Waikato Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools' Cross-country Championships on 8 June.

Well done to those who competed on this challenging course and to the following athletes on their top 15 placings as individuals or in the team score events!

Year 9 Girls

● Brooke Devaney - 8th

● 3-Person Team - 3rd - Brooke Devany, Fleur Street, Scarlett Munro

● 6-Person Team - 2nd - Brooke Devaney, Fleur Street, Scarlett Munro, Eva Conlon, Ella Blomfield, and Poppy Hancock

U16 Girls

● Chloe Housley - 13th

Central Zone Cross-country. — Image by: Dio Communications


Netball

Congratulations to the following students gaining selection into representative Netball teams this year.

Eastern Waikato Under 18 team

  • Grace Wilson - Year 13
  • Xanthe Johnson - Year 12
  • Aylee Gane - Year 11
  • Becky Dudson - Year 12

Eastern Waikato Under 16 team

  • Jessie Parker - Year 11 (training partner)

Otorohanga Under 16 team

  • Alex Peoples - Year 12
  • Sarah Ngawhika - Year 12
  • Te Aumihi Haggie - Year 12
  • Tia Lord - Year 11
  • Amy Thomas - Year 11

Hamilton City Under 16A team

  • Jessica Holt - Year 12

Hamilton City Under 16B team

  • Jorgi Holt - Year 10
  • Caitlyn Hape - Year 10

Hamilton City Under 14B team

  • Maclaine Stuart - Year 10

 Hamilton City Secondary School Tournament 

Six of our Netball teams competed in the Hamilton City Secondary School Tournament and we achieved some outstanding results.

~ 9A won Year 9 A grade

~ 10A won Year 10 B grade

~ Junior Prem runners-up Year 10 A Grade

~ Premier Reserve runners-up Senior Grade

Special mention to Senior A and 9B teams for competing and displaying true Dio spirit throughout the day!

9A Netball. — Image by: Dio Communications
10A Netball — Image by: Dio Communications


Swimming

Congratulations to our fabulous swimmers who once again took out the shield for the Top Girls' Team at the Waikato Secondary Schools Swimming Championships!

A huge team effort with some great individual swims and exciting relays made it a brilliant day for all.

For a full list of results please click here.

In May, Sophie Hay (Year 11) and Clara McPhillips (Year 13) competed in the NZ Legends of the Lake competition in Rotorua.

In very chilly conditions, they swam 3.5km in the Blue Lake. Sophie Hay sprinted home to be the first woman in and fourth overall.

Clara also came in strongly being the fourth woman in and third in her age group.

Despite not being able to feel their feet by the end they both came in with big smiles, well-done Sophie and Clara.

Auckland Dio Exchange

We were finally able to host Auckland Diocesan School for our Dio Exchange on 23 May. It was a very successful sports and cultural exchange and although we weren't successful in taking back the trophy, the standard of competition was high and the sport(wo)manship was the winner on the day.

Thank you to the sports and arts squads and the great team at Dio for hosting such a fabulous event and to Auckland Dio for making the trip down the motorway.

Check out the photos in the photo gallery section of this publication.

Rugby

Four lucky Dio students (Kaitlyn Meinung, Lilli Parres, Olivia Bell and Ruby Wilson) were delighted to join Chiefs (Super rugby franchise) players at an annual Experience Day event hosted by NZFUJIFILM Business Innovation New Zealand. Check out the article in Scoop here. What a fabulous experience!

Chiefs Experience Day event hosted by NZFUJIFILM Business Innovation New Zealand. — Image by: Dio Communications


Squash

Recently the Waikato Secondary School Individual and Teams Squash Championships took place and we gained some fantastic results.

● Bianca Hoskings won the Girls Division 4 Championship

● Bianca Alcock won the Girls Division 3 Plate. Bianca Alcock also received a sportsmanship prize/certificate.

● At the teams' event - Carys Foot, Breanna Rickman and Bianca Alcock won Division 2 of the Waikato.

A mighty effort, well done Team Dio!

Waikato Secondary Schools' Squash Championships. — Image by: Dio Communications
Bianca Alcock and Bianca Hoskings - Waikato Secondary Schools' Individual Squash Tournament. — Image by: Dio Communications


National Achievements

A huge congratulations to Lilli Parres (Year 11) who competed in the Oceania Karate Championships held in Nouméa, New Caledonia in early June 2022.

She gained:

  • 3rd in Kumite 16-17 female 59kg +
  • 5th equal in 16-17 female open
  • 3rd in Team Kumite 16-17 female

Oustanding - so proud!

Lilli Parres - Oceania Karate Championships. — Image by: Dio Communications

Gymnastics

Congratulations to Dio gymnastic stars Harriet Vellenoweth, Cate Young, Poppy Hancock and Eva Conlon who have been selected in the Women's Artistic Team Waikato to compete at the New Zealand Gymnastics Championships. Well done!

Image by: Dio Communications


Old Girls

We are so very excited and proud to see some of our fantastic Old Girls selected to represent New Zealand at next month’s XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Congratulations to the following athletes and we look forward to cheering you on from afar!

  • Julia Ratcliffe - Athletics Women’s Hammer Throw
  • Tarryn Davey, Alia Jaques and Alex Lukin - Women’s Hockey
  • Olivia King - Cycling - Individual Sprint, Sprint Time Trial and Team Sprint
  • Gloria King - Chef De Mission for Team Vanuatu

We will keep you posted if more of our Old Girls are selected!

Image by: Dio Communications
Image by: Dio Communications
Image by: Dio Communications