By Andrew Willmott | Posted: Sunday May 14, 2017
Despite several boys being unavailable due to the School cross-country and subject assessments, we still fielded strong teams for the annual event.
In
the juniors, we were represented by two teams. The Year 9 academy team played
in the 1st division. They played a round robin competition in which they
had to play four games back-to-back. In the end it was possibly their un-doing,
as they struggled to get up against eventual winners, Mt Aspiring College,
after drawing with the much-fancied Wakatipu High School team. Despite beating
Logan Park convincingly in their last match, they finished 3rd.
The Year 10 team made a slow start in the 2nd Division. They lost their first game 1 – 4 to Wakatipu B and then narrowly went down to Dunstan High School, 3 - 5. What followed in their final matches was a huge transformation, with quicker ball movement and support play contributing to three successive wins; 7-0 v Tokomairiro HS, 9-2 v John McGlashan and 7-2 v Kaikorai Valley. The late run not enough though and they finished 3rd too.
The biggest success of the day came in the Year 11-13 competition. Having played bridesmaid for several years, Kasam Ali and his Year 13 team-mates, were able to leave on a high note, winning the prestigious Senior title. Kasam was able to replicate his brother, Rohan, who was part of the last Otago Boys’ team to lift the trophy. Their results were:
8-3 v Mt Aspiring College B, 5-3 v John McGlashan College B, 6-2 v Kavanagh College, 5-4 v John McGlashan A (semi Final) and 5-4 v Mt Aspiring A (Final).