We have had a strong start to the 2024 orienteering season with many students involved in events during Term 1 and Term 2.
The sprint series kicked off in February with over 140 students participating in 5 after-school events held at 5 different schools. After the last event, the top runners in each grade were invited to the series final. Fourteen NX students qualified for the final, a two-race event held at two separate locations. After the first race, 9 students were in the top 10 for their grade. After the second race, 7 students had an overall top 10 placing. Naia Carson Neufeld was 5th in the Y7 Girls, Danil Taran 5th in the Y7 Boys, Eva Scott 4th and Rada Pazniak 8th in the Y8 Girls, and Ollie Simpson 2nd, Tyler Poland 3rd, Jake Hamblyn 5th in the Y8 Boys.
In March, 8 teams of 6 attended the North Harbour Zone Day in Hillsborough. Seven teams placed in the top 3 and qualified for the Inter-Zone Competition. In the girls division, NX placed 1st and 2nd in Year 8 grade, and 2nd in Year 7 grade. In the boys division, NX placed 1st and 3rd in the Year 8s, and 1st and 2nd in the Year 7s. We also had some outstanding individual times during the day. Rada Pazniak had the fastest individual time in the Year 8 Girls with 14m 11s, while Eva Scott was a close 2nd with 14m 18s. Naia Carson Neufeld was 3rd in the Y7 Girls with 21m 20s, while Danil Taran was 1st in the Y7 Boys with 13m 50s. Tyler Poland had the fastest individual time in the Year 8 Boys with 12m 28s with Ollie Simpson coming in 2nd with 13m 40s.
In the April school holidays, 32 students attended the North Island Secondary School Champs, a 3-day event held here in Auckland. Students competed in a short course, long course, and relay event. We had our best individual results on the 2nd day with Josh Brown placing 2nd in the standard long course and Ollie Simpson placing 1st in the same event. At the end of the competition, NX placed 3rd overall in both the intermediate boys and girls divisions.
This term, we’ve had two further events where Northcross was once again on the podium. The relay champs were held on May 9th in Mangere with 16 teams of 3 attending. Ollie Simpson, Tyler Poland, and Jake Hamblyn were 1st in the intermediate boys division with Bryce Larkan, Josh Brown, and Dylan Brunton coming in 2nd. One of our Year 7 teams – Hunter Pang, Zachary Bailey, and Blair Corkery – placed 4th in the same division, a huge effort in a pool of mostly Y8s.
Finally, the Inter-Zone competition was held on May 16th in Bombay. NX had 7 teams qualify for this event with 2 teams achieving top 3 placings. Tyler Poland, Ollie Simpson, Josh Brown, Max Flinn, Jake Hamblyn, and Dylan Brunton came 1st in the Year 8 Boys gaining the title of ‘Auckland Champions’, while Olivia Zhang, Alyssa Harrison, Isla Harrison, India Rose, and Holly Large came 2nd in the Year 7 Girls. Josh Brown also had the fastest individual time on his particular course.
In the coming weeks, NX students will be competing in the rogaine and individual champs. And, for the first time, orienteering will be part of the AIMS games in Tauranga next term – watch this space! Congratulations to all students on your orienteering success to date.
Miss Louisa Grant
NX Orienteering Manager
