Rangitoto College

Winning in the water: Success swells for Rangitoto College water sports

Whether it is something in the water or on the water, this year has been very successful for water sport athletes from Rangitoto College. Teams and athletes in sailing, swimming, and water polo have achieved remarkable results in 2022.

Sebastian Menzies. Caleb Armit.

Sailing

Rangitoto College Year 13 students Sebastian Menzies and Caleb Armit have achieved outstanding success on the world sailing stage recently.

At the Junior World Championships in Lake Como, Italy, Sebastian Menzies and his sailing partner George Lee Rush took first place in the 49erFX fleet. On top of this, they also competed in other prestigious events in Europe—winning the 29er at Kiel Week, the 29er European Championships, and bronze in the 29er at the Youth Sailing World Championships in The Hague.

In the Laser Youth World Championships sailed at the Houston Yacht Club on the Gulf of Mexico, Caleb Armit secured a bronze medal. Caleb won five of his 11 races, as well as three other top three results which contributed to his bronze.

Swimming

Congratulations goes to the Rangitoto College Swim team who successfully defended the Top Co-Ed School title for the third year in a row at the New Zealand Secondary School Championships in July. The Girls Relay team also secured Top Relay team for the second year in a row. This team also took home six gold, 11 silver and eight bronze individual medals, along with six golds, one silver and two bronze in the relay events.

Continuing these successes, three of our swimmers embarked on their international campaign to represent New Zealand in the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming championships this month. Summer Osborne, Melissa Cowen, and Charlie Twose took to the water at the K. Mark Takai Veterans Memorial Aquatic Centre in Hawaii in August.

Water polo

At the National Secondary Schools tournament for water polo, both our Premier Girls and Boys team achieved gold! A truly remarkable and outstanding achievement for Rangitoto College with our girls’ team first defeating the long-time unbeaten Diocesan, and our boys’ team defeating Hamilton Boys. Double national champions in an afternoon will remain deeply embedded into the sporting history at Rangitoto College. A special congratulations goes to Rangitoto players, Darcy Spark and Luke Blackburn, who were named MVPs of the tournament.

More recently, Premier Girls players Darcy Spark, Ava Cooper, Gabrielle Doyle, and Samantha Bentley were selected to represent New Zealand at the Youth World Water Polo Championships in Serbia. Premier Boys players Caiden Brown, Kama Morton, Boston Frost, and Oli Pritchard were also selected to represent New Zealand at the Youth World Championships in Serbia. Current Rangitoto College coach Nemo Radjen is also involved with the team as a coach. Congratulations to these players and coach on this fantastic achievement.

We look forward to the continuing successes of all of these fine sportspeople.

A celebration of Chinese and Korean culture at Rangitoto College

Over two thrilling nights, Rangitoto College celebrated the diversity of our community through extravaganzas of Chinese and Korean culture. These annual events showcase the talents of our students through traditional and modern aspects of the cultures of these two countries.

This year, Korean Night was packed with a variety of captivating performances including haka, doll dance, fan dance, taekwondo, nanta, mask dance, traditional dance, rap, K-pop dance, and bands.

Chinese culture was brought to life on Chinese Night through traditional acts such as lion dance, sleeve dance, fan dance, guzheng, and diabolo. There were also the more modern hip hop and singing acts. The vibrant food market that was set up allowed the audience to fully immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the night, including foods from local vendors like bubble tea, pork buns, and candy art.

Rangitoto College is proud to showcase the hard work and dedication of all the students involved in these two nights to put on brilliant displays of culture and pride.