Jessica Watkin - Sportswomen of year 2016
ALL ROUNDER: Whanganui High School's Jessica Watkin strides on the national cricket stage won her the Secondary School Sportswomen of the Year title last night.
Whanganui High School's Bradley McDowell won Junior Sportsman of the Year.
Whanganui High School's Mixed Touch team won Senior Team of the Year.
Whanganui High School's Diana Taha Williams-Cribb won the Official Award.
From their bats, to their guns and their running shoes, the recipients of the 2016 Dub.De.See Youth Committe Whanganui Secondary School Sports Awards can look back on a banner year with pride.
The eight awards were announced at another glittering occasion at the City College school hall yesterday evening.
In a stacked Senior Sportsman category, Collegiate's Christian Conder was acknowledged for his presence on the world stage, where he had to overcome injury to perform.
Conder captained the New Zealand team at the World School Cross Country in Budapest, after having previously gutted out injury to finish fifth in the nationals.
This placed him narrowly above Whanganui High School's Blair Osborne and Wiremu Hiri, with Osborne having a great footy season with the national championship-winning WHS Open Mixed Touch squad, then making the Under 17 and Under 20 NZ teams as well as being called into the Under 19 Heartland XV at the Jock Hobbs Memorial rugby union tournament.
Standout softball player Hiri toured America and Canada with the NZ Under 21 development squad.
The choice for the judges in the Senior Sportswoman was just as difficult, but ultimately cricket allrounder Jessica Watkin's strides in the national game could not be ignored.
Watkin, who set herself the goal of becoming a White Fern before she left WHS, is currently in the high performance training group after playing for New Zealand A in both their victories over Sri Lanka and the full New Zealand team last summer.
She also played for the NZ Under 18's at the Junior Indoor Cricket World Cup in Australia.
Watkin had to hold off competition from Collegiate's Jazmin Phillips, who finished seventh in the 16-19 female class of the ITU Aquathlon World Championships in Mexico, as well as WHS's Millie Manning, who won a series of gymnastics medals at two international competitions in Hawaii.
Decisions were a little clearer in the Junior categories as WHS shooter Bradley McDowell stood out like a real cowboy after representing his country at the Single Action World Championships in New Mexico, where the reigning national junior boys champion finished seventh.
The equestrians of Nga Tawa Diocesan were made proud by Claudia Hurley, who earned a world ranking of third in her age group at the FEI World Dressage Challenge, and was with the NZPCA Tetrathlon team in Ireland, where she was first individual in the riding section (30th overall) against riders from six countries.
It was a very hard decision to choose the Senior Team of the Year, but ultimately the judges acknowledged the journey the WHS Mixed Touch team have been on for the past three years when they finally claimed the national title after two previous runnerup efforts in Auckland.
After beating the powerhouse Auckland schools, no less than five of the WHS squad have been selected to trial for the New Zealand teams.
Only this kind of story could have kept the award away from rowers Matthew Wright and Nathan Luff - the Boys U18 Lightweight Double Sculls gold medallists at the national secondary school champs.
In the small Junior Team category, Collegiate's Junior 4x100m Junior girls team winning their title at the NZSS championships, as well as coming hundredths of a second from a North Island U14 record, made them the obvious choice.
Ruapehu College's Matthew Laurenson is a tireless squash coach as well as player, and this lifted him to the Coach Award for taking two senior Ohakune club teams to regional titles and then finishing third at nationals.
This was enough to hold off gymnastics coach Regan Davey, who has gotten his charges qualified to the Whanganui/Manawatu teams that went to the nationals and performed with distinction.
Finally, WHS's netball stalwart Diana Taha Williams-Cribb was the obvious candidate for the Official Award.
Well regarded on the local scene, Williams-Cribb received her Netball NZ Zone umpire award and passed her NNZ theory exam, among many significant refereeing appointments in a busy season.
By Jared Smith
Wanganui Chronicle 27/10/16