The future of fashion was on full display as local textile students captivated audiences at the iconic 'Walk the Line' competition during New Zealand Fashion Week. Demonstrating technical mastery and forward-thinking artistry, the emerging designers proved that high fashion has no age limit.
Leading the charge was Brooke Donald, a Year 11 student who took home top honours. Brooke claimed the top Avant-Garde Award in the Year 11 category for a design that challenged conventional silhouettes with bold structural elements. Joining her in the spotlight was Phoebe Willis, who earned a prestigious Honourable Award for an innovative gown handcrafted entirely out of upcycled canvas sails.
Harmony at the KBB Music Festival
The local music scene was alive with student performances at the annual KBB Music Festival. Taking top honours, the school's big band impressed judges by securing the award for Best Performance of a Work in an Other Style. Their outstanding set earned them a coveted feature spot in the prestigious festival gala. Not to be outdone, the chamber orchestra brought home the award for Best Performance of a New Zealand Piece, showcasing high-level technical skill and local artistic flair.
A special recognition goes to the dedicated conductors and performers whose relentless preparation made these triumphs possible.
Dominance and determination driving Winter Tournament Week
Winter Tournament Week is a pinnacle event on the school calendar. This year, our Rangitoto College athletes represented our school with immense pride, respect, courage and integrity and achieved excellent results, with over 100 students participating across multiple sports and venues. We had the following highlights from the week:
Eighteen of our wrestlers represented our school at the NZSS Wrestling Championships during Winter Tournament Week. It was a long, demanding day, starting early in the morning and running well into the evening and every single wrestler represented us with outstanding pride and grit. On the mats, as in life, you either win or you learn. Our athletes took away invaluable experience and learnings. A massive congratulations to everyone who competed, stepped up and placed on the podium!
U15 - 41kg: silver – Ayrton Guyatt
U15 - 62kg: bronze – Cohan Frith
U15 - 68kg: gold – Phoenix Eketone-Te Kanawa
U15 - 75kg: fourth – Andre McNee
U17 - 65kg: fifth – Guido Ranzuglia Pino
U17 - 71kg: gold – Dallas Eketone-Te Kanawa
U17 - 71kg: fifth –Nathan George
U17 - 92kg: gold –John Kim
The Premier boys delivered a standout performance at the AA Premierships Tournament (Qualifiers), securing a fantastic eighth-place finish. What makes this result truly special is that they were the only team outside the premier grade to break into the top eight, which is a testament to the incredible heart, grit and mana of this squad.
After entering the tournament with high confidence, adversity hit hard. By the end of day two, three players were sidelined with severe injuries, leaving the remaining crew to push through the final days carrying their own share of bumps and bruises. Working with a very short bench, the team played with relentless courage and immense pride for the Rangitoto College crest.
Our Premier girls put together an outstanding campaign, finishing third overall in the regular Premier college competition. They came agonisingly close to reaching the final after a hard-fought semi-final against St Kentigern, which just missed setting up a classic Rangitoto vs. Westlake decider. Despite coming up short in that match, the season has been packed with impressive growth and quality basketball. With qualification for Nationals officially secured, we couldn't be prouder of the team's trajectory and can't wait to cheer them on in a few weeks' time.
Our Premier boys football team enjoyed great success during the Rex Dawkins tournament. After finishing top of their pool with emphatic wins, they entered the knockout stages with a great deal of confidence. They went on to win their quarter final 1-0 over Kristin, before losing in a shoot-out to Kings College. The boys showed tremendous determination before finishing fourth.
The football girls were down in Taupo for the Premier National Tournament and had a positive week of results. Finishing their pool play in secondnd place they drew a tough round of 16 draw against Baradene, losing in this one. The girls then showed great resilience and won all of their remaining games and only conceded two goals across their last three games, eventually finishing ninth in the country after only losing two games the whole week!
Huge congratulations to our Rangitoto College weightlifters for an outstanding set of results at the New Zealand Secondary School Championships! Our team put on a massive display of strength, bringing home five medals across the competition:
Emir Herdi Man (Over 15, 60kg) – gold
Namu Gusscott (Over 15, 85kg) – gold
James Allan (Under 15, 75kg) – gold
Brooklyn Newby (Over 15, 77kg) – silver
Finn McLuckie (Over 15, 75kg) – silver
Leo Johnston (Under 15, 110kg) – fifth
Our golfers showed incredible grit under pressure over the weekend, battling elite competition and freezing conditions to secure third place in a nail-biting finish. Despite the bitter cold, Rangitoto was the most consistent team on the course, backing up Sunday’s 148 with a stellar 147 on Monday. With Kings, Burnside, and Rangitoto paired in the final three groups, the tension stretched all the way to the 18th green. Kings mounted a serious late charge, but our players matched them shot-for-shot, closing with crucial pars and a clutch birdie in the final group to hold onto third place by a single point.
These girls represented the school with pride both on and off the turf coming away with some incredible results throughout the week. Flying under the radar, our girls played hard, were so determined and gave each game 110%. It was an incredible achievement in itself to reach Federation Cup for the first time since 2017 but the girls didn't stop there. After some nail-biting games going to penalty shootouts the team achieved Rangitoto girls' hockey's best result since 2010.
Congratulations to our hockey 1st XI Boys team, who finished runners-up at the Mayhill Cup during Winter Tournament Week. After some fantastic results and hard-fought battles throughout the season in the Premier grade, the boys were focused and ready for the tournament. It was a fantastic week where the boys consistently showed their strength, coming away with many dominant scorelines. In the final, the boys came up against Sacred Heart College, who they had many close battles with during the season. It was yet another close game throughout, with a few key moments deciding the game, with the boys going down 2–1. This result has promoted the boys to the NZSS Rankin Cup, which has been a key goal this team has been working towards.
Congratulations to Qilu (Stig) Zhuo from Rangitoto College for taking gold in the Junior Boys division at the NZSS Climbing Cup! Stig delivered an incredible two-day bouldering performance at Beta Climbing Gym and topped the qualifying rounds with a score of 75 and held strong through the finals to claim first place overall. Great work representing Rangitoto College on the national stage!
We would like to also congratulate and thank all the Year 13 students who have played their last game for Rangitoto College. For a lot of them they have played five years of sport for the school and represented our Premier teams for a number of years. Thank you all for your service to our sporting community and for demonstrating pride and excellence when representing the school. We wish you all the best on your next sporting journey.
We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievement of our Premier badminton boys' and girls' teams who have come away with two national titles! Impressively, the girls have gone back to back and in doing so did not drop a single point during the entire tournament. The boys team came back from last year finishing third, to only drop two points during the entire week to take the gold medal. Well done on a dominant performance across the week!
