Title time for Taranaki sportswomen
Thursday, Nov 14 2019
On Friday, November 15, the 2019 Taranaki Sports Awards will be held. As in every year, the nominations cover many different sports and the standard of achievement is enviable. It must be something in the water, but Taranaki continues to produce super sportspeople.
The following are the contenders in the women's category.
The Floatation Sanctuary Senior Sportswoman of the Year
Olivia Eaton – Athletics & Surf Life Saving
Olivia’s recent achievements include winning silver in the 4 x 100m open women’s relay at the Oceania Athletics Championships 2019, after previously setting a NZ record when they won bronze at the 2019 World University Games. Olivia was named in the NZ Open team to compete at the 2019 International Surf Life Saving Challenge. She gained the Open World Champion title for the Beach Sprint for the second time after having previously won in 2016 and was a part of the NZ Surf Life Saving Team who came second overall at the 2018 Surf Life Saving World Championships.
Zoe Hobbs – Athletics
Zoe’s recent successes include her 4 x 100m open women’s relay team winning bronze and breaking a NZ record at the World University Games. Zoe individually came first in the senior women’s 100m and second in the 200m races at the Australian National Champs 2019. She currently holds two New Zealand National Champ titles and recently broke the NZ 100m resident record that stood for 25 years. She qualified for the IAAF World Championships that were held in September 2019 and is well on her way to reaching the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Kendra Cocksedge - Rugby
Kendra lives in Canterbury these days where she was a member of the Farah Palmer Cup Canterbury team that won the competition in 2018. She has captained the NZ Black Ferns and achieved 50 test matches for the side, making her the second most capped player. Kendra’s biggest achievement was the honour of being the first female in history to receive the NZ Rugby Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year Award at the 2018 ASB Rugby Awards.
Holly Pearson - Hockey
Holly is an emerging elite international hockey player who competed for the Central National Hockey League Women’s Team before being selected for the NZ U21 Women’s Team in 2018, where her performances earned her a spot in the National Development Squad before gaining further selection into the Black Sticks team. Holly has now gained a total of nine caps against fellow international teams. She was a significant contributor, both on and off the field for the Central U21 Women’s Team when they secured bronze at the Vantage National U21 Women’s Tournament. She achieved the joint title of top goal scorer for this tournament, scoring seven goals.
Hannah Martin-Drummond – Hapkido
Hannah gained entry to the World Kio Federation 11th Mayors Cup and World Championships after a successful year regionally and nationally. Hannah won four medals at the World Championships, including two bronze medals in the woman’s pattern and woman’s self-defence. Hannah also achieved a personal best in the women’s dive rolling competition and also took out the black belt sparring while only being a mid-level coloured belt herself.
QP Sport Protection Junior Sportswoman of the Year
Keeva Hintz - Rugby
Keeva’s list of achievements this year included graduating from the International Rugby Academy of New Zealand, captaining Taranaki’s U18 team and NPGHS 1st XV and Sevens, winning the Taranaki secondary school competition and being selected for the Taranaki Rugby Academy, being selected for the Taranaki Whio Development Team and selected to play at the Chiefs invitational tournament. Keeva was the recipient of the Kendra Cocksedge Trophy for Most Dedicated Player and is a leader in the Te Atiawa ki Taranaki U18 Maori team.
Natasha Gouldsbury - Surfing
Natasha won the 2019 U16 Girls National Champion title and also achieved third place in the U18 division at the Surfing NZ Nationals. These results led her to be selected for the NZ Junior Surfing Team to attend the ISA World Junior Champs in October 2019. Natasha has also been named the NZ recipient of a scholarship that will allow her to train with WSL Pro-Surfer Carissa Moore in Hawaii at the end of the year.
Tayla Manning – Sports Climbing
Tayla represented New Zealand at the World Youth Championships in Arco, Italy where she gained a combined lead, speed and bouldering world ranking of No. 25. She gained first place in the U18 and Female Open National Bouldering Championships and U18 and Female Open Lead Climbing Championships. Tayla’s hard work and dedication to her sport shows through her being the first person to win all four national titles within one year and also helped her become the new record holder for U18 National Speed Climbing.
Claudia Kelly –Surf Life Saving
Claudia has achieved selection into numerous surf life-saving teams where she has excelled in the individual competition. She has been named in the 2019 Surf Life Saving NZ National Open Squad, was a member of the 2019 SANYO Cup NZ Open Team that won 2nd place overall, and was placed in four individual events. Claudia Co-Captained the Junior Black Fins team who won the World Title and during this, she became the first NZ competitor to be named World Junior Ironwoman Champion whilst also placing in another seven events.
Mackenzie Barry - Football
Mackenzie is a member of the Future Ferns Development Program that aims to support elite female players transition to professional football overseas and to the Football Ferns squad. Mackenzie was a member of the NZ U17 Women’s Football team who won bronze at the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The team surpassed expectations and were the first NZ team of any gender or age group to win a medal at a World Cup. Mackenzie played superbly in five of the six matches and formed vital defence while being an instrumental leader within the team. This led her to be selected for the NZ U19 Women’s team that has qualified for the U20 FIFA World Cup.
Jessica Kingi – Inline Hockey
Jess was selected and named as captain to represent NZ in the U18 Junior Women’s Inline Hockey Team that competed in Barcelona at the World Roller Games, coming away with seventh place. Jess is a formidable opponent and strong teammate whose defensive skills are second to none. She was named Raven’s Inline Hockey Club MVP for Under 16’s, Senior Women, the overall club and also their best defenceman.
Eva Dickson – Indoor and Beach Volleyball
Eva is a member of the NZ Youth Beach Volleyball Team that competed in four competitions, claiming bronze in the Manhattan Beach U17 Open Competition and being named the highest performing NZ U17 Women’s pair with her partner. Eva is a current member of the NZ Youth Women’s (U17) Indoor Volleyball Team where she is in the starting six and was a big contributor when her team claimed silver at the Australian State Champs.
Maddison Gibbs – Taekwondo & Hapkido
Maddison won silver in the Junior Girls Sparring at the North Island Taekwondo Championships before gaining entry to the Hapkido Oceania Championships and World Kido Federation’s 11th Busan Mayors Cup and World Championships. Maddison won gold in both the High School Girls Sparring and Patterns at the Hapkido Oceania Championships and won silver in the High School Girls Self-Defence and gold again in the High School Girls Sparring at the 11th Busan Mayors Cup and World Championships.
Ashlee Newman - Gymnastics
Ashlee currently competes in the International Stream Age Group 2 for 15 to 17-year-olds. Ashlee achieved a sa ixth place at the NZ Gymnastics National Championships in 2018 and exceeded this in 2019 by winning first place individually and gaining qualification for international travel next year. Ashlee also competed at the Australian Gymnastics Championships in Melbourne Australia this year, claiming 11th overall.
Sasha Reid – Swimming & Surf Life Saving
Sasha was a member of the NZ Junior Black Fins at the 2018 World Surf Life Saving Championships where they broke a NZ record and went on to compete at the International Surf Rescue Challenge in South Africa in 2019. Here Sasha achieved multiple placings as an individual, with the Junior Black Fins finishing second overall. In the pool, Sasha won gold and set a new NZ record during the Australian Pool Rescue Championships for the open women’s 50m swim with fins. Sasha holds multiple NZ records for Surf Life Saving pool events and despite having a concussion this year, Sasha showed her dedication to her sports and achieved her set goals through perseverance and hard work.
Brooke Reid - Squash
Brooke is ranked No. 7 for Central Districts and No. 14 for U17 girls in NZ. Brooke was invited to Malaysia with NZ’s top juniors to compete at the Malaysian Junior Open where she won two of her three matches against some of the world’s top junior players. Brooke now has a World U17 ranking of No.66 and recently also earned her NZ Squash Big Nix Coaching Qualification.
Darcy Howard-Ross – Olympic Wrestling
Darcy won silver at the North Island Champs and gold at the Auckland Secondary School Champs, National Secondary School Champs and Wahine Toa. Darcy has begun to extend her involvement in the sport by volunteering as a coach to other students and helps the Devon Intermediate students and Spotswood College IHC students. At the Australian Youth Nationals Darcy won gold and travelled to the United States with the NZ Development Team where they claimed gold on their USA Wrestling Tour.
Lucy North – Swimming & Surf Life Saving
Lucy’s swimming achievements include winning bronze in the 17-18 years 400m individual medley and gold in the 1500m freestyle at the 2019 National Age Group Championships. In surf life saving, Lucy won gold in the U19 women’s run-swim-run at the 2019 Surf Life Saving Nationals as well as a bronze, silver and gold with her respective U19 Surf, U19 Tube and U19 Taplin Teams during Nationals. Her achievements over the year gained her selection into the NZ Swimming Team, as well as the NZ Development Squad for surf life saving.
Nina Hoeta - Archery
Nina has progressed quickly and is now competing internationally for NZ. Nina recently scored a perfect score of 300/300 in the Intermediate Woman’s Division for World Indoor Archery as well as silver in the team match, bronze in mixed team and bronze in match play at the Trans Tasman Archery Competition. She holds the Intermediate Woman’s Division NZ record for both 35m and 45m and at the NZ Archery Nationals won gold for NZ Outdoor Target Archery, silver for NZ Field Archery and was named Compound Woman’s Archery Champion.
Alesha Williams – Inline Hockey and Rugby
Alesha was a member of the NZ U18 Junior Women’s Inline Hockey Team who placed seventh at the World Roller Games in Barcelona Spain. After impressive performances regionally where she was the youngest player in both the Taranaki Women's 15’s Farah Palmer Cup Competition, and the Taranaki 7’s team who competed at the Nationals, Alesha was selected for the NZ Women's U18 Māori 15’s Rugby Team.
Kaya-Rose Kahui - Rugby
Kaya-Rose performed well during the club rugby season and was selected for the Farah Palmer Cup side for 2019. Kaya-Rose is an excellent leader among the younger players and a respected member who contributes both on and off the field. She was a trialist for the NZ U20 Mixed Touch Team, a member of the 2019 Taranaki U18 Women’s 7’s Team, and a member of the Port Taranaki Whio where she was recently named Port Taranaki Whio’s Most Promising Player for 2019.
Brooke Hoskins Lefevre - Gymnastics
Brooke’s achievements this year have included winning first overall at the Taranaki Secondary Schools Gymnastic Competition, a gold medal overall at the Tumbling North Island Championships and representing NZ at two international competitions in Hawaii. Brooke won gold in the vault, silver in the bar, fourth on beam and fifth in the floor to achieve the all-round silver medal at the Gymnastics in Paradise competition. She gained a second all-round silver medal at the Aloha Gymfest after winning gold in the floor, silver on bar and bronze on vault.
Katie Neild - Gymnastics
Katie was the all-round silver medallist at both the Waitara Open Championships 2019 and Wellington Championships 2019 before going on to compete in Hawaii for two international competitions. She returned to Taranaki with two fourth all-round placings. She achieved sixth on floor, fifth on vault and bar, and silver on beam at the Gymnastics in Paradise whilst achieving sixth in floor and bar, bronze in beam and silver in the vault at the Aloha Gymfest.