Our NZ reps

NEW ZEALAND REPRESENTATION FOR DIO ATHLETES

Dio’s international reps from left to right: Sarah Young, Lena Jacob, Alice Rabbitts, Prudence Fowler and Sienna French. Absent from photo Morgan McDowall and Georgia Hair. A number of Dio’s top athletes gained selection to represent New Zealand in different sport codes this year, but disappointingly, due to the rampant spread of COVID-19 around the globe, all international competition has taken a hit with most fixtures cancelled or put on hold.

We congratulate the following girls for their achievements in gaining New Zealand representative status and wish them luck in the future as they pursue their sporting goals.

Sarah Young Gymnastics

Sarah was selected to represent New Zealand at the 2020 Australian Gymnastics Championships. The trials for this were back in February before COVID-19 unfortunately meant the tour was cancelled.

Morgan McDowall Water polo

Morgan McDowall was selected in the New Zealand Women’s Water Polo team due to play in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Trieste, Italy from 17-24 May. This tournament was postponed and the team is now awaiting confirmation that it will go ahead in January 2021. This would have been Morgan’s fourth international tournament with the New Zealand women. She has been working hard focusing on playing with our Dio Premier team.

Prudence Fowler Cycling

Prudence was named in a 13-strong team to contest the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships that were to be staged in Cairo, Egypt from 16-21 August. It would have been the first time the championship was staged in the Middle East and held in the new velodrome in Cairo. Prudence was part of the endurance team on the track.

Alice Rabbits

Aerobic gymnastics Alice qualified into the senior international stream for New Zealand, which is an 18+ category. To do this she needed to score a 17.8 with a 2.3 degree of difficulty, which she achieved by scoring an 18.5 with a degree of difficulty of 2.45, smashing her previous personal best. Alice was meant to travel to Arizona in July to represent New Zealand.

Sienna French Trampolining

Sienna was selected to represent New Zealand at the Pacific Rim Championships in Australia. This is a biennial event that gathers the best of artistic, rhythmic and trampoline gymnasts from the Pacific nations. Unfortunately, like so many others, the event has been cancelled this year.

Georgia Hair Triathlon

Before the school holidays Georgia received the great news from TRI New Zealand that she had been selected as part of the Triathlon New Zealand team to compete at the World Championships ITU Grand Final in Edmonton, Canada, in August this year. Georgia is now working towards the winter cycling season.

Lena Jacob Fencing

Lena qualified for the Asian Junior Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, which have been tentatively delayed to later in the year. She also qualified for the World Junior Championships in Salt Lake City (USA), which have also been tentatively delayed to later in the year. Unfortunately, both events are likely to be cancelled.

Special mention Holly Schiele and Isabella Carter were selected to trial for the New Zealand junior rowing programme. Sadly, the trial and World Championships have been cancelled for 2020.