In the last weekend of the holidays, three Westlake Girls High School students headed down to Christchurch and proudly represented the school at the 2026 New Zealand Secondary Schools Orienteering Championships in Canterbury, competing against the country’s best secondary school orienteers across the Sprint, Long Distance, and Rogaine events.
Y9 student Lacey Gornall had an outstanding championships, placing 5th in both the Junior Girls Sprint Championship (32 competitors) and the Junior Girls Long Distance Championship (30 competitors), continuing her strong national form.
Y11 student Brooke Day achieved excellent results in the highly competitive Intermediate Girls Championship, finishing 15th in the Sprint and 33rd in the Long Distance. Brooke also teamed up with S. Chang (Howick College) and A. Smith (Pukekohe High School) in a composite team to place 3rd in the three-hour Junior Girls Composite Rogaine, demonstrating outstanding teamwork, endurance and navigation.
Y11 student Camryn Gornall finished 4th in the Intermediate Girls Standard Long Distance race, narrowly missing the podium, and also competed in the Intermediate Girls Sprint Championship.
Despite taking just three competitors, Westlake Girls High School finished an impressive 5th overall in the Top Secondary School Competition – Small Schools (High School Girls), placing behind only Cashmere High School, Fiordland College, Villa Maria College and Nayland College.
This was a fantastic achievement against schools with much larger teams. Congratulations to Lacey, Brooke and Camryn on representing Westlake Girls High School with determination, skill and sportsmanship at one of New Zealand’s premier school sporting events.
