~Awakeri School~

~Top School 2014~

Top School 2014 was another wonderful event. This was the 29th year of Top School. There were 30 teams there competing. Well done Peter Fitzgerald!!! Apart from the games, there are lots of other things happening. Here is Irene Cronin selling raffle tickets. Her sunny smile brings in the customers.	The kids enjoyed lots of gala activities, like the mini cars. No crashing Savannah!
Awakeri's cheerleaders were excellent. They came 2nd and lasted the day well.	Awakeri's team were also excellent. In their first event, Kevin and Kaya lead the team through Stitch In Time. Great team work carried on into every other event too. Awakeri was the best in this event.
Next up was the tricky Magic Carpet Ride. Tawari was poling the carpet, while Taryn was the water carrier. Jacob lined up the barrels and everyone else lugged the barrels around. We got stuck on our last run and couldn't quite get to the end, still we came 4th in this one.	Led by Katie Mahy and Ella Mattock Prince, the cheer leaders support the team hard out.
Meanwhile,back at the gala, lots of people had a go at the dunking machine. Brodie gets a soaking!	Another wet activity was the horizontal bungee. Will he reach the can of drink? Finn enjoys watching.
Some people bought some interesting stuff at the monster garage sale. Ryan got some good blisters from wearing his boots! Ryan also worked hard at the hangi selling over 300 tickets.	Back to the games. Awakeri's worst skill, usually, is shooting. The team practised for weeks. In the practice time, they couldn't even score, but when the hooter went, Kaya was first up and he scored in the 5 point bucket! We won this event with 43 points. The next highest school got 27.
Emily managed to get 3 five pointers in her turns at the Horizontal Bungee! That was despite having a bleeding nose!	The cheerleaders are still going strong.
Next up is the Castle. Lachlan shows how to get down the slide without spilling your water.	Lucille didn't manage it! Why is there no water coming out of your bucket Lucille??
Finally, Awakeri's last game is Up Up and Away. We were worried, because the score to beat was 95. That's a lot of shots in the drums. However, with excellent throwing by Tawari, strong teamwork by the pullers and accurate shooting by Kaya, we got an amazing 140. It was almost 100 more than over all winners Kawerau South got!	Here are the pullers down the shooter's end: Linette and Emily. They held Kaya steady so he could shoot.
After our last event, managers Linda Merry and Barrie Hawkes got the team together for a congratulations talk. Then we had to wait till prize giving. Awakeri came first in the Year 7 & 8 section with three 1sts and two 4ths, but Kawerau South won the year 5 & 6 section with four 1sts and one 2nd.	The team: Back: Mrs Merry, Jacob Davis, Linette Lengkeek, Emily Julian, Lucille Smits, Jenae Brownless, Mr Hawkes Front: Tawari Stanley, Taryn Forbes, Lachlan Butler, Kaya Hodson, Kevin Paulsen. Reserves: Finn Spod, Nicole Curtis.
Kawerau South collect the shield.