Two of our national champion athletes – Nina Chalmers and Jirah Esekia, pictured above – were named Victrix Ludorum and Victor Ludorum respectively at the 2025 Sports Awards Dinner on October 22.
Our national champion Football Girls and Premier Netballers shared the Headmaster’s Cup for Team of the Year.
Two further national champions and NZ representatives picked up the girls and boys cups for Outstanding Achievement – sprinter Kendra Scally-Tu’i won the Te Aroha Keenan Cup while Softballer Gabreyl Tahi Tahi was awarded the Olympic Cup.
Gabreyl Tahi Tahi and Kendra Scally-Tu’i
This year saw the awarding of the inaugural Tony Sail Cup, donated by MAGS’ former Cricket coach. The cup recognises a team or individual that consistently performs at the highest level and was awarded to our Boys Orienteering team, which has won the Secondary Schools Nationals for eight years consecutively and the North Island Boys Championship for nine years.
Nina Chalmers, who has also played Hockey for MAGS for five years, is one of NZ’s top youth athletes in distance running on the track and cross country. Among her many achievements, she is a national champion in club athletics, has represented NZ in cross country, and holds the MAGS records in 800m, 1500m and 3000m. She won the Auckland Secondary School Senior Girls titles in both the 800m and the 1500m, and broke the College Sport Record in the 1500m. In the North Island Secondary School competition, Nina won the Senior Girls 1500m title and again broke the NISS Record.
Jirah Esekia represented MAGS at the NZSS Athletics Championships in Timaru where he won the Senior Boys Discus National Title, and won Bronze in the Senior Boys Shot Put. Jirah was subsequently named in the NZSS Athletics Championship Team, and was part of the NZSS Athletics Classics Tour team that competed in meets around the country in the NZSS Athletics Black singlet.
In Rugby, Jirah is an integral member of the MAGS 1st XV and its Captain, leading the team to a top 8 finish in the fiercely contested 1A competition. He has also been selected for the winning Auckland U18 Gulls team that competed in the northern region U18 competition, going through the entire tournament undefeated.
The Girls Premier Netball team are NZ Champions and were runners-up in the AKSS competition, while the Girls 1st XI Football team won the national title for a second year in a row and were runners-up in the Auckland competition and APC Knockout Cup.
Kendra Scally-Tu’i is the current U18 200m champion and area record holder which she won in Fiji representing NZ. At the North Island Secondary School athletics champs she won the Senior Girls 100m and 200m, claiming NISS records in both during the heats, and then subsequently breaking those records in her finals races with a time of 11.79s for the 100m and 23.87s for the 200m. Kendra was selected for the NZSS U18 USA Tour team that competed at meets across California in April this year. At the Arcadia Invitational meet in Pasadena, she placed 2nd in the Open 100m with a blistering time of 11.78s, and ran at the Cali Twilight meet in Cal State, placing 1st in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m.
Gabreyl Tahi Tahi is a member of the Premier Boys Softball team that won the AKSS Premier season, and placed 3rd at the AKSS ODT. The Premier Boys team competed at NZSS Nationals and were runners-up.
Gabreyl is an Auckland U19 Rep competing at the Age Group nationals, placing 3rd. He was selected in the U19 Nationals tournament rest team and was awarded Auckland Softball Association Dick Brockliss Shield Junior Sportsman of the Year. He was selected for the NZ U18 Junior Black Sox team as starting pitcher that played the Trans Tasman Oceania series in April this year.
As well as watching the presentation of awards, the audience enjoyed an entertaining speech from Maia Jackman, a former Football international but well-known to MAGS for her work on-site as a physio.
Maia spoke about the highs and lows of being an international footballer, sprinkling her speech with humour and insights about how she coped with the pressures and demands. She reminded our young sportspeople that while medals and trophies were nice, it was all about the people you encountered along the way and the friendships made.
You can see the full list of sport awards winners here
