Ex- pupils represent Brora Rangers in 4th Round Scottish Cup Tie

Ex-pupil Martin Maclean played in central midfield in the 4th Round Scottish Cup Tie at Queen of the South in Dumfries on Saturday and younger brother Colin came on as a substitute late on. Mr Rowlands was in Dumfries for the weekend and managed to watch the exciting cup tie and caught up with Martin during the warm-up. Click on the link below for the match report and text updates from the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30156821

U-16 Boys Scottish Shield

The Nicolson Institute 5-3 Culloden Academy

The scoring went as follows - 1.0 Luke Mackay, HT, 2.0 Alex John Morrison, 2.1, 2.2, FT, 3.2 Angus Macdonald, 4.2 Luke Mackay, 5.2 Lewis Macdonald, 5.3, FT AET.

The Nicolson gave their all against a very good opposition from Culloden. The spirit of the Nicolson team was shown when they lost their 2 goal advantage near the end of regulation time but came out with all guns blazing during extra time. The effort the boys put in was proven by the fact that so many of them were struggling with muscle cramps towards the end of the match.

It was a great team effort by every member of the squad and a well earned victory.

The Nicolson Institute team : Rory Morrison, Kenneth Macleod, Lewis Macalpine, Lewis Macdonald, Euan Shirkie, James Muir, Ruaraidh Macmillan, Niall Houston (Captain), Angus Macdonald, Alex John Morrison, John A Maciver, Ruaraidh Graham, Andrew Mackay, Finlay Macsween, Colin Morrison, Luke Mackay.

Sports Blog - up and running again for 2014-15

Inside the dressing room: friction, fights, characters & assassins - click on the text for the link

Scottish Schools Track and Field Athletics Championships

Scottish Schools Track and Field Championships (Saturday 7^th June)

(C & D age group qualifying rounds)

On Saturday 6^th June, a team of six selected athletes travelled to Grangemouth Stadium to compete in the qualifying rounds of the U14 and U15 age groups for the Scottish School Track and Field Championships. Ellie Maclean represented the school in U14 whilst Haran Rabe, Andrew Horne, Ross Budge, Caitlin Mackenzie and Catriona Rigby competed in the U15 events. Athletes who made it through the heats and semi-finals in these events were given the opportunity to go on and compete in the Hampden Park finals later in the month.

The weekend saw several fantastic performances from the team as they faced tough competition against the top ranking young athletes in Scotland. Ellie Maclean ran a fantastic heat in the 800m and managed to pull through to 5^th place in the final 200m of the race. Catriona Rigby just missed out on a place in the semi-finals in both the 100m and 200m after two strong runs. Later in the day, Ross Budge ran an impressive 400m and overtook two athletes on the home straight to bag 6^th place. The throwers also did well with Caitlin Mackenzie just missing out on a place in the Hampden final by coming 9^th place overall in the Shot Put. Haran Rabe, who only took up throws training two months ago, was also a strong contender for a place in the final but just missed out. Andrew Horne had a fantastic day and qualified for the final of the U15 Long Jump, 100m and 200m which was an incredible achievement!

The competition provided all athletes with valuable experience and gave them a taster of what competing at the ‘next level up’ is actually like.

Scottish Schools Track and Field Championships – Hampden Park (Friday 20^th & Saturday 21^st June)

(A & B age Groups and C & D Finals)

Last weekend, another group of U17 and U20 athletes travelled down to Glasgow to compete in the Commonwealth Games Stadium at Hampden Park. Over the two day event, athletes were given the full professional treatment from Glasgow 2014 officials who were doing a practice run for The Games which will begin soon. The team for this event was made up of Connor Maclean, Michael Macmillan, Alasdair Rigby, Jonathan Morrison, Andrew Horne, Abbie Mackay and Eilidh Macleod who were all competing in the U17 age group and Jenny Mactaggart who was in U20. Ross Mactaggart was also selected for the team but unfortunately couldn’t make it due to illness the week before.

The ladies did well in their sprints heats with Abbie Mackay running a strong race in both the 100m on Friday and 200m on Saturday. Eilidh Macloed also had a great run in the 200m and made it through to the semi-final which was fantastic. Jenny Mactaggart made it through to the final in her 200m race and Alasdair Rigby just missed out on a place in both the 100m and 200m semi-final. Jonathan Morrison also ran a strong 100m in his heat.

Connor Maclean performed extremely well in both his events and claimed a Silver medal in the 1500m and Bronze in the 800m which is an unbelievable achievement at this level of competition. Training partner, Michael Macmillan, also achieved a new PB of 1.58 in the 800m (after breaking two minutes for the first time only weeks before) and also made it through to the final. In addition to this, Michael ran in the 400m final and achieved a new PB in this event as well.

Unfortunately, Andrew Horne injured his back in the Long Jump event on the first day so had to withdraw from his race finals. Jonathan Morrison managed a new PB in the Long Jump (over 10m) and Abbie and Eilidh also gave good performances in the Long Jump and High Jump.

This was a fantastic weekend for all athletes and they dealt with the intense pressure of the competition extremely well.

Girls 100 Metre Run A Heat:  Jenny Mactaggart (3rd) 13.36Q Final: 4 Jenny Mactaggart (4th)  13.16   Girls 200 Metre Run A Heat: Jenny Mactaggart  (3rd) 27.57Q Final: 6 Jenny Mactaggart (6th) 27.43   Girls Triple Jump A Jenny Mactaggart 4.56m +0.0   Girls 100 Metre Run B Heat: Abbie Mackay (4th) 13.38q Semi-final: Abbie Mackay (8th) 13.34   Girls 200 Metre Run B Heats: Eilidh Macleod (3rd)  27.62  - Qualified for semi-finals Abbie Mackay (4th) 27.66 Semi-final: Eilidh Macleod (6th) 28.08   Girls High Jump B Eilidh Macleod  1.40m   Girls Long Jump B Abbie Mackay  4.62m 1.8

Boys 100 Metre Run B Heats: Jonathan Morrison (7th)  13.29 Alasdair Rigby (4th) 12.31   Boys 200 Metre Run B Heats: Alasdair Rigby (3rd) 24.57   Boys 400 Metre Run B Heat: Michael Macmillan (3rd)  52.21q Final: Michael Macmillan (6th)  52.78   Boys 800 Metre Run B Heats: Michael Macmillan (2nd) 1:58.19q Conner Maclean(2nd)1:57.59q Final: Conner Maclean (3rd) 1:58.01 – BRONZE MEDAL Michael Macmillan(6th) 2:00.36   Boys 1500 Metre Run B Heat: 1 Conner Maclean (1st) 4:16.49Q Final: Conner Maclean (2nd)  4:02.17 – SILVER MEDAL   Boys Triple Jump B Jonathan Morrison  10.29m   Boys Long Jump C - FINAL Andrew Horne (6th) 5.43m -0.2

Scottish cup finalists 2014. Well done girls!