Sam Bremer was once again Otago’s most impressive performer at the fourth leg of the New Zealand track and field classic series. The 21-year-old ran 1min 52.93sec to finish second in the 800m at Friday night’s Capital Classic in Wellington.
After finding himself fourth at the halfway point, Bremer had a strong second lap. The Hill City-University runner went past Australian Andre Waring to slip into third with 200m to go. He then closed down a reasonable gap to pass Josh Ledger for second in a strong sprint down the straight.
He was unable to haul in Alexander Rowe, however. The Australian record-holder showed his class in cleaning up the field in 1min 48.42sec. He led the way after the first lap, with former 400m national champion Alex Jordan acting as a pacemaker, before pulling away in the second 400m.
Canterbury University’s Sam Petty finished third in 1min 53.25sec, while Ledger was fourth in 1:53.57. Hill City-University’s Jared Monk came second in race two and 10th overall in 1min 56.14sec.
Fiona Centers, also of Hill City-University, finished second in the graded women’s 100m. She ran 12.48sec, behind Hamilton’s Lauren Henry, who ran 12.35sec. Both would have been competitive times at the lower end of the "A" race, although were well-back on Kelsey Berryman’s winning 11.79sec. Taieri athletes Christina Ashton and Anna Grimaldi finished seventh and eighth respectively in the graded race. Ashton ran 12.92sec and Grimaldi finished in 13.05sec. Grimaldi also finished sixth in the women’s long jump. The Paralympic champion managed a best leap of 5.21m, to finish 1cm behind Genna Maples and 6cm behind Henry. Otautau’s Atipa Mabonga finished third with a jump of 5.54m. Berryman won the event with 5.96m.
In the women’s shot put, Hill City-University’s Stacey Gunn finished sixth with a throw of 9.95m, and Gore’s Andrew Allan was fifth in the men’s triple jump with a distance of 13.59m.
Former Otago athlete Marshall Hall, now of Invercargill, was first in the men’s discus, throwing 53.72m.
● Canterbury won titles in both the 14-15 and 17-18 grade South Island interprovincial meetings at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday. Otago finished third in the 14-15 grade, and its teams finished second and fourth in the 17-18 grade.
