Connor Bell wound up the same as everyone else — but when he let his discus go it just flew that much further.
The Westlake Boys’ High School athlete was an impressive sight at the Caledonian Ground yesterday.
He won gold in the senior boys discus at the national secondary school track and field championships.
The 17-year-old threw 65.36m to finish over 10m ahead of his nearest rival — adding the gold medal to the Youth Olympics gold he won in the event last month.
It was not quite enough to break the 65.63m record he set at the championships a year ago.
Another Youth Olympian was a star on the track.
Sacred Heart Girls’ College’s (New Plymouth) Hannah O’Connor added two gold medals to the senior girls 3000m one she won on Friday night.
The 17-year-old held off an impressive challenge from Whanganui High School’s Rebecca Baker to win the 1500m in 4min 31.75sec.
Not long after, she showed all her class to run 6min 55.98sec in the 2000m steeplechase, finishing 25 seconds ahead of second place.
Also impressive in the middle distance races was Samuel Tanner in the senior boys grade.
He won a close gold in the 3000m, before putting his foot down from the start to launch an assault on the 1500m field.
That left him nearly 70m ahead of the field as he crossed the line in 3min 55.38sec.
Both girls triple jump competitions produced winning performances that neared record territory.
In the junior grade Bethlehem College’s Marguerite Johansson managed a fantastic leap of 11.67m — 3cm short of Jade Graham’s record from 2010.
Meanwhile Sacred Heart Girls’ College’s (Hamilton) Kayla Goodwin battled a very stiff headwind, but still put out a 12.17m performance.
That was a hugely impressive distance to fall just short of Atipa Mabonga’s mark of 12.21m from 2014.
It was a strong weekend all-round for Goodwin, who also claimed a gold in the long jump and bronze in the 100m hurdles.
James Hargest College’s Quinn Hartley also had a strong showing in both the junior long and triple jumps.His jump of 6.75m in the long jump threatened the 44-year-old record of 6.79m, before he pulled out a jump of 13.40m to win the triple.
Wanganui Collegiate’s Genna Maples also had a standout weekend.
She won five gold medals in the junior girls 100m, 200m, long jump, 4×100m relay and 4×400m relay.
