Christina Ashton's smile said it all as she left the Caledonian Ground with three Otago secondary school records on Saturday.
Her records were among 24 broken at the event.
Ashton (17), a year 13 pupil at Queen's High School, began by breaking then Taieri College athlete Bethany Struthers' senior girls' 100m record of 12.80sec, set in 2007, clocking 12.73sec in a photo finish with Caitlyn George (St Hilda's), who also went under Struthers' mark in a heat, running 12.77sec.
This result was mirrored later in the day in the 100m final when the two again broke the new record in another photo finish. Ashton stopped the clock at 12.57sec, and George clocked 12.60sec.
The pair also shone in the 200m competition, attacking the senior girls' record of 25.83sec set in 2011 by Megan McPhail (Waitaki Girls').
George won the heat in 26.01sec, and Ashton qualified for the final with 26.38sec. The final proved a thriller, with the two going under the mark set by McPhail and the photo finish judge again called upon. The photo showed Ashton crossed in 25.67sec to win the title and George was second in 25.72sec.
Ashton confirmed her status as arguably the athlete of the meeting with her win in the senior girls' 100m hurdles, in a record time of 14.73sec, breaking the mark (16sec) set in 2011 by Luisa Schmidt.
Ashton will be back racing in the national track and field championships in Wellington next weekend, where she is ranked second in the junior women's grade behind Emma Walker (Hamilton). She will then head to Sydney for the Australian junior championships.
There was further celebration for Ashton on Saturday when younger sister Hannah (14) broke the 2001 junior girls' high jump record of 1.57m set by Hannah Blair (South Otago High School). Hannah Ashton cleared 1.58m, then in the triple jump leapt 10.06m to break the record of 9.85m set by Kia Wale (Dunstan High School) in 2013.
Another athlete to bag three records on Saturday was Hamish Mears (Taieri College). A year 10 pupil, Mears (13) came away from the meeting with junior under 14 records in shot put, discus and hurdles.
He cleared 12.52m in the shot put to beat the mark of 12.40m set by Michael Wallace (King's) in 2000. He then threw 40.58m in the discus to better his own record of 40.35m. He set a third record in the junior boys' 80m hurdles, with 12.21sec.
In his first season of hurdle competition, Mears surprised himself with his result. His two records came about after he overcame slippery conditions in the throwing circle. Mears like Ashton, has a busy month ahead, with the Otago Southland secondary schools championships two weeks away followed by South Island and interprovincial competition in the final two weeks of March.
Otago Boys' year 10 pupil Nathan Hill (14) cemented his status as a promising runner with an incredible run in the junior boys' 1500m, in which he shaved a massive 7.4sec from Chris McNoe's 2011 mark of 4min 25.85sec, clocking 4min 18.43sec.
Hill recently broke Olympian Robbie Johnston's 1500m record in Otago Boys' track and field competition.
Another 1500m record to fall was the 2001 senior boys' mark of 4min 7.20sec set by Max Smith (King's High School). Oli Chignell, fresh from his impressive victory in the 3000m on Friday night, stopped the clock at 4min 6.65sec.
Other records established
Sam Gouverneur (King's), boys' under 15 200m (52.67sec) and 800m (2min 6.72sec); Adrianna Mawhinney (Dunstan), senior girls' triple jump (11.14m) and high jump (1.60m); Maddy Spence (Columba), senior girls' 400m (58.63sec) and open 300m hurdles (44.05sec); Danica Davies (St Hilda's), senior girls' shot put (12.67m); Kaitlynn Wheeler (Columba), senior girls' hammer (37.96m); Hugh McLeod Jones (Otago Boys'), boys' 16 discus (44.14m); Joccoaa Palmer (St Hilda's), girls' under 16 triple jump (10.8m); Ellie Duncan (Columba), girls' under 15 200m (26.46sec); Liam Turner (Otago Boys'), boys' under 16 400m (51.92sec); Alex Brown (King's), open boys' 3000m track walk (19min 16.26sec); Felix McDonald (King's), open 300m hurdles (40.14sec).
