Otago athletes have had a successful weekend at the national secondary schools athletics championships in Auckland.
Fourteen medals, five gold, were won by athletes representing schools from the region, while several more were won by Southlanders regularly seen competing in Dunedin.
Four of those came in relays, as King’s High School claimed silver in the 4x100m relay and defended its 4x400m title, running 3min 26sec to shave half a second of its time from last year. Meanwhile, St Hilda’s Collegiate saw off Havelock North High School in an exciting finish, running 49.79sec to win gold in the senior girls 4x100m relay. Dunstan High School took bronze in the same event, running 50.08sec.
Things got off to a good start on day one, as Otago throwers took gold and bronze in the senior boys javelin. Anton Schroeder, of Otago Boys’ High School, threw 56.63m with his first attempt and was never surpassed, although Palmerston North Boys’ Aidan Smith came close with 56.61m. George Hope, of John McGlashan College, pulled out 55.19m with his second throw to secure third.
Ethan Walker, of Tokomairiro High School, then claimed the junior boys javelin title. He threw 51.80m to finish more than 6m in front of his nearest competitor, breaking the Otago record.
Mount Aspiring College’s Samantha Burke finished second with a time of 10min 5.51sec in the senior girls 3000m, less than half a second away from a gold.
Adriana Mawhinney, of Dunstan High School, claimed another silver for Central Otago, jumping 11.61m in the senior girls triple jump. She was beaten by two-time defending champion, Central Southland College’s Atipa Mabonga, who jumped a mammoth 12.48m.
Zharna Beattie, of Taieri College, won bronze in the junior girls discus, throwing 35.14m. While it was her only medal, it was not her only success, breaking the Otago girls 14 shot put record with a throw of 12.26m, finishing fourth in the event. Taieri College was among the medals again, when Hamish Mears threw 53.14m to win the junior boys discus, beaten only by Connor Bell of Long Bay College, who threw a record 65m.
King’s High School added three individual medals to its two relay ones as Drew Cairney took bronze in the junior 1500m with a time of 4min 15.37sec and Alex Brown won silver in the senior boys 3000m race walk, finishing in 15min 54.64sec. Felix McDonald capped things off for the school with a jump of 7.13m to win bronze in the senior boys long jump, his third medal of the meeting.
● Carolyn Wills (47) jumped 1.45m in the high jump to break the Otago 45-49 women’s record at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday. The Ariki athlete made each of her first three jumps, before getting the record height on her second attempt.
