Photo Credit - Masanori Udagawa / Photowellington.com

Athletes from Wellington region schools collectively enjoyed a successful meet at the 51st Track, Field and Road Race Championships held in Timaru this past weekend.

There were a number of golds and minor place getters across many events, on the track, in the road race and in the field events.

Gold medals at a glance were:

Boys:

• Joe Martin (Wellington College) Senior Boys 800m
• Jaguun Gunregjav-Willers (St Pat’s Town) Senior Boys 2000m Steeplechase
• Cooper Menken, Rauri Meo and Leo Yousuf (Wellington College) Senior Boys 4x100m Relay
• Hugo Jones (Scots College) Senior Boys High Jump
• Heath Abbot (Wellington College) Senior Boys Hammer Throw
• Conor Sharkey (St Pat’s Silverstream) Junior Boys Hammer Throw
• Lachie Dunbar (Wairarapa College) Junior Boys Para Discus and Junior Boys Para Javelin

Girls:

• Ava Sutherland (Wellington Girls’ College) Senior Girls Road Race
• Olivia Clay-McDowell (Kapiti College) Junior Girls Road Race
• Ava Sutherland, Issy de Hair and Maia Holden (Wellington Girls’ College) Senior Girls 3-Person Road Race
• Rebecca Bailey (St Oran’s College) Senior Girls Javelin
• Analin Rudd (Samuel Marsden Collegiate) Senior Girls Triple Jump
• Mikayla Sola (Hutt Valley High School) Senior Girls Hammer Throw

A round-up is below:

Track and road races

There were four individual golds and two team golds in the track and road races.

On the track, Wellington College’s Joe Martin and St Pat’s Town’s Jaguun Gunregjav-Willers won their individual races, while Wellington Girls’ College Ava Sutherland and Kapiti College’s Olivia Clay-McDowell were road race winners.

The Wellington Girls’ team that Sutherland spearheaded also won their team gold, with teammates Issy de Hair seventh and Maia Holden 10^th.

The road race wins saw Ava Sutherland win gold in the Senior Girls 4000m race and Olivia Clay-McDowell (Kapiti College), winning by almost 17 seconds to the second placed competitor from Christchurch and Wellington Girls’ College’s Lucy Mabin in third in this same race.

Wellington College’s Joe Martin struck gold on the track in the blue-ribbon Senior Boys 800m. Martin’s winning time was 1:54.78, pipping second placed George Wylie of Tauranga Boys’ College by 0.6 of a second. In the same final, St Pat’s Silverstream’s Blake Miscal was seventh in 1:56.83.

Martin’s win follows in the footsteps of his older brother Alex Martin who won this same event in the Junior Boys in the wet at Newtown Park in 2019.

St Pat’s Town’s Jaguun Gunregjav-Willers won the Senior Boys 2000m Steeplechase, winning by an impressive 13 seconds in one of the toughest endurance races on the track. Gunregjav-Willers crossed the line in 6:01.07.  Wellington College’s Silas Campbell finished fifth in the same race.

Gunregjav-Willers was also seventh in the Senior Boys 1500m, won by an athlete from Southland Boys’ High School.

The Wellington College Senior 4x100m relay team of Cooper Menken, Tom Hughson, Rauri Meo and Leo Yousuf blitzed their race, beating Christchurch Boys’ High School and St Peter’s School into second and third.

Paraparaumu’s Luke Jarvis was second in the Senior Boys 100m dash. Jarvis also won silver in the Senior Boys 200m.

St Mary’s College’s Maddison MacLean was second in the Senior Girls 2000m Steeplechase

Upper Hutt College’s Zoe Hilton was fourth in the Junior Girls 2000m Steeplechase and HIBS’ Hugo Millar was fifth in the same event for the boys.

Sacred Heart College’s Madison Wos finished second in a hotly contests Junior Girls 1500m – with the first four finishers crossing within two seconds of each other.

Wellington College’s Tom Hughson won bronze in the Junior Boys 200m.

QMC’s Poppy Healy was third in the Senior Girls 1500m.

Wellington College’s 4 x 400m Junior team was third in their relay race.

Field events

Wellington athletes were to the fore in the field events.

Scots College’s Hugo Jones defended his Senior Boys High Jump title with a winning leap of two metres even.

Wellington did the boys Hammer Throw double, St Pat’s Silverstream’s Conor Sharkey throwing 46.67m for Junior Boys gold and Wellington College’s Heath Abbot hurling an impressive 59.17m – almost eight metres further than the silver medallist from Christchurch.

Like runner Joe Martin, Heath Abbot follows in the footsteps of his older brother Max who won the Senior Boys Discus in 2020.

Wairarapa College’s Lachie Dunbar won two events in the para class, the Junior Boys Discus and Junior Boys Javelin.

Silverstream’s Troy Waldrom was second in the Junior Boys Discus, while Rathkeale’s Lyon Rodger finished third in the Senior Boys Triple Jump.

In the girls field events, St Oran’s College’s Rebecca Bailey won the Senior Girls Javelin by hurling the spear 48.81m, over three metres more than the silver medallist.

Marsden’s Analin Rudd won the Senior Girls Triple Jump in 11.54, and she was also third in the Senior Girls Long jump.

Hutt Valley High School’s Mikayla Sola won the Senior Girls Hammer Throw in the last field event of the meet on Sunday afternoon. She won a tight competition, with her best throw being 51.82m and the second and third best throws being 49.97m and 49.23m respectively.  Mikayla was also fifth in the Senior Girls Discus.

Wellington Girls’ College’s Naomi Waite was second in the Senior Girls High Jump, but she retired from the event after her first clearance.

Wellington East Girls’ College’s Audrey Thorburn won silver in the Junior Girls Javelin.

Story courtesy of Steven White.

Photo Credit - SPC Sports Facebook

Article added: Wednesday 11 December 2024