No student has run the intermediate 800m at a Bay of Plenty secondary school athletics event as fast as Tauranga Boys' College student Daniel Hintz.
The middle distance runner and current age group cross country champion was unchallenged in running 1m 59.35s at the Bay champs this week.
He is keen to follow in the footsteps of Boys' College old boy Julian Oakley, now running for Providence College in Rhode Island on a full athletic scholarship under renowned track and cross country coach Ray Treacy.
Hintz, who will this year run both the 800m and 1500m like his mentor Oakley, was happier with his time than he was with his method.
"I went out a bit too fast - I was a bit nervous and I just went as hard as I could in the first lap and tried to hold on to it," said Hintz.
"When I got to 200 metres my legs were cramping up and at the 100 metres every stride was really hurting. But I'm proud to have broken the Bay record by three seconds."
Hintz's coach Gareth Hyett, a former national 800 and 1500m champion who ran at the world champs in Osaka in 2007, was happy with his young charge's return at the beginning of the track season.
"It's good to see him run that fast by himself," said Hyett. "Now I know he can go a lot quicker than 1m 58s."
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Hintz hopes to lower his 800m time to 1m 51s by season's end in a bid to enter the top ten in senior national competition.
He was full of praise for those who have helped him along the way.
"The coaches do a lot of work - they are the reason I am where I am."
Hintz, running unopposed, later recorded a time of 4m 22.44s to win the intermediate boys' 1500m.
Fellow Boys College student Olly Ranby was another in a record breaking mood on a wet track. He set a new mark of 22.57s in the senior boys' 200m and was part of the boys 4x100m relay team which set a record of 44.05s.
In addition, the Year 13 flyer was never challenged in winning the senior boys 100m in a time of 11.3s.
It was an impressive performance in front of New Zealand's fastest man Joseph Millar, whose senior title Ranby has vowed to chase.
