Whanganui may well prove a playmaker in New Zealand's chances at the Australian Schools Track and Field Championships in Adelaide in December.
Five Whanganui Collegiate School athletes have been chosen for the New Zealand Secondary Schools track and field team to contest the Australian event. Four of the five make up a quarter of the New Zealand female contingent of 16, while 17-year-old Keiran Pere is one of eight male Kiwi contenders.
The four females are Genna Maples, 14, Tayla Brunger, 15, Emma Osborne, 15 and Grace Godfrey, 17 and the quartet have been selected to compete in relay events as well as their specialist disciplines.
Pere has been selected for the under-18 triple jump only on the strength of his ranking. Pere is ranked No3 in his New Zealand under-18 age group after finishing third at the Athletics New Zealand Championships and winning the North Island Schools senior triple jump earlier this year.
Talented sprinter Maples has been entered for the under-16 100m, 200m and long jump as well as being a linchpin in the Kiwi relay team.