Wairarapa's representation in the New Zealand team which will contest the track and field section at the Pacific School Games to be held in Canberra, Australia from November 30 to December 6 has grown from two to seven, the highest number ever for this region. Middle distance runner Stevie Paine andsprinter-hurdler April Campbell were named in the national junior squad (primary and intermediate schools) late last month and they have now been joined by secondary school students Vicky Paine, Ellen Schaef, Chris Girling-Mclean, Zach Sinclair and Courtnay Fafeita. Paine, older sister of Stevie, will contest the 17yrs girls 400m, the event in which she won a silver medal at the Oceania track and field championships in Saipan little less than a fortnight ago. She also placed second in the 200m final there. Schaef has been selected for the girls 18yrs 400m, Girling-McLean for the boys 17yrs 400m, Sinclair for the boys 18yrs 5000m walk and Faifeita for the girls 15yrs discus. She has just returned from competing for New Zealand at the Down Under meet on Australia's Gold Coast last weekend where she literally got out of her sick bed to win the discus title. The Pacific School Games is expected to draw athletes from 25 different countries and will also double as Australia's national secondary schools championships.
