Plimmer leaps to gold as Smith heaves PB

Athletics

Kate Plimmer and Katie Smith did Wairarapa proud on the opening day of the Oceania track and field championships in Papeete, Tahiti.

Plimmer, a student at St Matthew's Collegiate, won the girls under-18 long jump title with a leap of 5.34m.

Second with a distance of 5.07m was another Kiwi Emma Hopcroft and third was Teiti Tupuna from the Cook Islands with 4.91m.

Smith, who attends Wairarapa College, recorded a personal best of 13.78m to place third in the girls under-18 shot put. She was holding down second place until the last round when Australian Kamia Peina claimed the silver medal. Gold medal winner was another Australian, Luisa Sekona, with a put of 14.88m.

A feature of Smith's performance was that all six of her puts went beyond the 13m mark.