College Sport: Student throws himself into world mix

Ryan Ballantyne is off to Columbia.

St Paul's Collegiate School student Ryan Ballantyne threw a 5kg shot put 19.08m, breaking the Waikato record, at last Tuesday's central zone athletics championships held at Porritt Stadium in Hamilton.

Ballantyne now has the fifth best throw in the world for his age grade and has qualified for the World Youth Games which are being held in Columbia from July 15-19 this year.

After the central zone championships, Ballantyne headed to Wellington to compete in the national track and field championships last weekend where he won the youth under-18 5kg title and placed second in the junior men's 6.25kg event.

After only training for a year, Ballantyne's achievements are impressive. A training session with New Zealand No 1 shot putter Tom Walsh helped push the young athlete over the line and in a clearer direction. Ballantyne said the one-on-one session with Walsh and specialist coaching by the St Paul's athletics staff helped him add 3m to his throw.

"It's a bit surreal," said Ballantyne of his win. "It's only been in the past few weeks that I have been able to gain an extra 3m and I've only been taking shot put seriously for about a year, so to be at this level now is a bit crazy."

Although Ballantyne has gained significant distance to his throw over the past few weeks, he has set modest goals for before the World Youth Games.

"I am only looking to gain half a metre before the worlds. If I can achieve that then I will be happy but if I can get to 20m I will be stoked," said Ballantyne.

Westlake's Dan Hoy won the Auckland schools senior triathlon title by nearly four minutes from Macleans' Leo Roper in Monday's event at St Kentigern. Hoy was the triathlon award winner at the 2014 ASB YSPOTY Awards and is the Westlake sportsman of the year.

Lynfield's Maddison Wesche, out of the Throw for Gold programme, won the junior and youth shot put title at the national track and field championships in Wellington last weekend.

AGGS' Ofa Hakeai had to settle for third in the women's senior shot put, her 11.33m effort behind her old Marist College rival Ivanja Po'uhila and eventual winner Te Rina Keenan.