Athletics: Young Whanganui athletes scoop medals at secondary school nationals

Whanganui High School's Maggie Jones was a star performer at the NZ Secondary Schools Championships.

Whanganui athletes shone at a very wet New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships at Inglewood over the weekend - they took home three gold, three silver and three bronze medals, and three athletes were named in the championship team.

The brightest star was Year 13 Whanganui High School hurdler Maggie Jones, who took the 100-metre Hurdles and 300m Hurdles titles. She set personal bests in both with times of 14.13 and 43.36 respectively, winning by wide margins. Jones was named in the championship team, and was also deservedly named as one of the “athletes of the meet”.

Jones also ran in the silver-medal-winning mixed 4 x 400 team. The team was weakened by an injury to Nat Kirk, who had earlier finished third in the Senior Boys’ Javelin and sixth in the 110m Hurdles. Kirk was replaced by Damian Hodgson, who joined Jones, Charlotte Baker and Thomas Gowan in taking silver. The event was won by a strong Havelock North High School combination, with Whanganui Collegiate (Jonty Tripe, Louise Brabyn, Pascale Bowie and James Hercus) taking third. The Collegiate team also had changes brought about by injury and availability.

Louise Brabyn (Collegiate) was the other Whanganui winner. The top-ranked under-18 steeplechaser looked smooth and classy over the 18 hurdles and five water jumps, setting a six-second personal best to win the 2000m Steeplechase by 11 seconds (6:56.71). Two days earlier, Brabyn had finished fourth in the 3000m with a personal best of 10:06.92. She was closing in rapidly on a bronze medal in the final stages of the race, regretting allowing the leaders to open the gap. Brabyn joined Jones in the championship team, and also ran in the bronze-medal-winning mixed relay team.

Lucas Martin had, in his three previous New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships, finished with a silver medal. He again had to settle for second, losing by less than three seconds. His time of 12:37.20 set a new Whanganui Collegiate and MWA Centre record, and was 15 seconds better than his previous best and the third-fastest walk in the 49-year history of the championships. He, too, was named in the New Zealand Schools Championship team. Martin is a young man who gives much to his sport and, as well as competing and being the most vocal supporter of his team’s athletes, he also acted as an official for most of the weekend.

Fourteen-year-old Juliet McKinlay (Collegiate) had wonderful first championships. She took silver in the Junior Girls’ Triple Jump in the last round to take the medal on a countback from Zarah Rattray (Hamilton Girls HS). Rattray’s father Ian won triple jump medals when at Whanganui Collegiate. McKinlay ran in both the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m teams that finished fourth, was ninth in the Long Jump and 10th in the 80m Hurdles.

Mason Pye (Whanganui High School) took home more medals than any other athlete, with four para medals. Pye is a regular at Club Night and works hard for his deserved success. Pye was third in the 200m (Multi-class) and 100m (Multi-class) and had a brace of silver medals in the Multi-class Javelin and Long Jump.

The inexperienced Junior Boys’ Whanganui Collegiate 4 x 400m team took a bronze medal, with Oliver Toohey, Nate Burke, Max Herdman and Thomas Fitzgerald running well against strong opposition.

Nga Tawa used to be in the Whanganui secondary schools region, but is now attached to Manawatū secondary schools. Emma Ferguson had a wonderful meet, taking bronze on the final morning over 800m (2:12.60) and stepping out again in the afternoon to win the 1500m in an impressive 4 minutes and 25.49 seconds. The final was her fourth run over the weekend, and her two medals highlight her outstanding progress in the sport.

The final medal came from the Whanganui Collegiate Girls three-to-score road race team. Pascale Bowie, who had run a personal best in the 300m Hurdles, was joined by Harriet Douglas, who had not made the 1500m final despite running a personal best, and the third runner was 15-year-old Maia Lupton, who stepped up a grade to ensure a team presence. Douglas was 11th, Bowie 20th and Lupton 25th, snatching a a silver medal for their team and highlighting the team aspect of the sport.

Whanganui schools did well in this aspect, with two Whanganui Collegiate School teams placing fourth in the Junior Girls’ and Junior Boys’ relays, and Whanganui High School finishing fifth in the Senior Boys’ 4 x 100m, with Coby Pye replacing the injured Nat Kirk.

Next week, I will feature the many Whanganui athletes who may not have won medals, but excelled at the championships.