Collegiate dominates cross country

OUT IN FRONT: Caitlyn Alabaster put pressure on the field over the hills to win the junior girls' race at last week's Inter-School Cross Country on the Collegiate Golf Course.PHOTO/ROB VAN DORT

THE host school Wanganui Collegiate may have taken the lion's share of the honours with five of the six individual titles and 10 of the 12 team titles at last week's Inter-School Cross Country but there was much to be excited about from other performances.

The championships started in warm sunshine that was soon to give way to gnarly showers, many torrential. The opening Year 9 Girls' event was convincingly won by Sarah Matthews (Collegiate) with a superb front running performance ensuring that teammate and North Island and 300 metre sprint record holder Tayla Brunger was not close enough to utilise her speed in the final run for home. Makaia Matthews (Cullinane) was third and it is hoped that she and her teammate Maggie O'Connor take up the opportunity of moving to the next step by both competing at the New Zealand Secondary Schools individual Championship in Rotorua on Saturday, June 18, and also in the inaugural Regional 5 x 2 Kilometre Relay the following day at the same venue.

Connor Hoskin (High School) became the only non-Collegiate individual title winner with an outstanding run leading out from the gun. In the summer on the track he won the Wanganui Schools 1500 metre title by a close margin. There was nothing close about last week's run over the undulating Collegiate Golf Course circuit where he won by 15 seconds from Tomasi Connors (Cullinane) followed by six Wanganui Collegiate runners.

The group was headed by Adam Lennox, brother of school's international Jane Lennox. That depth secured the 3 and 6 to score team titles by a wide margin. Hoskin is clearly a runner with an exciting future.

The host team, who a year earlier had won the New Zealand Schools 3 and 6 to score a title in Dunedin, were always going to start as favourites in the junior girls' team event and they did not disappoint. The race was won by Caitlyn Alabaster (Collegiate) in what was my pick as the performance of the day.

Rebecca Baker (High School), who had won the Wanganui Schools Year 9 title last year and won the junior middle distance double on the track (800m and 1500m), was always going to provide tough opposition. Baker ran well, but Alabaster was outstanding sticking to her pre-race plan of putting pressure on her opponent on the tougher sections of the course in each of the three laps, winning the race by 22 seconds. Both will play key roles in a strong Whanganui team in the relays at Rotorua.

Triathlete Mia Gemmell (Collegiate) with Nikita McDonald (Girls' College) in 4th position should mean that three schools will contribute to a strong relay combination.

Jack Gay won the Junior Boys' race. Gay has developed well as an athlete, adding pace judgment to his undoubted talent. He was followed home by Loris Knigge, Travis Bayler, Logan Hughes and Sam Luff from High School, an effort that brought team titles in both the 3 and 6 to score titles. It was especially pleasing to see young Bayler gain a podium finish, a just reward for his perseverance throughout the summer when he ran each week, often against stronger and more experienced opposition. Wanganui High School is in a rebuilding phase and much can be built around this strong team along with Year 9 winner Hoskin.

The senior races, as is often the case, went with the form book with the Wanganui Collegiate school internationals Jane Lennox and Christian Conder winning the respective girls and boys divisions. Conder was followed home by training partner Louis Hogan (High School) - both are coached by Christian's father, former New Zealand representative Robert Conder. Lennox was chased home by her Collegiate teammates Alice Bird (Collegiate team captain) and Jazmin Phillips (Collegiate club captain). Not unexpectedly, Collegiate took the 3 and 6 to score in both the girls and boys, the former by a wide margin and the boys after a close battle with Wanganui High School.

The Collegiate contingent have to do it all again tomorrow when they compete in the Inter-House Championships at the same venue. The Regional Relay Teams will be named later in the week.