HEPTATHLETE: Lexi Maples in action in the shot at the NZSS Championships in Auckland watched by Whanganui volunteer stalwart Alan Cherry. PHOTO/Jo Murray
Medal performances are only one measure of success at a Championships and can often be the just tip of the iceberg in terms of measuring success.
In last week's Chronicle I highlighted the impressive medal winners in Auckland at the NZSS Championships.
There were 91 different schools gaining at least one medal winners in the Track and Field Championships with a further 10 schools gaining at least one medal at the Road Race Championships run in conjunction resulting in almost half of the 203 schools competing returning home with at least one medal.
Wanganui Collegiate gained 11 of these from the track and field section (the most ever from the school at the Championships) and a further team medal on the road and was second overall to Westlake Boys High School who doubled their track medals on the road to return with an outstanding 16 medals.
Fourth place-getters are often so close to a medal but often not remembered even if only fractionally below the medal winner.
Wanganui Collegiate athletes gained seven fourth places with five of these coming in track and field. The closest to a medal was Luke Foster in the 100 metres Senior Boys who was a tantalisingly three one hundredths of a second outside of bronze. Foster's return from serious injury was featured in the Chronicle last week.
Olivia Seymour came even closer to gaining a place in the girl's 100 metre final as a first year senior. In the Quarter final she ran a personal best of 12.90 and in the semi-final she ran 12.95 to be given the same time as third place getter.
However, an examination of the photo finish picture revealed that she missed a place in the final by three thousands of a second.
Seymour ran in the Collegiate 4 x 100 team that finished fourth in the final. In the winning heat the quartet of Sophie Ensor, Jordan Hume and Grace Godfrey had set the fastest time of 49.77 (a best for the team) that was actually .02 faster than the eventual winner.
The outstanding baton changes in the heat were not repeated in the final and the team had to be content with 4th. This was repeated by the Senior Girls 4 x 400 team (Hume, Jane Lennox, Hume and Godfrey) who found themselves just two seconds shy of the medals running two seconds faster than their predicted performance.
Promising jumper Logan Henry finished fourth in the junior Triple Jump with a personal best. Caitlyn Alabaster finished fourth in both the steeplechase and the road on the final day of the Championships. Perhaps if she had done just the steeples she would have returned with a track medal. Her efforts on the Massey Roads were, however, rewarded with a team bronze.
It is never easy at such a large event whether to just specialise in just one event or to combine with other events. The very promising Wanganui High School athlete Rebecca Baker was caught in this situation running in both the junior 800 metres and 1500 metres. She finished 8th in the latter final but as well as the heat in the event she had also run two rounds of 800 metres faltering at the semi- final stage. This is all part of the experience at athletes first NZ Schools Championships.
Isabel Brabyn was a young athlete who firmly grasped her opportunity winning her way into the inaugural 300 metre junior girls hurdle final running personal bests in both heat and final. She was accompanied in that final by relay double gold medal winner Sophie Redmayne (8th). The other 5th place came from heptathlete Lexi Maples in the shot.
Maples should be delighted with her progress under Richard Drabczynski's tutelage in the event and the benefits will be apparent in major combined event competitions in the new year. Another Drabczynski athlete Year 13 Discus thrower Patrick Parker threw over 40 metres for the first time with a 41 metre effort to come 7th in a big field at his first NZ Championships
The other finalists were Tom Matthews who ran in the senior Boys 4 x 400 metres (7th), was reserve for the 4 x 100 and 7th in the 300 metre hurdles, recording a personal best. He hit a couple of hurdles in the final certainly costing him a higher place. Richmond Wells was 6th in the senior vault while Genna Maples who returned from Auckland with three individual medals and two relay golds and was also was 6th in the Triple Jump.
Grace Godfrey finished 7th in the 400 metre. The inexperienced Collegiate 4 x 400 junior boys' team also gained a creditable 8th.
There was certainly more than medals to celebrate at the New Zealand School's Championships.
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