Numbers up for inter-school event

AND GO: The Junior Girls (U14) 70m hurdles at the annual Wanganui Interschool athletics championships at Cooks Gardens on Wednesday.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

MORE competitors required more judges as the annual Wanganui Inter-school athletics meeting went a little old school at Cooks Gardens on Wednesday night.

Nine schools from the greater Wanganui region took part with entry numbers of more than 400, an improved list from seasons past.

Heavyweights in terms of numbers were, naturally, Wanganui Collegiate and Wanganui High School, who had around 80 competitors each.

Cullinane College and Wanganui Girls' College were the official hosts.

Supervisor Alec McNab said extra hands were needed as the event was not running electric timers until the evening session, which meant having judges on hand to use stop watches.

More competitors meant more heats to organise before finals.

However, his success was recorded, there was no doubt Collegiate's Harry Symes was the standout performer on the night.

He won the triple crown of the 100m, 200m and 400m senior boys' races, as well as being part of two relay team victories.

Symes was also a surprise winner in the discus.

Coming back to the field after her national championship success in rowing, Wanganui High School's Jessica Brougham showed her strength with wins in the senior girls' shotput, javelin and discus, the latter with a 32.47m throw.

A raw talent, Collegiate's Logan Henry won the junior boys' 300m, triple jump and 80m hurdles.

Another with potential, Wanganui Girls' Tayla Flight took out the intermediate girls' javelin and shotput.

Collegiate's Myah Jex-Blake had wins in the senior girls' 100m hurdles and 200m, in a personal best time, while Cullinane's Jesse Theobald won both the long and high jump for intermediate boys.

The next big meeting on the schedule will be for those Wanganui athletes attending the North Island Secondary Schools champions in Auckland, on March 28-29.