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Home / Whanganui Chronicle / Sport

Rankings give good indication of form

By Alec McNab
Whanganui Chronicle·
19 Aug, 2015 06:37 PM4 mins to read

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TOP RANKED: Harry Symes on his way to victory in last year's New Zealand Secondary Schools 4x400m relay for Wanganui Collegiate.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

TOP RANKED: Harry Symes on his way to victory in last year's New Zealand Secondary Schools 4x400m relay for Wanganui Collegiate.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

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The New Zealand rankings, as with countries throughout the world, tabulate performances over the calendar year which does not match our season that straddles two years."Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger) is the Olympic motto and encapsulates the measurable objectivity of track and field. Such measurable performances allow rankings to be made that are objective and easily understandable by all.

Rankings also provide feedback and motivation for athletes. Not only do they let an athlete know where they rank against peers but also rankings in depth can track progress over a period of time. As a convener of many national selection panels, I find they give invaluable information especially in terms of depth of athlete performances.

Athletics New Zealand provides an outstanding service provided by statistician and former Olympian Steve Hollings. The rankings and associated information that comes with this are truly world class. I hope more of our young athletes not only appear among the leading performances but also use them in terms of motivation.

The New Zealand rankings, as with countries throughout the world, tabulate performances over the calendar year which does not match our season that straddles two years. The current rankings therefore represent performances in the second half of last season and a guide to the New Zealand season starting in October.

Last week, I looked at the exciting events that lie ahead on our home Cooks Gardens track and the current rankings give a good indication who might feature on the track and on the field in the months ahead.

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There are 10 Wanganui athletes who appear in the top 10 in the current rankings with nine of these in the top five. Three of these athletes are event leaders in their grade although two have left the club after leaving Wanganui Collegiate School.

Max Attwell, who featured last week, is one of the two. He will, however, be back at Cooks Gardens competing in the Cooks Classic and the New Zealand Decathlon. Attwell tops the 400m under-20 hurdle rankings but, more significantly, is second in the decathlon. Not unexpectedly as a combined eventer, he appears in high jump in 6th position, in pole vault in 4th position, 110m hurdles 4th position and in 400m is 7th with his excellent 49.91s in the Arcadia Decathlon in California.

Geordie Beamish, who will be based in Arizona, is less likely to appear at Cooks Gardens in the summer. Beamish heads the under-20 1500m rankings with his New Zealand Junior winning performance of 3m 49.35s. He also ranks second in the 3000m (8m 34.31s) and 6th over 800m (1m 54.76). Interestingly, the senior 800m is headed by former Wanganui athlete Brad Mathas.

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The other top-ranked Wanganui athlete is Harry Symes, who leads the youth (under-18) 400m with a 49.71s effort that gained him third place at the North Island Schools against older athletes. Symes also ranks 4th over 200m and was a key member of Wanganui Collegiate's 4x400m and 4x100m winning teams at last December's home New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships. Symes also ran in the winning combination in the 4x100m at North Island Schools when the Collegiate school team defeated regional combinations.

Roimata Hipango moved up to second in the youth women's triple jump with her 11.30m winning jump at the North Island event and recent training suggests she will make further progress. Also ranked second in her event is Alice Bird in the 2000m steeplechase with her teammate, Jane Lennox, in 4th place. Although Bird's best 2015 performance is below her 2014 ranking, the mean of her best five efforts is better and she still has half a season to go.

Christian Conder who took second place in the Youth New Zealand 1500m final ranks second in that event with his 4m0.19s effort. Only 0.2s separates the leading three athletes with the leader less than 0.1s ahead. All the leading group will have sub-4 minute performances in their immediate sights. The other two top five performers are Josh Ledger now based in Wellington (5th in the under-20 400m) and local athlete Opetini Dryden in the javelin. It is hoped this promising thrower can benefit from the coaching of Richard Drabczynski and team up with Palmerston North event-leader Aiden Smith.

The season ahead should open the doors for a new crop of rising athletes. Myah Jex-Blake, who had an injury plagued first term, ranks 9th over 300m hurdles and should progress rapidly up the rankings having run faster last year. Athletes such as Grace Godfrey and Lexi Maples, both top six finishers in their under-16 events at the North Island event look closest to making an entry on the rankings. As I said last week -- bring on the summer.

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