Roimata Hipango produced one of the top performances of Saturday with a 11.28m triple jump. This was the first time Hipango has jumped over 11m and in her series, she also produced an 11.18m performance and 10.96m effort. Unfortunately this has come a week or two too late as her earlier performances meant that she was not included in the Centre team to the Nationals. However, she has nearly four weeks until North Island Schools where she will strive to improve further and gain a podium position.
Grace Godfrey, who will be the youngest in the Centre team at the weekend where she will be running in relays and 400m, had a confidence lifting double winning the 100m and 300m at the House competition, she backed up with a win in the 60m on Tuesday.
Lexi Maples also had a sprint double at the Collegiate House event and a win over 300m at Club night. She will compete in her first major 400m in Wellington and with another year in the Youth grade, this will provide invaluable experience.
Year 9 athlete Jack Gay has produced a series of personal bests over the past 10 days. On Saturday he set bests over 800m and 1500m and at club night he added the 300m to this and also won in his first hurdles race.
The National Championships at the weekend is an important for a number of athletes as they strive for qualifying marks for the major international competitions ahead. These include the World Championships, World Youth Championships and World University Championships, with further teams being selected for Commonwealth and Oceania Championships. Wanganui athletes have some realistic chances for medals at the weekend.
Geordie Beamish will defend his 1500m title and faces strong challenges from Jordan Rackham (Southland) and Jacob Priddey (Waikato).
Rackham has not entered the 800m although he has the fastest time of all junior athletes and Beamish, although entered, is unlikely to start in the shorter event. This opens the door for Josh Ledger to make an impact in the race and provided he runs well tactically, can gain a medal in his first Athletics New Zealand 800m Championship. Max Attwell should gain a medal over 400m Hurdles and could also add to it in 110m Hurdles. He will also compete in the high jump and all three events will provide excellent preparation for his tour to California in April. Attwell will join with Ledger and Symes as key members of the Manawatu/Wanganui Relay teams.
Christian Conder is a realistic medal chance over 1500m and will look to building on both his performance at the Porritt Classic early in February where he defeated many of his main rivals.
Alice Bird is another athlete who could return to the podium in her specialist steeplechase. It might be a while since Bird has set a personal best over steeples, but the average of her best five performances is considerably superior than before she set her personal best last March. These performances included a very useful outing against boys in the Collegiate House competition.
The New Zealand Championships start in Wellington on Friday and run through until Sunday,
