Olivia Seymour passing to Grace Godfrey at NZSS in December. PHOTO/Jo Murray
Alec McNab reporting from Yorba Linda, California
The Triton Invitational at UCSD at San Diego was a smaller affair than the huge meets the previous weekends at Azusa and Long Beach with only 1100 competitors.
The meet at La Joffa on the edge of San Diego was in a magnificent leafy arena with a deep amphitheatre that provided magnificent viewing.
Grace Godfrey continued her run of good form by finishing second in the second division of the 400 metres. Godfrey had been promoted a grade on account of her run at Azusa eight days earlier and her time in Inglewood at the North Island Championships in early April.
The resultant field was of a higher quality with Godfrey going as 5th ranked but fortunate to have drawn lane 4 with the stronger competitors outside her.
Godfrey did not have a great middle 100 metres as she battled with her hip number that was flapping in the slight head wind. Godfrey wisely gave up this struggle and instead concentrated on her race plan showing good form on the final bend and really got into her work on the home straight, aided by a gentle tail wind.
Showing excellent form Godfrey overhauled all but the event winner finishing in a commendable second place in her first sub 57 second run capturing the Wanganui Collegiate record and stopping the clock at 56.94. This was exactly 1/10th of a second faster than the 57.04 record set by Tayla Brunger at New Zealand Secondary Schools in December.
Brunger, only in Year 10, now holds just the junior record. She is responding well in rehabilitation following serious injury that has kept her out of action since winning the Colgate 14-year grade in early January.
The Collegiate 400 metre ranks are strong when North Island Intermediate Girls Champion (57.19) Emma Osborne is added to the mix. It is interesting to note that all three rank higher than the leading girl at Yorba Linda High School where we train daily on their magnificent all-weather track.
Yorba Linda High School is a big modern school in what is an affluent area with over 1800 students and has a big track and field programme.
The wind changed direction later at the Triton Invitational and unfortunately became a head wind by the time of the 100 metre events. Godfrey lined up in the same heat as fellow tourist masters athlete Vanessa Story from Palmerston North.
Unfortunately, Olivia Seymour aggravated a quad injury in the relay and had to pull out of the divisional heat which would have had a real Manawatu/Wanganui feel to it.
Godfrey won the heat in 13.11 shy of her personal best and the sub 13 effort she was seeking - the head wind put paid to this.
Story, who last month took silver in the 200 metres in the 40-44 Grade at World Masters over 200 metres and bronze in 400 metres, was similarly disappointed with her times in both the 100 metres and 200 metres where the wind had risen to almost 2 metres per second.
Story gained considerable consolation by setting a personal best over 400 metres in an exceptional time for a masters athlete and a personal best of 59.42 seconds.
Jordan Hume ran a pre-arranged 600 metres in the 800 metres race as part of the pace-making and was rewarded with a 3 second personal best of 1:47.2 which provided a huge confidence boost for a key member of the 4x400m squad in the process of stepping up to 800 metres. Hume is aware of the aerobic work required over the winter and has shown genuine promise.
Lexi Maples, who had left the tour last week having been in California since the end of March to compete in the Arcadia Heptathlon, was replaced in the relay by Story with the three Collegiate girls and Story running under the MWA banner.
Story ran the first leg allowing Hume, Seymour and Godfrey to run in their usual positions. They were rewarded with a faster time than the previous best in 49.90 for a calendar best.
The tour ends on Saturday at the Steve Scott Invitational at Irvine before boarding a flight back to New Zealand later in the evening. They are back in Whanganui early on Tuesday May 2.