Myah Jex-Blake (WCS) set three personal bests at the championships despite carrying injuries. Photo/Supplied
Success at championships should not only be gauged by the medals won but by the depth of performance and the personal progress of athletes who compete.
Last week I highlighted the five medals won by the Wanganui athletes, but there was so much to be excited about from our athletes' performances at the New Zealand Schools Championships in Hamilton. From my own Collegiate team, I know of 25 personal bests at this high level of competition and there were at least half a dozen such performances from the small groups of athletes representing other Wanganui schools. What is especially encouraging about a number of these best performances are that they came from young athletes in Years 9-11, which suggests exciting times ahead.
The athletes closest to medals were Charlie McCartin who finished fourth in the 110m Hurdles (a personal best 15.40 seconds); the 3-to-score Collegiate Junior Road Race team who were only five points behind the gold medal winners; and the injury struck Collegiate 4 x 100m Relay team which had key member William Smart out through injury and first reserve Caleb Bensemann also out of action and thus had to rely on Year 10 athlete, Sam Merson.
Year 9 Collegiate athlete Opetini Dryden was fifth in the Javelin and only centimetres away from a medal. This is a young man who has demonstrated outstanding potential in a wide range of events. Charlie McCartin rounded off a good weekend of hurdling with a personal best 40.20s effort over 300m Hurdles. The injury-struck Collegiate 4 x 400m Relay team also gained fifth position.
Sixth positions came from four of the Collegiate Relay teams (4 x 100m Junior Girls, 4 x 400m Junior Girls, 4 x 100m Senior Girls and 4 x 100m Junior Boys) in a year in which all four 4 x 100m teams gained a place in the final for only the second time in 41 years, and three of the four 4 x 400m teams finished in the top seven. Only the Junior Boys slipped, to ninth position. Pavinee Watson finished sixth in the Senior Girls' Triple Jump in an event in which Nga Tawa's Kelly Davenport gained the bronze medal.
Sam Donald, who had finished third in the North Island Schools Hammer throw, was sixth in the Senior Boys and looks set for major progress in the year ahead.
Christian Conder (WCS) was seventh in the 1500m Junior Boys in a personal best 4:14.47s. Conder perhaps paid the penalty of going with the in-form Dan Hoy(Westlake BHS) who impressed by winning the 1500m/3000m double. Luke Gemmell, who is in Year 10, also ran in that final while Louis Hogan (WHS) 10th in the Junior 3000m should be pleased with his 9:30.39 for the distance.
Myah Jex-Blake (WCS) who set three personal bests during the championships had to contend with injury in both her events. In the 80m Hurdles officials had suggested she should not start because of a severe nose-bleed on the start line. Jex-Blake insisted on competing and finished seventh in a time of 12.36s, her second personal best at the Championships. In the 300m Hurdles Jex-Blake, still in Year 10, qualified for the Open Girls' final as fourth fastest. Unfortunately in the final she fell while in second position at the second hurdle and broke her wrist. Although unable to use her right hand which would have ruled out her running in the 4 x 100m, she bravely ran in the 4 x 400m relays with a temporary cast and a bandaged knee for the team to finish sixth.
Max Attwell (WCS) who has shown exciting potential in Decathlon finished eighth in the Pole Vault.
I was very impressed with triathlete James Wright (WHS) who won his place in a very competitive 1500m Senior Boys' final with a personal best time of 4:08s which he repeated for 13th position in an explosive final.
He, like so many athletes, will benefit from the experience gained at the championships, which is the largest athletics event in the country, with large fields and many rounds to negotiate. For example there were preliminaries, quarter-finals, semifinals and a final in more than one sprint event, so it is to the credit of athletes such as Luke Foster (WCS) who improved his sprint performance from 12.20s to 11.68s in the first two rounds and Lexi Maples (WHS) still in Year 9 who ran a substantial best of 13.17 in the 100m. Although both did not reach the semifinals, they are promising young athletes who have returned from Hamilton safe in the knowledge that they can succeed in the future.