Ella Hogan demonstrates athletics prowess as summer season closes

Ella with her group of Dannevirke Athletics Club athletes.

Athletics is mostly an individual sport, so it can be lonely at times when you’re constantly training by yourself without anyone to push you or motivate you, as Ella Hogan has found.

But through what the Catcus programme has taught her, and determination, Ella has learned what hard work is all about and has applied that to her various sports training regimes.

Ella with idol Dame Valerie Adams.

In December 2022, Ella represented Dannevirke High School (DHS) in Inglewood at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Association Championships, with her first season of the senior girls’ competition finishing with her placing ninth in shot put, 15th in javelin, and fifth in discus. Based on that performance, and also her experience in the NZ Secondary Schools Nationals at Christchurch in January 2023, Ella was selected to attend a three-day New Zealand throws camp in Hastings.

There, she qualified for her first open women’s event in discus at the Potts Classic, where she competed against two top throwers from England and Australia and finished seventh overall, gaining more motivation to keep her going.

The New Zealand Track and Field Champs were held on March 5 in Wellington this year, and Ella was selected to represent the Hawke’s Bay-Gisborne team. It was her first season in the Under-20 age group and she finished seventh in javelin and sixth in discus.

Ella Hogan showing the discus skill which earned her her first major title.

Ella volunteers on Wednesdays at the Dannevirke Athletic Club, helping the next generation of throwers. This season, she broke the shot put record with a throw of 11.01 metres, the javelin record with a throw of 25.39m and set a new discus record of 34.80m.

At the Dannevirke High School Athletics Day on March 14, she broke the school discus record with a throw of 34.90m.

This qualified her to represent DHS at the East Coast competition, where she came first in javelin, first in shot put and first in discus, breaking the record with a throw of 38.08m.

From there, she was selected to be a part of the HBG team to travel to Palmerston North on April 1 to compete at the North Island Secondary Schools.

She ended the season on a high when she came fourth in shot put, third in javelin, and won her first major event in the discus.

Ella is also very keen on cricket and is excelling as both a bowler and batter.