Sports awards: World-ranked shot putter Nick Palmer eyes repeat

Karamu High School's Nick Palmer receives the first of his three awards from Sport Hawke's Bay chief executive Mark Aspden last night. Photo/Paul Taylor

Don't be surprised if world ranked shot putter Nick Palmer wins the supreme award at the Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Sports Awards function again next year.

"That's the goal," 17-year-old Karamu High School year 12 student Palmer said after collecting three awards at the SBS Bank-sponsored, Sport Hawke's Bay-organised function staged in Napier's Municipal Theatre last night.

Palmer, who is ranked sixth in the world under-18 rankings, hopes to qualify for the July 10-15 World Junior Championships in Finland where he will aim for a top-eight finish.

"The qualifying period for those champs has just started. That's with the 6kg weight which I will get into at the start of next year. I'll keep doing 5kg stuff until the end of the year," Palmer said.

To qualify for Finland Palmer expects he will have to throw close to the 18.60m mark and he has done numerous 18m efforts during training. He threw 19.2m with the 5kg weight at a Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools meeting in Hastings last week.

"It was unbelievable to get the supreme award tonight. It must have been pretty tight because the Hastings Boys' High School 1st XV rugby team had a pretty good season and some of the other individual category winners had some impressive CVs," Palmer said.

He had an outstanding year which included claiming a silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas. He was the flag bearer and athletics team captain at the Games.

Palmer, who is coached by Athletics New Zealand's lead throws coach Dale Stevenson of Christchurch, won the under-18 title and finished third in the under-20 division at the Australian national champs. Earlier in the evening Palmer won the male sportsperson of the year award and retained his male athlete of the year award.

He beat female sportsperson of the year award winner, Havelock North High School sprinter Georgia Hulls, the country's top secondary schools rugby team Hastings Boys' High School and world ranked para athlete Guy Harrison in the battle for the supreme award. Hulls picked up an array of medals at the Oceania Championships and silver and bronze medals in the under-20 age group at the Australian Nationals.

Harrison won the para athlete award for the second consecutive year in the wake of his silver medal at the world junior para athletics championships in Switzerland.

Oceania under-17 girls squash champion Rhiarne Taiapa of Hastings Girls' High School became the second recipient of the Jarrod Cunningham Youth Sports Trust Scholarship, following world ranked swimmer Bobbi Gichard in 2015.

A New Zealand rep since 2013, Taiapa, who received $2500 towards her future sporting endeavours, heaped kudos on her hardworking parents for their ongoing motivation in what she described as "a very individual sport".

Two new awards, the male and female all rounders, were introduced at the function. Napier Girls' High School's Rosalia Samia, a New Zealand rep in basketball and volleyball captured the female one and Lindisfarne College's Ronan Lee, who is ranked internationally in orienteering and nationally in cross country claimed the male one.

Awards winners were:
Jarrod Cunningham Youth Sports Trust Scholarship: Rhiarne Taiapa (Hastings Girls' High School) Squash.
NZ Couriers Student Contribution to Sport: Georgia Trent (Woodford House) Netball.
Hawke's Bay Today Service to Sport: Chris Hansen, Grant McFarland, Ian Smith (all St John's College), Reva Joseph (Flaxmere College), Jon Matthews, Tracy Taylor, Dave Taylor (all Karamu High School), Trent Miller (Hastings Boys' High School).
Furnware Coach of the Year: Mark Ozich and Tafai Ioasa (Hastings Boys' High School) Rugby.
Jarrod Cunningham Youth Sports Trust Official of the Year: Brady Nicholson (Havelock North High School) Volleyball.
Kennedy Park Resort Napier Team of the Year: Hastings's Boys High School 1st XV Rugby.
Youthtown Female All Rounder of the Year: Rosalia Samia (Napier Girls' High School) Basketball and Volleyball.
Youthtown Male All Rounder of the Year: Ronan Lee (Lindisfarne College) Orienteering, Athletics and Cross Country.
ZM Para-Athlete of the Year: Guy Harrison (Napier Boys' High School) Athletics.
Shoe Clinic Female Sportsperson of the Year: Georgia Hulls (Havelock North High School) Athletics.
EIT Male Sportsperson of the Year: Nick Palmer (Karamu High School) Athletics.
SBS Bank Supreme Award: Nick Palmer (Karamu High School) Athletics.
Code Category Winners: Tennis, Daniel Rowe (NBHS); Squash, Rhiarne Taiapa (HGHS); Female Orienteer, Jenna Tidswell (HNHS); Male Orienteer, Will Tidswell (HNHS); Equestrian, Ruby Mason (NGHS); Female Canoeist, Casey Hales (THS); Male Canoeist, Hamish Legarth (HNHS); Female Athlete, Georgia Hulls (HNHS); Male Athlete, Nick Palmer (KHS); Female Cricketer, Sophie Pyott (HNHS); Male Cricketer, Alex Ryder (HBHS); Female Hockey, Olivia Shannon (Iona College); Male Hockey, Harry Lawson (Lindisfarne College); Female Basketball, Rosalia Samia (NGHS); Male Basketball, Isaia Jones-Mitchell (HBHS); Female Volleyball, Rosalia Samia (NGHS); Male Volleyball, Jacarn Webber (NBHS); Female Footballer, Rose Morton (HGHS); Male Footballer, Ethan Martin (NBHS); Netballer, Jaydi Taylor-Chaffey (NGHS); Female Rugby, Niamh Jefferson (TRSS); Male Rugby, Devan Flanders (HBHS).