Phillips, Simpson strike gold

Tauraroa Area School's Riana Phillips and Kerikeri High School's Melissa Simpson showed their class with gold medal performances at the North Island Secondary School Athletic Championship in Wellington over the weekend.
Phillips jumped 1.6m for gold in the intermediate girls' high jump and Simpson cleaned-up the intermediate 1500m in 4m 43.76sec for gold.
Phillips' form is particularly impressive as she was competing against older jumpers and will still be eligible to jump in the intermediate grade next year.
Chris Portch, the girls' coach, believes the two winners will perform well in the Athletic New Zealand Championships at Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, in Christchurch, this weekend.
"Leading up to the national championships the girls are in fine form having recorded championship wins in Auckland and Northland prior to the competition at the North Island Secondary Championships," he said.
Dargaville High's hurdle exponent Hayley Gilchrist was another to give a top performance in the North Island Secondary School Championships, finishing sixth - in the tough open grade 300m hurdles - in 47.97s and breaking the Northland W16 record in the process.
Phillips, Simpson, Gilchrist, Tayla Going, Josh Brown, Rachel Martin and Ryan Slater will be competing in the Athletic New Zealand Championships - wearing LJ Hooker Athletic Whangarei colours - at Queen Elizabeth II Stadium in Christchurch this weekend.