Sixteen-year-old Ryan Slater triumphed by winning a superbly-judged double in the 800m and 1500m at the Northland Secondary Schools Mizone Track and Field Championships at Pompallier Catholic College. Slater, a correspondence school student, made a bold start in the 800m and looked a clear winner until he hit the blustery windaround the final bend and Hamish Younger, from Dargaville High School, began to close the gap. But coming off the bend Slater rallied and powered down the straight for a clear win. In the 1500m Slater trailed Younger until the final straight where he again unleashed a winning sprint, taking his second title. Slater decided on the change of tactics after experiencing the force of the wind in his first race. "I knew to stick behind him [Younger] and break in the last 100m," he said. In the intermediate boys' 800m, Ramahn Howard of Rodney College used the wind to his advantage, letting the long-striding Boys' High student Paul Carter take the lead into the wind. He kicked past the tiring Carter in the straight to record an excellent 2min 10.87sec. The wind and a heavy track took their toll on runners' times, with few coming close to records. But there were two new records in the field events. Tauraroa Area School's Riana Phillips overcame the conditions in the junior high jump to clear 1.55m for a new record. And Kaitaia College's Eden Cherrington threw the javelin to 33.75m, breaking the intermediate boys' record and finishing 10m clear of Tikipunga's Briahn Ruri. Kamo High's senior boys (Shane Sirett, Harley Keefe, Aaron Blundell and Devron Pearce) triumphed in a tight finish in the 4 x100m relay, heading off Dargaville High and Tikipunga. Kamo High also took first place in the senior girls' relay with a strong run over the last leg by Hannah Wilkinson, finishing well clear of Rodney College and Kaitaia College. The senior boy's 100m produced another close finish with Tikipunga High's Enele Ligeiri just heading off Steven Morris from Dargaville High School and Kadin Tenana of Bay of Islands College. But the fastest 100m of the day went to Taipa Area School intermediate runner Josh Robson, who ran 11.47sec compared with Ligeiri's 11.82sec. A total of 429 students from 20 schools competed during the day, at Pompallier on Wednesday.
