14-year-old leaves older rivals in wake

Gun Masterton athlete Alison-Andrews Paul is now ranked second in the country in the women's 17 years age group for the 1500m - and she's only 14.

Andrews-Paul moved into that position on the national ranking list after a stunning performance on the second day of the Wellington track and field championships at Newtown Park, Wellington on Saturday.

She won the women's 17 years 1500m in a slick 4m 36.89s, having almost 5s to spare from her nearest rival.

Another highly promising Masterton middle distance runner in Stevie Paine was in the same event and she, too, had good reason to feel happy with her fifth placing in 4:57.24.

The men's 1500m events also saw Wairarapa athletes shine, Tom Quinn (Carterton) finishing ninth in the 17 years age group in 4m 26.55s. Barrie Joslin (Carterton) third in the 40 years grade in 5m 26.56s and Tony Price continued his impressive form from the recent Oceania championships by winning the 55 years title in 4m 50.77s.

Masterton duo Alex Howden and Keelan Ward grabbed the spotlight in the 200m finals. Howden won the men's 17 years crown in a personal best time of 23.26s - an effort made to look even better by the fact he was running into a stiff head wind - and Ward the AWD (athletes with disability) title, also in a personal best time of 30.84s. Dhruv Raman (Masterton) was fifth behind Howden in 24.71s and Edward Hewitt (Masterton) sixth in 24.82s.

Contesting the women's 17 years 200m Sian Chapman (Carterton) was second in 27.18s and Tessa Laven (Carterton) seventh in 29.27s while Molly Creagh (Masterton) won the women's 20 years division in 27.35s.

Laven and Creagh both had wins over 400m, Laven winning the women's 17 years event in 64.07s and Creagh the women's 20 years title in 60.81s. Hewitt was fourth in the men's 17 years race in 54.37s, Raman sixth in 56.27s and Lord-Bune seventh in 57.46s and Ward set another pb in winning the AWD section in 68.96s.

There was success, too, for Wairarapa in the field events. The women's 17 years discus saw Emma Kruszona (Carterton) with a throw of 33.42m and Katie Smith (Carterton) with 31.20m take the first two placings while Tim Girling-McLean won the men's 17 years title with 37.62m almost 7m better than the second placegetter.