Athletics
It was field eventer Emma Kruszona who provided the highlight for Wairarapa on a drama-filled first day of the North Island secondary schools track and field championships at the Pugh Sports Bowl on Saturday.
Kruszona dominated the intermediate girls hammer throw, winning the gold medal with a superb effort of 48.30m.
She had plenty to spare from runner-up MacKenzie Vitasovich (North Harbour) whose best throw was 40.16m and in third place was Losaline Ahio (Waikato-Bay of Plenty) with 36.42m. Not far off the medals was another Wairarapa entrant, Grace Quinn, who placed fifth with 35.65m.
It was unfortunate on a day in which some 800 athletes representing 11 centres - Northland, Auckland, North Harbour, Counties-Manukau, Waikato-Bay of Plenty, East Coast North Island, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu, Wellington and Wairarapa - were primed to strut their stuff on the new all-weather track and throwing circles at the Masterton facility that a major glitch with the electronic timing created havoc with the posting of results of track races, and delayed the programme to the point where some of the events were completed in near dark.