Fafeitas bring home the medals

The sister-and-brother combination of Courtnay and Alex Fafeita did Wairarapa proud at the North Island secondary schools track and field championships in Auckland.
Courtnay Fafeita was second in the in the girls intermediate discus with a throw of 40.02m while Alex Fafeita placed third in two events,the boys junior discus with a throw of 44.86m and the boys junior javelin with a throw of 39.69m, which was a personal best by all of three metres.He also finished in the top eight in the junior boys shot put.
The Fafeitas, both of whom attend Wairarapa College, made up exactly half of the Wairarapa team and the other two members, Alyse Jensen from Tararua College aqnd Chris Girling-McLean from Rathkeale also performed with credit. Jensen was eighth in the junior girls 3000m in a time of 11mins 25.01secs while Girling-McLean qualified for the final of the senior boys 400m but was forced to withdrawn through illness.
For the Fafeitas their medal winning performances were simply the continuation of some excellent form over the athletics season.
Courtnay Fafeita has achieved no fewer then three national titles.The first came in the national secondary schools 16yrs discus event, followed by gold in the Colgate Games 14yrs discus and then, just a couple of weeks back, another gold in the 16yrs discus at the New Zealand open track and field championships, a competition in which she also placed fourth in the 19yrs discus.
Up until her North Island secondary schools second placing Courtnay Fafeita was actually ranked number in the country for the women's 16yrs discus and she has finished the second at number two. Remarkably for a 15-year-old she is also ranked sixth in the open grade with none other than Beatrice Faumuina in the number one spot.
Fafeita's current best throw in the discus is 40.34m, a distance she registered at the Wellington junior championships last month and an effort good enough for her to beat a Wellington age group record which had stood for 17 years. In fact, it was just 1.66m short of the qualifying mark for the world youth championships to be held in Italy next year&∧ all qualifying marks set by Athletics New Zealand were considered good enough to place those breaking them in the top 10 there.
Fafeita's prospects of qualifying for those championships seem bright, especially when you consider she started this season with throws of around the 32m mark and under the watchful eye of coach John Quinn improved to 40m&.and broken long standing Wairarapa College and Wairarapa secondary schools records in the process.,
Already Fafeita should have done enough to qualify for the Pacific School Games in Canberra, Australia towards the end of this year and also being considered are at least two other visits to Australia to enhance her international experience.
Alex Fafeita is hot on the heels of his sister, being ranked in the top three 13yrs boys discus throwers in the country.He has broken Wairarapa College records in the junior boys discus and shot put and Wairarapa secondary schools records inn the same two sevents.Now he has his eyes fixed on the intermediate boys discus record which his coach John Quinn set in 1984 and still holds.
Victory in the Wellington boys 12yrs discus championship was another feather in the cap of Alex Fafeita and he also finished second in the shot put there.And his versatility has now been extended to the javelin with his third placing at the North Island secondary schools championships being especially notable as he has had basically no training in that event. Like sister Courtnay one of his primary objectives in the near future is selection for the Pacific School Games in Canberra.