Masterton runner rapt with medal

Sian Chapman set herself a goal leading into the national secondary schools track and field championships in Wellington last weekend.

The Chanel College 15-year-old aimed to make the finals of her two events, the junior girls 100m and 200m sprints, and achieved her objective with outstanding performances.

Even more noteworthy though, Chapman came away from the 200m final with a bronze medal to show for her efforts, something she admits exceeded her expectations.

"I hadn't really thought about a medal. The focus was pretty much on getting to the finals."

Chapman finished fourth in her heat of the 100m in 12.96secs and advanced to the quarter-finals where she came second in 13.01secs. That took her into the semis where she was again second in 13.01secs and she was fifth in the final in 12.98secs.

In the 200m, Chapman made an early impact by winning her heat in 26.76secs and her quarter-final in 27.06secs. A second place in the semis in 26.78secs confirmed her as a medal prospect for the final where she clocked a personal best 26.46secs and finished third behind Zoe Hobbs of New Plymouth Girls (25.43secs) and Abby Goldie of Tauranga Girls (25.87secs).

Recalling the 200m final, Chapman admits having had the usual butterflies before the race - "I always feel sick then" - and realised by the 60m mark she was in with a chance of making the first three. "All I could think was go for it, go for it ... I just gave it everything I had." Almost as satisfying the bronze-medal feat, however, was the seventh placing by a Chanel College squad in the junior girls 4x4 100m relay final. They clocked a personal-best 52.88secs, up on their 53.73secs in the semifinals where they finished third.

With Chapman in that Chanel line-up were Katie Craig, Georgia Brown and Sandra Maikohi and, as well as running the second leg, Chapman was also team coach.

"There was really nobody else to do it so I took it on and the girls worked really hard. We were absolutely rapt to make the final. It was amazing."