Student athletes go gold

A staggering five gold medals were won by Wairarapa athletes at the national secondary schools track and field championships held in Hastings over the weekend.
Tasting victory in individual events were Tim Girling-McLean (Rathkeale College) in the junior boys' shot put, Alex Fafeita (Wairarapa College) in the senior boys' hammer throw, Stevie Paine (Wairarapa College) in the junior girls' 800m, Tom Quinn (Rathkeale College) in the junior boys' 800m and Laura McKenna (Wairarapa College) in the junior girls' 100m.
And the medal haul didn't end there, not by a long chalk.
Silver medals were won by the Wairarapa College junior girls' 4x100m relay team of McKenna, Paine, Crystelle Hart and Sian Chapman and by the Rathkeale College junior boys' 4x400m relay team of Edward Hewitt, Tom Quinn, Bevan Brown and Dhruv Raman.
Bronze was a popular colour too with three medals of that colour being earned by George Hewitt, of Rathkeale, over 100m, 200m and 400m in events for athletes with a disability (AWD) and others by Maria Taylor (Wairarapa College) in the junior girls' hammer throw and the impressively consistent McKenna in the junior girls' 200m.
Girling-McLean was the sole Wairarapa gold medal winner on the first day. He triumphed in the junior boys' shot put with a put of 15.43m, beating runner-up Sam Ulufonua, of Auckland Grammar, by 0.37m.
Fafeita was hot favourite to take out the senior boys' hammer throw after some impressive training efforts and he proved a class above his rivals. His best throw was 54.89m and placed him well ahead of second-placed Dean Rusbatch, of Otago Boys' High, who threw 47.14m.
Paine didn't extend herself in finishing third in her heat of the junior girls' 800m and also kept something in reserve when she won her semifinal. She was all business in the final though, running in or near the pace all the way and kicking away over the final 200m to win in 2m 14.77s. Laura Smith, of Villa Maria College, came second in 2m 17.10s.
Quinn - son of field event coach John Quinn - was something of a surprise packet in the junior boys' 800m. He was not among the more fancied contenders going into the event but a second in his heat and a win in his semifinal thrust him into gold medal calculations and he did not disappoint, winning the final in 2m 3.97s, with tactics similar to that adopted by Paine. Runner-up to Quinn was Wang Ray, of Macleans College, in 2m 5.25s.
McKenna was involved in a thrilling finish to the final of the junior girls' 100m with four runners crossing the line with hardly anything between them. McKenna's coach Mark Harris thought she may just have been pipped but the photo finish showed it was McKenna in front in a time of 12.53s. Second was Rebecca Peterson, of James Hargest High School, in 12.58s.
In the junior girls' 200m final McKenna was third in 25.79s. The gold medal there was taken by Madison Gibson, of Rangitoto College, in 25.11s with Michaela Blyde, of New Plymouth Girls', just edging McKenna for second in 25.72secs.
George Hewitt slashed his personal best time for the AWD 100m when finishing third. He was clocked at what could be a national record for his age group and category in 20.71s, well inside his previous fastest time of 21.6s. His 200m time of 42.65s would also have been a personal best but for the wind assistance being a little higher than allowed and his 400m time of 1m 42s was also impressive.
The other individual bronze medal came on the first day in the junior girls' hammer throw where Maria Taylor threw a pleasing 32.57s.
In the relays the Wairarapa College 4x100m junior girls' team were looking for a repeat of the victory earned in national record time by their school 12 months previous and they came very close to doing so. They were second in 51.80s with Wanganui Collegiate taking the honours in 51.51s.
The 4x400m junior boys' relay final also caused huge excitement with the Rathkeale College team placing second in 3m 42.80s, less than 4 seconds behind gold medallists St Pauls Collegiate, of Hamilton.
Wairarapa also had finalists in both the junior girls' and senior girls' 400m events, Rebeka Rizmanova, of Chanel College, finishing seventh in the junior girls' final in 1m 2.83s and Molly Creagh, of Wairarapa College, eighth in the senior girls' final in 1m 2.67s. Creagh was also part of the Wairarapa College senior girls' 4x100m team which placed fifth in their final.
Joining her there were juniors Laura McKenna and Stevie Paine and fellow senior Mary Williams.