Young sprinter claims Wairarapa records

Laura McKenna might have only got serious about sprinting for the last 12 months but she can already claim to be the fastest-ever Wairarapa woman over 100m and 200m.
A scenario made to look even more impressive by the Wairarapa College third former being just 14 years of age and quite happy to concede she still has plenty to learn when it comes to technical issues.
"I just pretty much go out there and try to run as fast I can," she said. "Hopefully the more I train the better I will get."
Well, McKenna isn't going too badly as things are. Three times in the junior girls 100m at the national secondary schools track and field championships at Aorangi Park, Timaru, a little more than a week ago she beat the magical 13secs mark. She was second in her heat in 12.64secs, second in her quarter-final in 12.66secs and fourth in her final in 12.74secs.
Which is an amazing sequence of performances when you consider a check of Wairarapa records shows the fastest time previously registered by a Wairarapa woman over 100m was the 12.88secs Carterton's Ellen Schaef clocked during the 2007 season.
From a legal perspective the 12-74secs of the final is registered as McKenna's best as both her quarter-final and semi-final efforts were assisted by a wind outside the allowable limits.
McKenna made the final of the junior girls 200m in Timaru too. She placed sixth in 26.87secs there after coming second in 26.22secs in the semis.
Not long beforehand she had recorded a time of 26.20secs at a league meeting in Wellington but that was hand-timed so the 26.22secs is officially her best - and Wairarapa's best for a female - time to date.
For McKenna, however, the big thrill at the national secondary school championships was not her own individual performances but being part of a Wairarapa College junior girls 4x100m relay team which smashed a New Zealand record, which had stood since 1988 when they clocked a dazzling 50.16secs in their heat win. That made them hot favourites for the final and they won that easily as well, in a slightly slower 50.54secs.
McKenna had the responsibility of running the last leg of the relay behind three other very talented youngsters in April Campbell, Stevie Paine and Molly Creagh and she is quick to praise their combined efforts which saw Wairarapa College with a handy lead going into the final baton change on both occasions.
"All I had to do really was make sure I got the baton safely, there wasn't a worry about being caught," she said.
As a pupil at Opaki School McKenna was more likely to race over the longer distances and cross-country but her now coach Mark Harris was quick to realise her potential over the sprints when she came under his wing about a year ago and he has been delighted with the progress she has made.
"Obviously it's still early days but the scope for improvement is enormous, her potential has hardly been tapped yet," Harris said, adding that with her relaxed style of running it was possible the 400m could actually be her best distance as time goes on.
McKenna's next major assignment will come when she competes over 100m and 200m at the North Island Colgate Games in Auckland in January.