College sport: Champion pair look to build on glories

By JENNI RUTHERFORD

The 1980s song that goes "the future's so bright I gotta wear shades" could have been written for some of New Zealand's college athletes.

Some, such as Michael Bullot and Valerie Adams, will need heavy-duty specs.

These teenagers, winners of the ASB Bank College Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year awards, are already world champions but still have plenty of goals.

The first priority for Bullot, a Westlake Boys High School pupil, is securing the bursary grades required to study business at Massey University's Albany campus next year.

His plans for next year will again require a balancing act between study and sailing.

The dual world youth and open Laser Radial champion will look to qualify for the ISAF youth world championships again and the open world championship regatta, but this time in the Olympic class. His long-term ambition is to make a living from a sport he loves, and to sail at the Olympics.

For Southern Cross Campus sixth-former Valerie Adams, the shot-put title at the world youth championships in Hungary came as no surprise.

Asked if she thought she would win, she said: "Honestly? Yes."

Adams became only the second New Zealander to win a world youth athletics title. The first was former Lynfield College student Beatrice Faumuina, who won gold in the discus at the world championships in Athens in 1997.

Adams will compete at the world youth athletics championships in Jamaica next year, and then almost certainly the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

CRICKET

King's College secured the Auckland premier boys two-day title for the fifth consecutive year.

But their victory over Rangitoto College meant relegation to the 1B grade for the North Shore school after just two years in the premier competition.

King's College cricketers achieved a rare double when the girls first XI side also won their competition.

Rangitoto's place in the 1A grade will be taken by 1B champions Macleans College.

Sacred Heart and Takapuna Grammar will play early next year to determine the final spots in the top two grades.

Dilworth School face a nervous wait to see if they will stay in the 1B grade. A promotion/relegation committee will decide their fate within a few weeks. Meanwhile, the Gillette Cup zone final between Kelston Boys High and Whangarei Boys High has been rescheduled for next Wednesday.

The winner will join St Paul's Collegiate (Hamilton), Wellington College and Otago Boys High at the finals in Palmerston North from December 2.

SOCCER

The national secondary schoolboys team will get little time for sightseeing during their 21-day, 10-game tour of Europe in April.

The itinerary includes three warm-up games in Belfast and internationals against the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland schools sides. There are also internationals in Wales and England, followed by two games in Barcelona."It is going to be packed with games, but that is what we are going for," coach Jacques Vercauteren said.