Athletics: Whanganui to send largest-ever team to North Island Secondary Schools Championships

Oliver Jones, who has taken 20s off his 1500m and 11s off his 800m times in the past eight weeks, will compete in the senior 1500m.

The curtain comes down on the domestic track and field season in New Zealand with the North Island Secondary Schools Championships in Palmerston North and the corresponding South Island Secondary Schools Championships in Timaru.

The championships give athletes the opportunity to represent Whanganui as a team selected from the Whanganui Secondary Schools Championships held in mid-March. The team of 64 athletes is our largest - and significant coming from the second smallest of the 12 affiliated regions.

The close venue enables many of our athletes to gain valuable experience of higher-level competition. Many, even our local winners, will find the step up daunting and some who fell below the guideline standard have chosen not to compete.

Many athletes from Whanganui who had less than auspicious athletic starts at previous North Islands went on to represent New Zealand. They include, from the 1970s, Marguerite Couchman (Girls’ College) and from the 1980s Martin Holmes (High School), both of whom were at the very tail of the field on debut and went on to win North Island titles and later wear the silver fern. More recently, New Zealand Schools international Daniel Sinclair, who next week crosses the Tasman to run in the Australian Championships, was only 11th in the junior 3000m back in 2019. Similarly, Jonathan Maples, now four years after leaving Whanganui High School, has just been selected for his first New Zealand team to the Oceania Area Championships in Fiji, having only won relay medals while at school. The opportunities are there for the team of 2024 to start their athletic journey.

Many have been regulars at Club Night and are making excellent progress, including the promising Whanganui High School intermediate girl jumpers Annabelle Brown and Lulu Dufty (sixth in the New Zealand under-16 triple jump) and Damian Hodgson (sprints). James McGregor and Isla Jones (High School) were in action for the club at the Colgate Games in January, with the latter winning medals in high jump and hurdles. Jones, who has been rowing this term, can use the North Island champs to re-establish her athletics career, while McGregor won bronze in his New Zealand debut at under-16 level over 300m hurdles.

Regions are limited to three athletes in an event and a fourth is only allowed with dispensation. Such dispensation was given in the intermediate girls 300m hurdles where Whanganui will be represented by Juliet McKinlay (Collegiate) who was second at the New Zealand under-18s and also a winner in the under-18 long jump; Grace Fannin (Girls’ College) second in the under-16s; Kaylee Bisschoff (High School) who was fourth in the under-16s and earlier won the 80m hurdles; and Isla Jones who was seventh at New Zealand Secondary Schools.

Hannah Byam (Collegiate), who took silver in the New Zealand under-16 steeples, will run over steeples at under-16 but will run seniors over 300m hurdles as Whanganui already has four intermediate athletes. McKinlay, who has been named in the New Zealand under-18 team to the Oceania Championships in June, will move up a grade to run in the senior girls 100m hurdles. Greta Darke (Collegiate), who won her first individual medal with a bronze in the under-16 steeplechase last month, runs in the senior girls steeplechase.

New Zealand Schools junior bronze medal long jumper Auguz Thongskul (High School) jumps in the intermediate long and triple jumps, and his teammate Reiley Thomas shows promise in the juniors and will also run in the first North Island 200m hurdles. Rosa Meyer (Collegiate) took bronze in the 3000m last year and is coming into good form as is teammate Oliver Jones who has run a series of personal bests culminating in slicing a further three seconds off his 800m in Palmerston North on Good Friday. Jones starts in the senior 1500m.

It was good to see Nga Tawa back competing at Whanganui Secondary Schools and the school will have a presence in the Whanganui team at the weekend. Evie Robin, sprint double winner in the juniors, and intermediate thrower Luella Lilly, who dominated her grade in throwing events, stand out.

Whanganui City College had a similar junior sprint double winner with Kopere Maihi-Walker who shows genuine promise on debut. Rangitīkei College standouts include junior girls champion Nea Files, high jumper Angus Ratana Raiti and Maryanne Pio who returns in the intermediate girls discus.

Cullinane is represented by jumpers Charlie McBride in the junior boys and double senior jump winner Tahana Wilson, sprinter Filipe Bayly, 3000m runner Zoe Anderson and thrower Mia McDonnell (junior shot). It is also pleasing to see Taihape Area School being represented in by senior discus winner Anahera Bennett and junior javelin winner Cruz Wironi.