Top atheletes in each grade emerge from Whanganui schools championships

Travis Bayler in action in Dunedin in December where he won the NZ Schools 400 metre title.

The still mild conditions on Tuesday at club night which featured the final Whanganui Secondary Schools titles was in sharp contrast to the damp and blustery conditions last Wednesday when the bulk of the events were contested.

Although Whanganui Collegiate won 48 titles of the 92 events contested the strong showing from a resurgent Whanganui High School team resulted in strong competition and many top performances. Ruapehu College who had travelled furthest to compete impressed in throws and jumps winning 8 titles and many other podium places.

In reviewing the championships, I will attempt to select a personal view of the top athlete in each grade. It is worth noting that multi titles may make an outstanding individual performance difficult to achieve.

Travis Bayler (Whanganui High School) is my pick for the senior boy athlete of the meet. He won the 100 metre, 200 metre sprint double. In both he reversed some recent decisions over team mate Connor Munro (Munro won the 300 metre hurdles on Tuesday with a personal best 39.62). Bayler and Munro were both in the winning 4 x 100 metre team.

Bayler saved his best performance for the 800 metres when he ran under 2 minutes for the first time. Four days earlier he had been close when he won a place in the NZ under 20 final, but Wednesday's win in 1:59.41 he outsprinted New Zealand Schools silver medal winner Joseph Sinclair (Collegiate). Bayler, who won the NZ Schools 400 metres in December, is clearly making a successful step up to the two-lap event.

Liam Back's (Collegiate) commanding win by over 24 seconds in the 3000m in a national class 8:49.49 and team mate's Andres Hernandez debut over 2000m Steeplechase (6:08.70) were standout individual performances.

In Senior Girls I have named two athletes for the grade. Rebecca Baker (High School) who won the 3000m and 1500m and added a debut win in Steeples and in the process finished ahead of New Zealand under 18 silver medal winner Ashleigh Alabaster.

Distance combinations are of course much harder to achieve. Baker produced good times for her double on Wednesday and a national class performance on Tuesday over the barriers (7:22.68). Sophie Redmayne (Collegiate) stepped up well to take the place of the injured Emma Osborne over 800 metres and the unwell Tayla Brunger over 200 metres.

Redmayne added a third title on the day in 100 metre hurdles and won the 300 metre hurdles on Tuesday with an impressive personal best 46.46 seconds.

There is no doubt about the leading Intermediate Boy performer. German exchange student Karl Loebe (High School) demonstrated both his prowess and versatility. He won the Discus, Javelin, 100m Hurdles and the 800 metres. He clearly has Decathlon potential.

He saved his best for the 800 metres when he stopped the clock at 1:59.15 edging close to the qualifying time he needs for the German Championships. North Island provides a great opportunity for him to reach the goal.

In the Intermediate Girls Maggie Jones (High School), Ana Brabyn (Collegiate) and Genna Maples (Collegiate) won two titles with Maples and Jones each taking a second place.

Maples has the edge in terms of performance also running in the winning 4 x 100 team. In the 100 metres she lost to national champion Sophie Williams (Collegiate) who ran a national class 12.33 seconds with Maples at 12.46.

Junior grades always see the emergence of new faces. Taniora Taitumu (Ruapehu College) took a double in Javelin and Discus. Jett Rumble (Collegiate) won the 100/200m sprint double but the nod goes to Daniel Sinclair (Collegiate) who won the 800 metres, 3000 metres and the 1500 metres, the last in a smart 4:45.57.

The Junior girls saw the emergence of Georiana Absolom (Collegiate) who won four titles (Long and Triple Jump, 300 metres and 70 metre Hurdles). Absolom has considerable potential and demonstrated ability in two new events Hurdles and Triple Jump. Two of her Collegiate team mates won doubles - Louise Brabyn (800m and 1500m) and Jessica Harding (100m and 200 metres).

A large Whanganui Schools team will travel to Tauranga on the first weekend in April to compete in the season's finale at the North Island Schools Championships. Although the bulk of the team comes from Whanganui High School and Whanganui Collegiate there is an encouraging group from other schools.

Over the next few days four leading Whanganui athletes have been invited to major meets throughout the North Island. Sophie Williams will run over 100 metres at the Sir Graeme Douglas International Track Challenge in Auckland today. Liam Back and Andres Hernandez run in the prestigious Sir John Walker Junior Mile on Saturday in Auckland, while Genna Maples competes in Long Jump in the Jumps in Paradise in Palmerston North at the weekend.