Locals impress in Dunedin

OFF TO OZ:Wanganui distance runner Christian Conder (blue) will wear the silver fern at the Australian Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships in Melbourne in August. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

THE form and potential of two gifted Wanganui athletes has gained them selection to the New Zealand secondary schools team to compete at the Australian Cross Country Championships in Melbourne in August.

Wanganui Collegiate School distance runners Jane Lennox and Christian Conder impressed selectors at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships in Dunedin at the weekend.

They finished seventh in their respective senior events. The national team will take up to 12 to Australia for the August 29 competition.

Conder, a 17-year-old Year 13 student, was in a strong field and held with the leaders throughout the first of three laps. Conder won silver in the 1500m at the New Zealand Championships last year.

Lennox, a 15-year-old Year 11 student stepped up to senior division last weekend to bolster Collegiate numbers in the team events.

Lennox was rewarded for stepping up with a heady performance. She relished the undulating course and the extra kilometre of the girl's race was in her favour too as she improved through the second lap. Lennox's performance helped her Collegiate team repeat the silver medal performance in the three to score teams event.

Coach Alec McNab said they were talented athletes destined for great things and even predicted Lennox may yet make the New Zealand team to compete at the World Secondary Schools Championships in Hungary next year.

"The top six in the country are usually selected and Jane was seventh this year. Of course the Year 13 girls this season will have left school by next year, so she has a really good chance of gaining selection to the worlds," McNab said yesterday.