Junior Boys
The junior grade was a very tight battle for the championship title with 10 separate students winning individual events. Notable mentions include Jack Erikson (Year 9, Peart) who won three events (800m, 1500m, 3000m) as well as Sacha Föenander (Year 9, School) (80m Hurdles, Long Jump) and Kian Newman (Year 9, Major) (100m, 200m) who both won two events each.
However, the points tally revealed that the Junior champion athlete and 2020 recipient of the Hanna Louisson Cup for Junior boys’ Champion was in fact Kahu Cotterill (Year 9, School)! Kahu’s victory was founded on consistency having won the 400m event but coming a close 2nd place in the remainder of his events, the 80m Hurdles, 200m and 800m.
Intermediate Boys
The Intermediate grade also saw 10 students winning individual events with Jack Sadler (Year 11, Selwyn) breaking the 100m record with a stunning time of 11.38s and James Ford (Year 10, Parnell) also setting a new record for the school with his 400m time of 51.74s.
In a very similar fashion to the Juniors however, the Intermediate championship ultimately boiled down to a battle of consistency from which Francis Manuleleua (Year 11, Peart) ultimately emerged victorious. Francis came 1st in the Long Jump, 2nd in the 100m and Triple Jump events and 3rd in the 100m Hurdles to secure the Wigmore Cup for 2020 Intermediate boys’ Champion.
Senior Girls
For the girls, new student Siobhan Balle (Year 12, Marion Bruce) established herself as the name to watch out for in the coming years by breaking the girls’ 1000m steeplechase record with an impressive time of 3min 18.81s.
While there were handful of exceptional performances, the title of girls’ champion was predominantly a battle between Siobhan, Maddison Prince (Year 11, Marion Bruce) and 2019 champion Ruby Gibson (Year 13, Taylor) who were clearly a notch above the rest.
Maddison was 1st in the 100m Hurdles and Discus events while Ruby was the winner of the 200m and 400m races. However, Siobhan’s performance was simply too strong, surpassing the other athletes with four 1st placings (800m, 1500m, 1000m steeplechase, High Jump) to receive the Julie Ah Chee Cup for 2020 Senior Girls’ Champion.
Senior Boys
The senior boys' grade was shaken up this year by the entry of Zane Powell (Year 12, Peart) who, on top of coming first in the 1500m race, broke two records with a 3000m time of 8min 43.53s and a 2000m steeplechase time of 6min 17.97s. This placed him in a very strong spot for the title of senior boys’ athletics champion.
However, Zane faced fierce competition from Max Webb (Year 13, St Johns) and James Robertson (Year 13, Greenbank) who had both performed strongly in their respective events. While Max did not come first in any of his events, his four 2nd placings (200m, 400m, Long Jump, 300m Hurdles) allowed him to accumulate just enough points to overtake Zane in the standings.
Despite scoring very highly, this was not enough for Max to surpass James who achieved four 1st placings (200m, 400m, Triple Jump, 300m Hurdles) to come out on top and receive the J.E. Fagan Memorial Cup for Senior boys’ Champion.
House Rankings
When it came to the overall house rankings, there was a clear difference in performance between the houses. Each of the different grades were won by a different house with Junior Boys being won by Major, Intermediate Boys won by Peart, Senior Girls won by St Johns, Senior Boys won by Greenbank and Open grade won by Averill. This led to a tight battle at the top end where Greenbank ultimately finished in first place followed by Major and Peart in second and third respectively.
Special thanks go to Kerry Baker (Head of Sport) and the rest of the team responsible for making Athletics Day a tremendous success once again as well as the staff helpers who ensured the events were run smoothly throughout the day. Kudos to all the students that participated, particularly to those who performed exceptionally well.
