Sophie is a new student to the College this year but entered our ranks having already done superbly in her field.
Most notably, at the Secondary Schools' Nationals last year, she broke a 46 year old record to win the Junior Girls' 100m in 11.86s.
After a remarkable performance at our school Athletics Day, Sophie went on to represent the school at the regional competition where she emerged 1st in the Intermediate Girls' 100m.
At the Auckland Championships, Sophie managed to come 2nd in the U18 100m with a time of 11.95s and was a member in the winning U18 4x100m squad despite being slightly injured.
James has also moved from success to success with each event.
In early December of 2019, he came 1st in the New Zealand Secondary Schools senior 800m at the age of 16. This is an especially impressive feat given that he was pitted against a field of racers mainly aged 17-18 years.
He then finished a strong 2nd at the Night of Fives 800m race with a new personal best of 1.52 followed by a 3rd placing at the Potts Classic International in Hastings.
James then proceeded to break a 21 year old New Zealand U17 800m record at the Porritt Classic in Hamilton with an astounding time of 1.51.19.
He then competed at the Capital Classic in Wellington, racing against the likes of two-time Olympic medalist, Nick Willis, and other athletes, all considerably older than him.
More recently, he came 3rd in the U18 1500m and 1st in the U18 800m at the New Zealand Champs over the weekend, leading start to finish by over 20 metres. He was also a member of the winning 4x400m U18 relay team from Auckland.
Coach, Perry Cunningham remarked that James is currently several seceonds ahead of the great Sir John Walker age for age and is "extremely committed and a delight to coach".
Sophie and James will be joining James Ford (Year 10, Parnell) and New Zealand Secondary Schools team captain, Zane Powell (Year 12, Peart), as they head up to Sydney next Thursday to compete in the Aussie Champs.
The College wishes these star athletes the best of luck in this exciting time and look forward to hearing about more of their successes in the near future!
