A wet and wild first two days of the New Zealand Secondary Schools (NZSS) Athletics Competition in Inglewood did not allow the athletes to perform at their highest standard. The third and final day dawned clearer and allowed the athletes to perform at their best. There were some outstanding results from the event with some students also setting personal bests whilst competing against the best in the country:
Suzie Kennelly (Year 12, Middlemore) won the Senior Girls Discus with a throw of 43.54m and placed second in the Shot Put with 14.44m. Both were new School Open records.
Leala Willman (Year 12, Middlemore) came third in the Senior Girls Javelin.
Zara Ford (Year 11, Taylor) made the semifinals in the Junior Girls 800m and came in 7th in the 4000m Road Race.
Sophie Sones (Year 12, Marion Bruce) made the semifinals of the Senior Girls 100m and came 12th in the very competitive Long Jump.
James Ford (Year 12, Parnell) was a young man on a mission wanting to be the first athlete to complete the Senior Boys 400m/800m double at the NZSS champs. He managed to achieve this by winning both the 400m in 49.11sec (a new School record) and the 800m in 1:52.15. A phenomenal effort that involved qualifying through heats, semifinals, and then racing finals for both events. He also ran the quickest 400m of the meet when he anchored the 4x400m relay team.
Jack Erikson (Year 11, Peart) finished second in the Junior Boys 800m but was elevated to 1stwhen the winner was disqualified, in a time of 1:59.17.
Kahurangi Cotterill (Year 11, School) came second behind James in the Senior Boys 400m, setting a PB time of 50.30sec.
Joseph Dunn (Year 12, Averill) came second in the Senior Boys 110m Hurdles. A very close race where the top four finishers were separated by only 0.08sec. Joseph’s time of 14.68sec set a new School record.
Samuel Rickerby (Year 9, Peart) finished secondin the Year 9 3000m Road Race.
Toby Tasker (Year 13, Peart) finished third in the Senior Boys 2000m Steeplechase. His time of 6:02.55 smashed the previous School record by over 10 seconds.
Quinn Moss (Year 10, Parnell) ran well in an extremely fast Junior Boys 1500m to finish 5th in a time of 4:14.29 which set a new School record.
Redd Scampion (Year 10, Major) competed well in his first Nationals finishing 8th in the Junior Boys 3000m (setting a PB) and then finished 5th in the Junior Boys 4000m Road Race.
Quinn Winwood (Year 9, Parnell) made the semifinals of the Junior Boys 800m competing in his first Nationals as well.
The Senior Boys 4x400m team of Kahurangi, Jack, Toby, and James finished third with James running a hand timed 47sec last 400m. Their time of 3:23.99 set a new School record.
At the conclusion of the events a NZSSAA paper team was selected with these King’s students making the chosen squad: James Ford, Joseph Dunn, Kahurangi Cotterill, and Suzie Kennelly.
A National Championships squad was selected that will compete in the Classics events over the coming summer. Suzie, Leala, James, Joseph, and Kahurangi were the King’s athletes chosen.
Finally, James Ford was chosen as one of five Athletes of the Championships after his outstanding weekend. A huge congratulations to all our competing athletes.
