Wednesday, 03 March 2010
CONDITIONS were tough for the Whakatane High School athletics day last week.
The event took place at the Whakatane athletic track on Wednesday and intermittent showers made running and jumping events difficult on the wet grass.
The high jump action was popular with the crowd and William Gandy jumped well to win the junior boys. Jayden Haddock was the intermediate boys winner and Matt Reeves was crowned the senior boys champion while Haddock was intermediate champion. All three boys jumped a height of 1.6m.
The premiere event of the day, the 100m sprints, had Samantha Boyle win the junior girls section and she also took the 200m with a fast time of 29 seconds. Boyle won the high jump, long jump and placed third in the triple jump to be overall junior girls champion.
Also in the 100m, Maui Taitapanui recorded 12.67 with Nikora Rangi and Jason Kawau second and third respectively.
Gandy was another close finisher in the race and he took out the junior boys championship with a second in the 200m, first in the high jump and shot put and second in the long jump.
The intermediate girls 100m was hotly contested and Shelley Moka sneaked ahead of Stacey Waaka followed closely by Chantae Bridges.
Waaka was the champion in this grade and also recorded wins in the shot put, discus, long jump and 200m and placings in the 800m, high jump and triple jump.
Haddock finished second in the 100m behind Lance Shelford. Jack Alison placed third. Haddock recorded wins in the high jump, triple jump and placed in the 400m, javelin, long jump, shot put and discus.
Year-13 student Hayley Jones won the senior girls championship with a mixture of events in both track and field and she dominated the long distance events. The 100m and 200m were won by Alex Wood.
The 100m senior boys event was hard fought and it was Taipu Nepata who stole the win from Kris Cotter in 12 seconds and Keegan Boyle was third.
Quinn Wilson took the senior boys title as overall champion with wins in the javelin, long jump and discus and a second place in the triple jump.
Head of physical education Peter Barsdell was impressed with the performances on the day, especially considering the tricky track conditions.
The school has a team of 30 athletes competing at the Bay of Plenty Championships in Tauranga today.