Southlanders looking ahead to secondary schools athletic championships
It’s big, it’s competitive, it’s exciting.
The NZSS athletic champs are big and buzz with excitement, often daunting first timers used to the comparatively small fields at Surrey Park.
Southland has a proud record at the championships and this year at Tauranga should be no exception.
We look at four Southland medal contenders who certainly will not be daunted by the occasion.
Quinn Hartley. Last year the JHC 16-year-old was the star of the championship, winning the junior triple jump, long jump, and high jump, with the long jump a meet record. This year he is in the senior ranks and won’t have it so easy. However, performances over the season have him at or near the top in the senior competition. As he said at the time, “The stiffer competition will only make me go better”. Quinn is the youngest New Zealander to exceed 7m in the long jump and 2m in the high and is certainly looking beyond the championships. “In the future I would like to go as far as I can with athletics and compete at big events like the Olympics and World Champs.” he said earlier.
Trent Hogg. Trent has come into his own recently, climbing up the rankings to become one of the country’s most promising young throwers. Last year the SBHS 17-year-old finished 10th in the senior shot and a little lower in the discus. However he has added over 3 metres since his 13.30 shot a year ago and recently broke the Southland M16 and M/17 shot record with 16.51, This places him second on the national M18 ranking list, just a few centimetres behind first. The discus has him third on the rankings so that too, is a medal prospect.
Kennedy Taylor. Last year the 15-year-old SGHS student won gold in the junior 3000m and was robbed of a certain medal when the road race was cancelled because of the horrendous weather. This year Kennedy is still a junior and is entered in the 3000m, 2000m steeplechase and 4k road race. Currently she is the highest ranked 15-year-old (and therefore eligible for juniors at the champs) in the 3000m and steeplechase. However, she will be hard pressed in the 300m and road race by Bella Earl (Whangarei) and Zara Geddes (St Hilda’s Dunedin), both with similar times to Kennedy. But as she once said in a previous interview, “I think of all of my competitors as hard competition so I am just going to run as hard as I can and try and stick with the front group. I don't try to focus on others, but my own race.” Wise words.
James McLeay. This will be James’s first secondary school championship, although he is now used to the demands of championship running. He finished third M16 at the recent national Crosscountry Challenge (was going to be the Crosscountry Champs but COVID-19 restrictions prohibited Aucklanders taking part, so it became the challenge) and was third in the recent national road champs. The 14-year-old SBHS student’s main event is the Year 9 Road Race. Runners ahead of him at the cross-country and road championships were at least a year older and not eligible for the Year 9 race. He is also entered in the junior steeplechase, 1500m and 3000m but time clashes mean at least one will have to be scratched.
