Southland secondary schools athletics preview

The Southland Secondary School athletic champs are usually in March, at the end of the track and field season. Covid however altered that.

The 2022 champs instead are this weekend at Surrey Park leading to and the national secondary school championship early December at Inglewood. The change from March to this month for the Southland meeting gives athletes the chance to test their form prior to the big one, the national event.

So, Surrey Park is both a measure of regional supremacy and a stepping-stone to the tougher national champs for many athletes.

Some names to watch out for at Surrey Park and Inglewood:

Distance:

James McLeay (SBHS). By far the best 3000m and 1500m times by any Southlander this year. Should be untroubled winning these events at the local championship. As a first-year senior for the national champs he will be against runners up to 3 years older but is likely a finalist in both events. His U20 silver medal at the recent NZ Mountain Running champs (at 16) is evidence of current good form.

Siena Mackley (WHS) went one better than James at the Mountain Champs, winning the U20 gold (at 14), so obviously has the pedigree to feature in both the 1500 and 3000 and will be prominent at Inglewood where she will still be a junior. Shown good form on the track so far this season.

Kennedy Taylor. Likely senior steeple and 3000m winner at Surrey Park but at Inglewood will be facing much sterner competition, particularly from the Otago pair of Catherine Lund and Zara Geddes.

Caption: Kennedy Taylor competing in steeplechase. Photo: Supplied

Mcleay, Mackley and Taylor all won their grades at the Southland Schools crosscountry (with McLeay and Taylor setting course records) and were members of the medal winning relay teams at the NZ crosscountry champs. Will winter form translate into summer successes? Surrey Park and the championships will provide the answer.

Jude Deaker (WHS), Kimberley Iversen (JHC), Lucas Huia (JHC), Millie MacFazdien (StP) and Caleb Diprose (Aparima) should also be prominent in their grades. MacFazdien in particular, is one to watch, the 14-year- old having burst onto the athletic scene with some brilliant recent crosscountry and track results

Jumps.

Caption: junior distance prospect Siena Mackley. Photo: Supplied

With Quinn Hartley, Southland’s best horizontal and high jumper by far having left school, William Robertson (JHC) is the dominant school age horizontal jumper, although Ollie Davis (CSC) is close behind.

They won’t go head-to-head at either local or national champs being in different grades. Davis is also entered in the high jump along with team and training mate Connor Gilliland with both capable of placing highly in the junior competition at Inglewood. However, Gilliland has had his training restricted by a sprained ankle which may or may not reduce his chances.

Sprints

Robertson has triumphed at all local T&F meets and should again at the secondary school champs, but at national level there are no guarantees. While Robertson should dominate the senior grades at Surrey Park, expect Cody Lawson (SBHS) to feature in the younger grades.

Throws

Form throwers so far this season have been the Scherp sisters, Ashlynn and Carlie, and Isla MacCallum (all SGHS) with Harry Fletcher and Rico Fisher impressing among the boys. Isla and Carlie are ranked nationally in the U18 shot put and Ashlyn in the U20 discus and Rico in the top 6 nationally U18 shot and discus.

Athletics in Southland is in a re-building phase. The recent past saw a great many Southland school athletes prominent at national level (Quinn Hartley, Trent Hogg, Jordan Rackham, Atipa Mabonga, Greer Alsop, Todd Swanson, Rebecca Gibson, Matthew Robinson, Glen Ballam, Andrew Allan to name a few). But the current junior grades and first year seniors are stacked with talent. These Southland and national school championship look to the future. And the future looks good.

Southland Secondary Schools T & F Champs, Friday evening (11th) for steeples, hammer and hurdles, Sat (12th ) all other events, Surrey Park. New Zealand Secondary Schools Inglewood, Dec 9-11.