Southland champs prepare athletes for nationals

Winning a Southland title is one thing but many at the Southland athletics championships last weekend were treating it as a stepping-stone to bigger things – the national championships in Wellington in three weeks’ time.

Those looking to Wellington had one of two outcomes: a satisfying result that boosted confidence or a disappointing performance that caused reflection and a determination to correct whatever went wrong.

Let’s start with the confidence builders, the local champs having more of these than disappointments.

Perhaps the best in this category was Quinn Hartley’s high jump. The Invercargill club athlete’s 2m clearance after an injury-restricted build up put him top of the national U20 rankings.

With a little bit more practise he will certainly go higher. His best of 2.08 is the Southland record, and one shouldn’t bet against that being given a nudge in Wellington.

Not a Southland Championship performance, but one way up there in the confidence stakes was James McLeay’s (St Pauls) 1500m at the Porritt Classic in Hamilton. His 3.57.90 run the same day as Quinn’s high jump, broke the Southland M18 record and put him top of the national M18 rankings.

McLeay’s absence saw the 1500m championship title go to 16-year-old Jude Deaker, who dominated the field in a most intelligent run, making a Queenstown double with 15-year-old Siena Mackey who dealt to the women’s field in the same manner.

Cody Lawson (Invercargill) did his confidence no harm with a good win in the 400m. Still only 14, the talented sprinter is a likely finalist and good chance for an U16 medal, maybe two. (His 200m times are up there too.)

Best throws performances came in the hammer with Carlie Scherp (Invercargill) putting herself in the top 4 W18 nationally and Isla MacCallum Riverton), the top 10. Scherp’s throw broke the G15 Southland record by 2m. The pair dominated the shot and discus as well, MacCallum having the best shot-put distance of all grades and Scherp the best discus.

While Trent Hogg (St Pauls) won Southland titles in the shot, discus and hammer in reasonable distances, they were not quite up to his usual standard. But don’t bet against him. Hogg has the experience and talent to rectify the minor technical errors that could be the difference between a medal and an also ran. Reflection and correction are his focus from now to the nationals.

Ollie Davis put in a string of performances that would have made him a medal chance in Wellington – if he was there. But he won’t be, a prior sporting commitment has him elsewhere. The young Winton athlete (15) is nationally ranked in the U18 high, long and triple jumps and had the best overall mark in the long and triple and second best (to Hartley) in the high jump.

Along with Winton team-mate Connor Gilliland, who ran an excellent 110m hurdles and also won’t be at Wellington, his time will come.