Lance Smith’s take on Southland standouts at NZ Athletics Championships

Southland athletes impress at the 2023 New Zealand Athletics Championships in Wellington.

Thirteen-year-old 13-year-old Abby O’Boyle competing at the New Zealand Athletic Championships.

Long-serving athletics coach Lance Smith dishes up his personal take on the Southland team’s performance at the New Zealand Athletics Championships in Wellington.

In all, the Southland team did well, although there were to me, a few standouts that grabbed my attention.

First the standout performances.

My favourite was Queenstown’s Siena Mackley in the W18 3000.  The Neville Britton coached 15-year-old ran 10:06.29 to convincingly take the gold medal, break a W15,16, 17 and 18 Southland record that has stood since 2008 and whack a massive 17 seconds off her previous best which promoted her to second on the national W18 rankings. This was Siena’s second national gold medal, having won the W20 NZ Mountain Running champs last winter.  

Siena Mackley at the NZ Athletics Championships.

While not gaining a gold medal, James McLeay gained a lot of respect for his gutsy second in the M18 800m.   The 800 is not his best event but he has worked hard to improve his speed over the shorter (for him) distance.  It paid off.  Entering the final straight he was fourth.  A determined burst took him to third then he realised that with a bit more effort he could trade bronze for silver, which he did with a desperate burst, a contorted expression on his face and the absolute barest of margins. (The gap to third was .017 of a second, faster than you can blink.)

His 1:54.46 was a PB and put his third on the national rankings, just behind has good friend Angus Sevier of Canterbury, the runner who just beaten into third by James’s finish line burst.

James McLeay digs in at the finish of his 800m race.

Kennedy Taylor was the only entrant in the W20 steeplechase, so ran with the seniors.  Being first of one gave her a gold medal but it was her gutsy second overall in the combined race that most impressed.  The 11:22.51 time has her top of the national U20 rankings and second in the senior rankings.

A couple of performances that didn’t get medals were worthy of mention. First, Isla MacCullum in the W18 where she finished 4^th, just 60cm away from third.  This represented a 5m improvement in just one month.  Hayato Yoneto ran 21.77 to shave a fraction off the Southland senior 200 record (set in 1988) and also ran faster than the 100m record but a following win disallowed the time for record purposes.  

Southland’s Hayato Yoneto in action in Wellington.

While not a Southland performance, it was a privilege to see Zoe Hobbs run 10.89 in the SW final.  No woman has run under 11 seconds in New Zealand before.  None. Not even visiting Olympians or world champions.  

Now, the athletes that impressed me most.  While multi-medallists, they also had a single performance that defined their determination and fighting qualities.

Cody Lawson was Southland’s only triple medal winner. While his U16 100m and 200m thirds were noteworthy, it was the 400m that stood out.  Cody and Noa King (Auckland) were the two best for the age in the country. The race came down to these two with the Aucklander pipping the Southlander by the barest of margins.  Cody’s 51.47 bettered the Southland grade 14 best performance.

Quinn Hartley was predicted to win the M20 high jump, which he did.  However, it was the long jump that brought out his best. Quinn led after 4 rounds then Angus Lyver (Manawatu) edged ahead by 4cm then put in a monster 7.05 on his last jump.  Quinn responded with a big one of his own, but it was not quite big enough, 6.95.  Considering an injury plagued couple of years, this was a brilliant effort.

Quinn Hartley stands on top of the podium at the NZ Athletics Championships.

Southland’s other double medallist was 13-year-old Abby O’Boyle.  Her win in the steeplechase was outstanding with the bronze in the 800 even more so.  An ability to overcome the disappointment of a high jump that didn’t go her way and focus on the 800, then run a medal performance against girls a year older, demonstrates a mindset not often seen in someone so young.

And a convincing win in such a tough event as the steeplechase proves her talent.

The message from her coach was ‘medals were the icing on the cake, but let’s focus on the cake’.  Abby’s cake was well and truly iced.

Certainly, there were many highlights, but these were the ones that stood to me. And there were others including Jakob Voorkamp’s 100m hurdles bronze and gutsy 800 5^th, Charlie Forde’s steeple silver and 300m hurdle 4^th, Lucas Huia’s steeple silver and Sammy Fookes bronze in theW20 800m.

Southland had a very young team at Wellington, but the experience gained should put ‘icing on the cake’ for future championships.