New champions found at school cross country championships
Big day at picturesque Ivon Wilson Park as Southland's young running talent shines, as does the sun.
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By Lance Smith
Te Anau’s picturesque Ivon Wilson Park was bathed in sunshine and autumn colours for the Southland Secondary School Cross Country Championships on Wednesday.
And this year every grade crowned a new regional champion.
It was a new experience for the Year 9 runners as none were at secondary school last year while last year’s top U16s have graduated to the senior ranks and for various reasons the best seniors were not there.
James McLeay (last year’s winner and record holder) and senior girl’s runner up Siena Mackley were in Kenya representing New Zealand at the world secondary school champs, while Kennedy Taylor, winner of the senior girls race and record holder from a year ago has left school.
That left it wide open in every grade. Who was ready to step up to claim the titles?
That question made most grades more competitive than usual.
Based on summer track performances Zoe Muir (Menzies) was going to be hard to beat in the Year 9 girls 3000m, but it wasn’t until the latter stages that she got away from runner up Ianthe McMullan (Fiordland) to grab a 13 second win.
Same scenario for the Year 9 boys. Hunter Flowers (SBHS) had a great track season and continued his winning form at Ivon Wilson Park. However, his win was a bit more emphatic, running aggressively from the start to put half a minute on runner up Flynn Weber (Wakatipu High School) who outsprinted Blaze Ridder (JHC) to nab the silver medal by 1 second.
Abby O’Boyle, Max McGregor and Millie McFadzien have each won national steeplechase titles so it’s no great surprise to see them dominate at Te Anau.
At the recent New Zealand Track & Field Championships O’Boyle won the U16 800 and 2km steeplechase within 45 minutes of each, so it’s apparent she has both speed and endurance. She showed both around the 3km course, defying anyone to go with her.
No one could as the gap back to the chasing pack increased with every step.
The Verdon 15-year-old finished in 11:47 over a minute ahead of Libby Fox (Fiordland) with Leah Langford another five seconds further back.
The U16 boys’ race was even more decisive. Max McGregor is the current national schools junior steeplechase champion, a national cross-country medallist and sub 2 min 800 runner, so has the right credentials for the ups and downs of the tricky 4km course.
Showing mercy to the rest of the field was not in his race plan. The Maruawai College 15-year-old hit the front in the first few metres then proceeded to power away from the chasers to win by an impressive 2m 35s and lower the course record from last year by 2:30.
While well behind McGregor, Hudson Roy (Menzies) and Lewis Blay (JHC) in second and third were comfortably ahead of the chasing pack.
McGregor missed the championship through illness last year, but more than made up for it this time around.
The absence of Siena Mackley and Kennedy Taylor in the senior girls grade gave Millie McFadzien an opening, and she made the most of it.
The St Peters Gore athlete was obviously in good form, having broken her school cross-country record the previous week, and showed the same class against the Southland-wide field.
Kimberley Iversen (JHC) gave chase but the aggressive first 2000m of the 4km race took its toll on Iversen who ended up 18 seconds in arrears at the finish.
Jorgia Tucker (SGHS) took the bronze medal 90 seconds further back.
The senior boys was the closest and most competitive race of the day and a triumph for Wakatipu High.
Jude Deaker and James Weber took full advantage of James McLeay’s absence to almost (but not quite) share the championship. Both were given the same time but Deaker took line honours by inches.
McLeay is one of the country’s best young runners, selected to compete in world championships in Kenya (cross-country) and Peru (1500m track) this year. But he wasn’t at Te Anau, Deaker was. So Jude is the Southland Champion and James Webber the runner up, with both among the country’s most promising up-and-coming athletes.
Ollie McKenzie in third rounded out the Wakatipu High School trifecta.