Southland athletes stamp their mark on national stage
Sixteen-year-old Southland talent Abby O’Boyle claimed gold in the U18 2000m steeplechase with her run of 6min 47.30sec on Day 1 one of the meet on Thursday.
A Southland quinella in the under-18 women’s steeplechase event kick-started an ever-growing list of Southland highlights at the 2025 New Zealand Track and Field Championships in Dunedin.
Sixteen-year-old Southland talent Abby O’Boyle claimed gold in the U18 2000m steeplechase with her run of 6min 47.30sec on Day 1 one of the meet on Thursday.
O’Boyle’s blistering time demolished Christina Taylor’s Southland record from 2009 of 6:59.03.
Fellow Southlander Millie McFadzien made it a special maroon-coloured quinella picking up the silver medal in the steeplechase with her time of 7min 4.60sec.
O’Boyle’s victory in the steeplechase was the first of three Southland gold medals on Day 1 in Dunedin.
The other two Southland gold medals came in field events with Bohdi Trevor Smith claiming gold in the men’s U18 discus and Zoe Muir threw her way to gold in the U16 javelin
Other Southland medallists on Day 1 included Siena Mackley (bronze W20 5000m), Cayden Sanginiti (bronze M16 3000m), Lauren Muir (Bronze W16 high Jump), and Will Brown (Bronze M18 high jump).
The success stories for Southland continued on Day 2 with another swag of medals.
It was headlined by gold medals to Charlotte Hawkes and James Weber.
Hawkes’ gold medal came in the W16 steeplechase while Weber powered home to win the M18 3000m title.
Hawkes wasn’t done there, she also added a silver medal to her collection in the 800m, while O’Boyle backed up her gold medal on Day 1 with bronze medals in the W18 800m and 1500m events.
O’Boyle’s 800m time of 2:10.20 bettered every Southland record, including the senior women’s record set in 199 and her own 15, 16, 17 & 18 age-group records.
Her 1500 time of 4:32.47 shaved a fraction of the age 15, 16 and 17 age-group Southland records set back in 1985 by Tracy Kennedy.
Other Day 2 Southland medallists were Hunter Flowers (bronze M16 800m), and Max McGregor (Bronze M18 800m).
It was Ollie Davis who delivered the Southland highlight on Day 3 on Saturday in Dunedin claiming gold in the M20 long jump event with a jump of 6.98m.
Another Saturday success story for Southland was Hector O’Rourke’s silver medal in the M20 discus event and Riley Wilson’s silver in the M18 triple jump.
O’Boyle continued her medal haul on Saturday, adding a bronze medal in the W18 1500m, while Bohdi Trevor-Smith added a bronze in the M18 shot put.
Ava Wiegersma was another Southland medallist on Saturday picking bronze in the W18 high jump.
The New Zealand Track & Field Championships will continue on Sunday with plenty of Southland interest in how James McLeay performs in the 1500m.
Great results... well done. I remember Tracey Kennedy as a wonderful young runner, easily the best in her age group at the time so breaking her records is outstanding :)
Umm, Zoe Muir won HER gold not ‘his’