Southland's remarkable double-double at South Island champs
Max McGregor's winning margin in both his races was almost eight seconds, a ridiculous amount in a championship event.
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The South Island Secondary School Track and Field Championships gave Southland a middle-distance double-double with wins in both boys and girls U15 800m and 1500m races, and a couple of records as well.
Max McGregor (Maruawai College, formerly Gore High) won the 800 and 1500 with the 800 a record, while Abby O’Boyle (Verdon) took the U15 girls 800 and 1500, with the 1500 a record.
They didn’t just win, they dominated.
Max’s winning margin in both his races was almost 8 seconds, a ridiculous amount in a championship event. And Abby had 7 seconds or half the finishing straight, back to the next finisher in her 800.
Impressive, yes, but not nearly as impressive as the record-breaking. The 800 record was set back in 1988 by Eddie Crowe, who went on the represent New Zealand at two world junior championships. Eddie still holds a swag of Southland 800 and 1500m records, including the senior 1500, and Abby’s 1500 improved on a mark set 6 years ago.
While Max and Abby flew the Southland flag the highest they weren’t the only Southland middle distance successes. Max Wiegersma (SBHS) won the U14 800, James Weber (Wakatipu High) the U16 1500 (he also won the 3000m) and James McLeay (SBHS) the senior 1500 with a tactical cat and mouse first 1100m and a frantic 53 second last lap.
Another standout Southland performance was James Hargest College’s Will Brown in the U15 boys’ high jump.
Brown recently won the national title and backed that up with an impressive display in Timaru producing a personal best by 8cm to add the South Island title to his list.
Other South Island titles, from Southlanders, went to Connor Gilliland (U19 triple jump & long-jump), Millie McFadzien (U16 3000m, Open 2000m steeple), Bea Christie (U16 80m hurdles), Teleri McKenzie (U15 shot put), Lauren Muir (U14 HJ), Carlie Scherp (U19 discus).
Wow, incredible performance in taking Eddie Crowe's record. Eddie was one of the best young 800m exponents I have ever watched . Max sounds like he is a different type of 800m runner to Eddie however; Eddie would often run at the back and off the pace and then come with a withering run in the last half to win. We'll done Max, top effort.