Speed king Cody Lawson shines at South Island Championships
Just being good enough to be at the South Islands is an achievement. Being in the placings puts you among the best of the best. A number of Southland student athletes were.
By Lance Smith
The South Island Secondary School Athletic champs takes some getting to. First you have to be among the top 3 for your event at your school champs. Then you have to finish in the first 3 at the Southland champs.
Just being good enough to be at the South Islands is an achievement. Being in the placings puts you among the best of the best.
A number of Southland student athletes were.
Saturday may have been April Fool’s day but the student athletes didn’t fool around, with nine new meet records established.
From a Southland perspective one of the best came from speed king Cody Lawson (SBHS) in the U15 200m.
Cody ran 22.87 to take the meet record set 11 years ago. This was his first time under 23 seconds. Second in the 100 and a close win in the 400 rounded out a brilliant weekend of sprinting, with the 400 taking careful scrutiny of the finish photo to separate first and second, 52.93 to 52.95 Probably the best event as far as performances go, was the 800.
With exception of Angus Sevier (Cashmere High) who demolished the meet record by 2 seconds (an enormous amount at this level), Southlanders dominated.
Ricky Gutsell coached Max McGregor (St Peters Gore) won the U14 boys in 2:05.98, missing the record by just a second, Abby O’Boyle (Verdon) easily won the U14 girls, Jakob Voorkamp (SBHS) was second in the U15 boys with Charlie Forde (CSC) 4 th , Jude Deaker (WHS) took second in the U16 boys with William Berkers (JHC) 3 rd , Sammy Fookes (WHS) won the U19 girls and James McLeay was second to Angus’s record breaker in the U19 boys.
The 1500’s were almost as impressive. McGregor again dominated his grade, Abby O’Boyle was second in hers, Millie McFadzien was second in her U15 grade, Jude Deaker second in the U16, Siena Mackley (WHS) won the U16 girls to go with a 3000m win, and James McLeay was second, again to Sevier in the U19.
Certainly, Southland athletes did well in the middle distances, also collecting a number of placings in the 3000m (McFadzien, Kimberley Iversen, Mackley) and steeplechase (McFadzien, Kennedy Taylor) to add to the 800 and 1500 successes.
Don’t think all Southland success came on the track. Southland fared well in the throws and jumps too.
Isla MacCullum and Carlie Scherp (both SGHS) continued their season-long throws rivalry with Carlie first in the U16 discus and Isla 2nd, Isla winning the shot with Carlie second and Isla 3 rd to Carlie’s second in the hammer.
Central Southland gained two firsts in the high jump with Kees Cumming taking the U15 boys with 1.70 and Connor Gilliland the senior boys, 1.80. Connor also took second in the long jump.
Other standouts (among many) included Jakob Voorkamp showing versatility by adding a sprint-hurdles win to his 800m second, William Robertson (JHC) second in the senior long and 3 rd in the triple jumps, Harry Fletcher (SBHS) a close second in the U15 shot and Junior Gordon (CSC) winning the U15 javelin.
Interestingly, Central Southland, a relatively small school, had 32 athletes entered, about as many as all the other Southland school combined. With numbers like that and the number of CSC successes, they must be doing something right at Winton.