Otago Boys’ Athletes Shine

By Michelle Budge | Posted: Tuesday March 24, 2020

A small but high performing team of Otago Boys’ students smashed records and scooped an impressive haul of top three placings at the Otago Secondary Schools’ Athletics Competition held at the Caledonian on March 15 and 16.

A number of records were broken by team members, several of whom competed in multiple events, with Otago Boys’ also putting in a strong show in the glamour events – the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

Stand out performances included:

For the U14s, Tyler Clarke set a new record in Under-14 Triple Jump of 11.46m (old record 10.82m set in 2011). Another Year 9 to watch out for is Manaia Lesa who set new records in the 100m of 11.99sec (old record 12.00 set in 2000) and in the Long Jump notching up 5.53m (old record 5.39m set in 2005). In the U15 competition, Jacob Waide shone in track and field setting a new record in Shot Put of 13.21m (old record 12.07m set in 2016). In the U16 category Cole Gibbons continued the strong form displayed at last year’s Nationals setting a new record of 3.30m in Pole Vault (bettered the standard set in 2019.) For the seniors, Cameron Moffitt set a new standard in U19 Pole Vault of 3.30m as well as a new record in 300m hurdles of 39.55sec (old record 40.14sec set in 2015).

In addition, the following students gained top three placings with several of these competitors achieving personal best performances:

U16 Pole Vault, Luke Moffitt 2nd

U16 Javelin, Jamin Millar, 2nd

U14 Shot Put, Tom Dunn, 3rd

U16 Shot Put, Jamin Millar, 1st

U19 Shot Put, Cameron Moffitt, 1st

U16 Hammer Throw, Jamin Millar, 2nd

U14 Discus, Archie Chittock, 2nd. Tom Dunn, 3rd

U16 Discus, Jamin Millar, 2nd

U14 Triple Jump, Jensen Hemmingsen, 3rd

U15 Triple Jump, Luke Moffitt 1st. Ronan Melville, 2nd

U14 Long Jump, Tyler Clarke, 2nd

U15 Long Jump, Luke Moffitt 2nd. Ronan Melville 3rd.

U16 Long Jump Cole Gibbons, 1st

U19 Long Jump, Liam Higgins, 3rd

U14 High Jump, Tyler Clarke, 1st. Nilla Roberston, 2nd

U15 High Jump, Joe Parkinson, 3rd

U19 High Jump, Ronan Dynes, 1st

U15 100m Sprint, Jacob Waide, 1st

U16 100m Sprint, Symon Maguire 2nd. Hadlee Edmunds, 3rd

U19 100m Sprint, Hamish Moore, 2nd

U16 200m Sprint, Hadlee Edmunds, 2nd

U15 200m Sprint, Jacob Waide, 2nd

U19 200m Sprint, Hamish Moore, 1st

U14 400m Run, Alvin Xu, 1st

U16 400m Run, Symon Maguire, 1st. Ashton Booth, 2nd

U19 400m Run, Joshua Friend, 3rd

U15 800m Run, Joe Parkinson, 2nd. Ronan Melville 3rd

U16 800m Run, Ashton Booth, 1st

U15 1500m Run, Joe Parkinson, 1st. Matthew Bolter, 3rd

U16 1500m Run, Ashton Booth 2nd

U15 3000m Run, Matthew Bolter, 1st

U15 80m Hurdles, Luke Moffitt, 1st

U16 100m Hurdles, Cole Gibbons 1st

U16 300m Hurdles, Robert McIvor 1st

U19 110m Hurdles, Cameron Moffitt, 1st

U14 4x100 Relay, Archie Chittock, Tyler Clarke, Max Fleet, Manaia Lesa, 2nd

U15 4x100m Relay, Alvin Xu, Joe Parkinson, Luke Moffitt, Jacob Waide, 1st

U19 4x400m Relay, Hamish Moore, Liam Higgins, Ronan Dynes, Joshua Friend, 3rd

The competition was held in perfect conditions. While the boys missed the guidance of athletics stalwart Ms Marr, Mr Sykes stepped in as teacher in charge doing a great job with the support parent helpers. The boys are grateful for their assistance.

In light of the cancellation of the South Island competition, which had been scheduled to take place in Christchurch on April 4, the boys are focused on making a strong showing at the National Secondary Schools’ Athletics Competition which is due to be held in Tauranga later this year.

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