By TBHS | Posted: Tuesday April 11, 2017
The South Island Secondary Schools Athletics Championships were held in Dunedin in the first weekend of April.
The weather was perfect over the three days, ideal for athletes to gain personal best performances. TBHS had 27 athletes who were selected from the Aoraki Athletic Sports but only 24 competed in the South Island Athletics, with the team consisting of a mixture of seniors and juniors. This year saw four TBHS 4 x 100m relay teams qualify but because of a lack of athletes, only the Under 15 and Senior teams were able to compete. We also entered a 4 x 400 senior team which consisted of representatives from all age groups. All relay teams made their respective finals and attained top five placings.
Gaining eleven places – three x 1st, five x 2nd and 3 x 3rd placings, our combined results were the best we have had in a very long time and saw TBHS close with a ranking of 18th in the South Island. The standout Athletes were:
Thomas Valentine: 1st U19 Hammer Throw (49.65m)
Quinn Motley: 2nd U14 Discus (40.73m)
Ben Sewell: 1st U16 High Jump (1.76m), 2nd U16 Pole Vault (2.75m)
Jed Syme 2nd U14 100m (12.25sec)
George Guerin: 1st Open Steeple Chase (6min 26s)
William Valentine: 3rd U19 Hurdles (18.48sec) and 3rd Discus (40.65m)
Dean Andrews: 2nd U16 Javelin (50.53m)
Bailey Gebbie: 2nd U19 Triple Jump (12.69m)
Hayden McNulty: 3rd Senior Javelin (49.16m)
Most of the athletes achieved personal bests with many achieving top eight placings or finals including: George Copland 400m, Shannon Drake Shot Put, Ethan Griffin 200m, Darryl Hamilton Javelin, Liam Johnston Hammer and Discus, Xavier Judd Long Jump and Triple Jump, Maka Mafileo Shot Put, Michael Munro 3000m, Jack Powell 400m, Peter Rawlins Open Steeple Chase, William Rawlins 100m, 200m, 400, Shaun Reith Hurdles, Aleks Rempala Discus and Shot Put, Sam Ritchie 3000m and Hamish Yeatman 800m. These results are very pleasing, leaving us looking forward to the possibility of the South Island competition being held in Timaru in 2018.
Some athletes of the South Island team of 2017 have shown they have the ability and the potential to be very competitive at the Nationals at the end of the year.
