Report: New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships

24 athletes competed at the annual New Zealand Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships in Timaru in the first week of December. The team was up against strong competition, with a number of unfortunate injuries, but they demonstrated flexibility and resilience, making the most of the opportunities throughout the three days, resulting in 10 medals including six National titles.

Form 4 student E. B. Mora secured the Bronze medal in the 3000m in a time of 8:54.23, then gained third in the Junior 1500m in 4:09.82. The junior track events in general saw creditable performances and personal bests for most runners. These included Form 3 student R. C. Davies qualifying for finals in both the 800m and the 1500m and fellow first-time national athlete S. Yushchenko running the ninth fastest time in the 200m.

After winning Bronze in the Junior 800m in a time of 1:56.81, Form 4 student H. C. Day won the National Title in the Junior 400m race in 50.24. Due to injuries in the senior grade, the Junior relay teams had to be reshuffled. Day jumped in for the 4x100m race, and together with fellow classmates A.J. Edward, T.G. Henderson and J. J. Licence, the team ran a creditable race with clean changes despite the lack of training. Day and Edward then combined yet again for the 4x400m relay with Davies and Form 5 student T. C. L. MacDonald to win Gold in a time of 3:39.51. Prior to the relays, MacDonald won the National title in the Junior 2000m Steeplechase in 6:20.61.

Form 4 student L. J. N. Caffery secured a solid fourth in the Shot Put. While he then went on to throw the discus farthest to over 50m, his throw was unfortunately deemed a foul, meaning it was up to Form 5 student O. D. D. B. Neely. With a new personal best of 50.66m, he improved his last year’s national second placing to win Gold and continued on the success form Auckland Championships earlier in the year.  

In the Senior races, several sprinters took the honourable decision to scratch their individual events to avoid jeopardising the relay races. The Senior 4x100m relay had the third fastest time to make it through to the finals. However, with captain of Athletics J. A. Thomson out due to injury from the Senior 100m finals, S. Yushchenko was moved up a grade, and together with Form 5 students M. M. Browne and L. C. R. Thomson and Form 6 student C. G. Howlett, the 4x100m Senior relay ran to a close fourth place.

The Senior 4×400 A team of C. G. Howlett, along with Form 5 student J. A. Smith, Form 6 student C. P. Wagener and Form 7 student R. W. Fitzpatrick, ran an impressive race in a time of 3:25:50 to secure Gold. The Grammar B Team consisting of Form 5 student M. E. Wilkins and Form 6 students Y. C. Chow, M. C. Lindsay and S. Randerson equally ran a good race, placing fifth overall.

C. P. Wagener, recently named the 2024 Sportsman of the Year, won Silver in the Senior 1500m in 4:05.55 after having come 0.5 seconds close to catching up and overtaking his opponent. An even more dramatic race took place in the Senior 3000m, where Wagener had to contest a close sprint finish from the 200m line to finish first in 8:31.91.

Captain of Athletics J. A. Thomson (pictured above) was the only senior athlete to compete on the field in the Javelin. He also ran a strong but injuring Senior 100m with an incredibly close finish, missing out on a medal by just two thousandths of a second. The maturity and resilience with which he faced this disappointment and his injury in the sprints that deprived him of the chance to compete in the relays, however, is testimony to his character as a true Grammar Man.

Congratulations to the entire squad, to Master in Charge N. Leiseder and to coaches S. Bidet, S. Blackwell, M. Hall, R. McSweeney, C. Oates S. Thorpe and M. Wyatt for their guidance and support of the team.