Athletics 2019

School Athletics

Tuesday 19^th February marked our Athletics Prelims Day.  The weather was sunny, but we had the reprieve of a cooler chill in the air to start us off! The students got to dress up and parade around the field, proudly promoting their House colour. Prelims is a day where all students can get involved and contribute points to their House and give things a go.  We had a mixture of track and field events available to students on this day, so there really was something for everyone. Our field events included Discus, Shot Put, Javelin, Long Jump, High Jump, Gumboot Throw and the Plank Walk. Track events on were the 100m and 200m.  These would prove to be a great warm up for finals day. Each age group marched around in their House team to compete in events together.  It was a great spectacle and you could distinctly see where each House was. It was fantastic to see everyone getting involved.  Prelims Day provided a teaser of the great things to come and which athletes would be the ones to watch on Finals Day. Friday was a cloudy day and showers were forecast.  However, that didn’t put our students off.  It was another day for students to dress up and represent their House, and boy did the colour come out in some creative ways. It was great to see a large turnout even though only the best competitors from Prelims Day were competing. We did however continue the Gumboot Throw, Plank Walk and Vortex for those that would not be competing in the major track and field finals. Finals Day also gave the opportunity to compete in the Triple jump, 300m, 400m and 800m events. The track events kicked off with the longer races which really warmed up our athletes’ legs ready for the big day ahead. The buzz was high with students supporting each other for all events. Those not competing could visit different events meaning every event had a cheer squad to amp the competitors up! Just before the sprint races the showers started to fall making a slippery surface for those competing and perhaps a little bit more caution being taken by our competitors, which really makes you wonder what could have been achieved!  Jayden Baker ran a PB of 11.68s in the Intermediate Boys 100m followed by a 24.25s in the 200m.  Ethan Wallace cleared the pack running 11.50s in the Senior Boys 100m followed by a 24.02s the 200m.  Junior Girl Jasmine Burge won both the 100m and 200m too! Another stand out runner was our Exchange student Imke Mueller from Germany who absolutely smashed the 100m, 200m, 800m and 1500m.  She is here for 10 months and we know she is going to make herself known in our sporting scene! The field events showcased another great range of athletes.  We had Senior Boy Bradley Rumble win in the High jump, Shot put and Discus; Junior girl Alicia Rusk took out the Shot Put and Discus.  The stand-out on the day had to be Intermediate boy Ollie Morton-Farrelly.  He broke our school record in the Discus, not once, but 3 times between Prelims and Finals Day, finally throwing 46.73m to set as the new target! We held our longer 1500m and 3000m races on separate days so that Finals Day could flow without too many stop/starts. We have some dominant long distant runners here at the college and it showed when you see that Tom Allison came first in the Senior Boys 800m, 1500m and 3000m. Edward Roskam is also one to watch coming placing first in the Intermediate boys 400m, 800m 1500m and 3000m.

Thames Valley Champs

On Tuesday 12th March the college embark upon the big task of taking 60 Students over to Waihi college for the Thames Valley Athletics Championships. The day started off at 7:45 with students arriving to school ready for a fun day ahead. It was cooler but set to be a nice day. 2 vans left to secure a spot and set up our marquees. Following that the bus departed with the bulk of the group. When we arrived in Waihi we had a nice spot on the corner of the top field looking over the track, high jump and Javelin. Field events started and different age groups were scattered throughout the top and bottom field event. The track got underway shortly after starting with the 200m timed finals, Jasmine Burge secured 2^nd place and Kohan Bigham nabbed 3^rd in the juniors. Intermediate boys Jayden Baker soared to 1^st and Jaime Jones came a close 3^rd, Emma Morton-Farrelly came 2^nd and Ethan Wallace flew to 1^st for our seniors. 800m came next for the track events, our very talented exchange student Imke Mueller came a very convincing 1^st place for the intermediate girls followed by Olivia Goodwin securing 2^nd in the senior girls and Tom Allison smashing the senior boys with a powerful win. Before lunch the track squeezed in the 3000m timed finals, they ran them in age groups with boys and girls together which saved a lot of time in the already long and hot day. Our junior Girl Ella Smart took out 2^nd place, Amelie Nicholls secured 3^rd while Edward Roskam took out 2^nd in intermediate, Senior boys Cameron Jacobsen and Liam Fernyhough took out 1^st and 3^rd respectively in a comfortable looking race. The places we had already secured just in the track set a great tone and kept the energy alive for the afternoon ahead, spirits were still high, and everyone was doing their part to accumulate team points and support the college on their task to retain the shield. After lunch the Clouds seemed to be all the way around the field with the sun shining down on the field, we started off with the 100m heats where 9 of our students qualifying for finals and Ethan Wallace broke the senior boys record so we were all very excited for what the finals would bring. We managed to sneak in the intermediate boys and girls 1500m where Amelie Nicholls came 3^rd and Edward Roskam snapped up 2^nd. Directly after that we went into the 300/400m, our seniors Raquel Voschezang took out 3^rd place, Jordan Ruck took out 1^st and James Yardley secured 2^nd. We gave the sprinter a break and got back into the 1500m where junior girl Abby Storey paced to 2^nd place and Olivia Goodwin came in at 3^rd in the senior girls and Tom Allison soaring in for a smooth win in the senior boys. This then bought us to the 100m Finals, it felt like the everyone that was there gathered around the finish line to cheer on their competitors. Junior girls ran first and Jasmine Burge nabbed 2^nd place, junior boys saw Kristian Evdokimov narrowly missed out with 4^th place. Intermediate girls saw Imke Mueller take 2^nd place and Jayden Baker managed to break the Thames valley record to secure 1^st place followed by Olli Morton-Farrelly in 3^rd. Into the seniors we saw Emma Morton-farrelly take out 3^rd place and Ethan Wallace smashed the Thames Valley record to take out a very convincing win. While all the track events were on the field events were running by age group rotations. In the high jump Tiamoana Tuhakaraina came 1^st for the Intermediate girls and Reagan Powell made it to 3^rd place for the boys. Long jump saw Ericka Landar, Damien Arnold, Regan Powell and Jordan Ruck all jump to 1^st place in their age groups. Triple Jump saw Ericka and Reagan get 2^nd place and seniors Emma Morton-Farrelly and Jordan Ruck both soared to 1^st in their groups. Alicia Rusk managed to get first in the junior girls Shot Put while Abby McDonald came 3^rd for intermediate girls and Ollie Morton-Farrelly took out the intermediate boys 1^st place, Head Girl Te Aorere Wharawhara placed 1st and Maddie Norman-Keenan threw a 3^rd place shot. In Discus the Junior girls was dominated but Alicia Rusk taking out 1^st and Caitlyn Alexander getting 2^nd, Luke   Collings threw a 3^rd placing for the junior boys, Abby McDonald got 3^rd for the intermediate girls with Ollie Morton-Farrelly placing 1^st, Te Aorere also took out 1^st place for the senior girls. Javelin showed Rochelle Lind taking out 1^st place for the Intermediate girls and Conor Goodwin 2^nd for the boys, seniors Maddie Norman-Keenan and Te Aorere both secured 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. The Students all behaved really well and did the college proud as you can see by the results.

Waikato/BOP Champs

On the 23^rd March a team of 17 track and field Athletes went through to Hamilton to compete in the Waikato/BOP Athletics Champs. Its was a long day in the sun and reached 28 degrees by the afternoon. We had a range of different athletes competing over a range of different events. We got some great results this year, Ollie Morton-Farrelly placed first in Intermediate boys Shot Put and Discus. Alicia Rusk placed 3^rd in Junior girl Shot put, Imke Mueller came 2^nd in intermediate girls 800m, Jayden Baker placed 2^nd in 100m and Jordan Ruck got 3^rd in Long jump, This means that they all qualify to compete in the North Island Secondary School Champs in Tauranga on the 6^th and 7^th of April, they will be representing the Waikato for this event. Most of the College competitors all placed in the top 10 and some only narrowly missing out on securing their spot. It was a great experience for our athletes and some managed to beat their PB’s so it was a great experience and a great day.