Taieri College is hoping its athletes will have the midas touch this weekend.
The school will take a team of 40 pupils to the Otago Secondary Schools Athletics Championships at the Caledonian Ground, in Dunedin, sports co-ordinator Graeme Egan says.
Usually about 25 pupils would qualify, but this year's team showed the strength of athletics at the school, he said.
During the school's recent athletics day, 12 school records were set. Other pupils came within centimetres or hundredths of a second of setting other records, he said.
''We have an amazing fantastic group of athletic kids coming through,'' he said.
He was confident of success.
''I'm really excited about going down to the Caledonian [this] weekend and seeing how the students go across the two days. And the school's quite excited by the prospects we have,'' he said.
''We have got some very credible and realistic students that are going to finish well.
''Most of the kids will be aiming for reaching the finals or top-eight finishes.''
The school was ''reaping the benefits'' of Athletics Taieri, the local athletics club, he said.
A number of pupils had come through the club and the school's junior athletes were particularly well-placed for success.
