Athletics: Impressive O'Shea wins sprint double

Daniel O'Shea.
Daniel O'Shea.
Otago sprint champion Daniel O'Shea (Hill City-University) made an impressive start to the season, turning up the heat at the chilly Caledonian Ground last night to win the 100m-200m double.

The 25 year-old accountancy student has had his head buried in books for the past three months and took the opportunity to get away from study and university exams and ''have a bit of fun''.

His bright orange vest shone like a beacon as he headed both fields down the home straight, winning the 100m in 10.79sec and 200m in 21min 75sec.

Otago 100m hurdle champion Christina Ashton (Taieri) overcame an early setback when pipped in the open women's 100m by Fiona Hely (Hill City-University) to win the open women's 200m in 27.05sec.

Hely clocked 12.57sec with Ashton hot on her tail in 12.76sec.

Felix McDonald (Taieri) showed no signs of weariness at the quick-fire meeting, book-ending his victory in the 300m hurdles with fifth place in the 100m and third in the 200m.

His victory in the 300m hurdles, in which the field started into the teeth of a strong southerly, was achieved in a smart 41.02sec given the conditions.

Madeline Spence (Hill-City-University) was equally as impressive in winning the open women's 300m hurdle race, crossing the line in 45.35sec.

Ben Anderson (Caversham) continued his run of form after his impressive victory in the 1500m last weekend.

He was back last night to dominate the open men's 800m. Leading from start to finish, he stopped the clock at 2min 0.28sec to win by a nudge over 6sec from Liam Turner (Winton). Sam Hopper (Caversham) was third in 2min 7.39sec.

Lorenz Kissling (Caversham) showed what a force he may be to triathlon, with a strong performance into the wind to win the 3000m, overcoming a determined challenge from Oliver Chignell (Hill City-University).

Kissling just broke Chignell over the final 120m to record 9min 3.94sec.

Chignell crossed in 9min 7.27sec.

A highlight of the field events came from all-round sportswoman, Gemma Millar (Hill City-University), who iwon the women's under-16 hammer throw with a personal-best distance of 25.09m.

Millar has recently been named in the Otago secondary schoolgirls' rugby squad.

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