Athletics: Ashton leads way for Otago at SI champs

Christina Ashton.
Christina Ashton.
Otago competitors were among multiple gold-medal winners at the South Island secondary schools championships in Nelson at the weekend.

Christina Ashton (Queen's) was hard to catch over the sprint distances, winning the girls under-19 100m and adding the 100m hurdles title to her swag, along with silver in the 200m.

Danica Davies (St Hilda's) finished third in the hurdles and was second in both the high jump and javelin.

Ashton's younger sister, Hannah Ashton (Taieri College), won the under-14 high jump and triple jump, and was third in the 80m hurdles.

Sam Gouverneur (King's) won the 400m and the 800m in the under-15 category, scoring a comfortable win by 2.67sec in the 800m. Schoolmate Jack Addis was third in the 800m.

Gouverneur and Addis were joined by Josiah Lesa and Max Aitcheson to win gold in the under-15 4x100m relay. Lesa also won the under-15 80m hurdles, and picked up placings in the 100m and 200m.

In the under-16 category, Otago Boys' runner Liam Turner claimed the 400m and the 800m double, beating fellow Otago Boys' pupil Matthew Ogle in the latter.

Taine Te Whata (Otago Boys') was in versatile form, not only claiming gold in the under-16 long jump, but also collecting the discus title with a throw of 46.83m.

Taieri College athlete Hamish Mears had a field day in the field, winning the under-14 shot put and discus titles by big margins. He also grabbed third in the 80m hurdles.

King's sprinter Rory O'Neill claimed the under-19 200m in 22.81sec and joined up with Jacob Granger, Ben Kiore and Felix McDonald to set a meeting record of 3min 25.88sec in the 4 x 400m relay. It broke the record of 3min 27.90sec set by St Bede's in 1991.

McDonald also won the 110m hurdles and the long jump, when he reached 6.46m on his third jump, and picked up a silver in the 300m hurdles.

Maddy Spence (Columba) did similar to O'Neill when she won the under-19 300m hurdles and claimed silver in the 400m before teaming up with Ellie Duncan, Ruby Coers and Lily Cunningham for victory in the 4 x 400m relay.

Joccoaa Palmer (St Hilda's) won the under-16 triple jump and was second in the 100m and third in the 400m, and Johnny Baker (John McGlashan College) won the under-14 100m, in which fellow McGlashan pupil Nico Bowering was third. Bowering went on to win the 200m, while Baker finished second in the 400m, with Hamuera Kereopa (Otago Boys') third.

Bradley Tarleton (Taieri College) was in powerful form, winning the under-19 hammer with a throw of 47.67m and John McGlashan's Ollie Chignell was a 1.9 second winner in the under-19 1500m to go with his 3rd in the 3000m.

Other placings included.- Girls: Tia Clark (Cromwell College) 2nd under-14 shot put, 3rd under-14 hammer; Storm Maole (Otago Girls) 3rd under-14 shot put; Meg Breen (Columba College) 3rd under-14 long jump; Ellie Duncan (Columba College) 2nd under-15 200m, 3rd under-15 100m; Chenoa Matua (Columba College) 3rd under-15 80m hurdles; Sammy Burke (Mt Aspiring College) 3rd under-16 3000m; Nadia Lyders (Lawrence Area School) 2nd under-16 80m hurdles; Mikayla Thorn (St Hilda's) 3rd under-16 high jump; Columba College 2nd under-19 4 x 100m; Kaitlynn Wheeler (Columba College) 2nd under-19 hammer; Columba College 2nd under-19 4x100m relay.

Boys: Sam Rowe (King's High) 3rd under-14 1500m; Ben Mitchell (John McGlashan College) 3rd under-15 3000m; Cameron Miller (OBHS) 3rd under-15 high jump; Jamie Crosland (King's) 3rd under-15 javelin; Otago Boys 3rd under-15 4x100m relay; Otago Boys 2nd under-16 4x100m relay; Anton Schroeder (Otago Boys) 2nd under-16 javelin; Ben Kiore (King's) 2nd under-19 100m; Hugh McLeod-Jones (Otago Boys) 2nd under-19 hammer, 2nd under-19 javelin, 3rd under-19 shot put; Alex Brown (King's) 3rd open 3000m walk; Joshua Rosie (King's) 2nd AWD 100m, 2nd AWD 200m, 2nd AWD long jump.

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