Athletics: Morgan on way to NZ goal

When Bryce Morgan enrolled at Otago Boys High School five years ago, he told rector Clive Rennie that his ambition was to run for New Zealand.

He achieved the first step of his goal in Hamilton last weekend when he was named in the New Zealand secondary schools championship team.

Rennie indicated at the time that most first-year pupils he interviewed wanted to become All Blacks or play cricket for New Zealand.

Morgan (17) is one of only two Otago athletes named in the team. The other one is Campbell Garry (John McGlashan College).

Morgan improved by 5sec when he came a close runner-up in the senior boys 3000m in Hamilton in 8min 37.71sec.

Garry (17) was outsprinted in the final straight and won the bronze medal in the 6km road race. He finished 19th for New Zealand at the world secondary schools cross-country in the Czech Republic earlier this year.

Two Southland 400m runners - Rebecca Gibson (St Peters, Gore) and Matthew Robinson (Southland Boys) - were also named in the team.

"I put in the hard work," Morgan said.

"It's the most training I've ever done and it has paid off."

Morgan felt tired during the whole race last Sunday and did not realise he was running such a fast time.

"It was an even pace and this helped me," he said.

He took the lead at the bell and completed the last lap in a fast 62sec.

Harry Dixon (Nayland College, Nelson) caught Morgan with 50m left.

Morgan has reaped the benefit of the training he has done on the sandhills at Sandfly Bay, hill work on the Arthurs Walk steps, speed work in the Dunedin Botanic Garden and time trials on the Geoff Williamson super course at Ross Creek.

He has reduced his 3km time by 14sec this season and his goal is to beat Blair Martin's Otago's 3000m record of 8min 34.67sec for a 17-year-old before he turns 18 in April.

To put himself in the right frame of mind he has printed the time of 8min 32sec on the ceiling in his bedroom at his Brockville home.

Morgan acknowledged that the high standard of junior middle-distance running in Otago had helped his development.

"Its good to have the competition. It pushes you every week and makes you run harder," Morgan said.

"You can't relax at all."

Daniel Balchin (Kings), who lowered his time by 9sec when he came third in the senior boys 3000m in 8min 40.46sec, was unlucky not to be named in the New Zealand Schools team.

He also won the silver medal in the 2km steeplechase in 6min 13.43sec.

It was a successful championships for Otago, with athletes from the province winning 20 medals: two gold, 12 silver and six bronze.

Rebekah Greene (St Hildas) was one of the outstanding younger athletes in Hamilton. She won a gold medal in the junior girls 3000m in 10min 34.77sec and was third in the 1500m in 4min 39.56sec.

In the 1500m she broke Otago records in three age groups. She was just under 2sec short of the time set by Olympian Nina Rillstone for the 17-year-old girls in 1993.

The other gold medal went to Anna-Lisa Uttley (Bayfield), who won the junior girls 4km road race by 38sec, in a time of 14min 15sec.

Todd Bates (Taieri College) followed in the footsteps of his mother Raylene, when he won a bronze medal in the junior boys hammer throw.

Raylene Bates won the senior women's hammer throw in 1994.