Marshall Hall (Taieri) continued his dramatic return to top
athletics on Saturday by re-capturing New Zealand's top spot
for the season in the discus.
Hall (20), a psychology and commerce student at the
University of Otago, threw the discus a personal best 46.25m
during the interclub athletics meeting at the Caledonian
Ground.
Hall, who is coached by New Zealand Olympic athletics manager
Raylene Bates, claimed the top spot when he threw 45.96m in
Auckland in November.
But he was relegated to second best by veteran Aucklander Pat
Hellier (37), who threw 45.97m nine days ago.
Hall took the top ranking back in style on Saturday with a
consistent set of throws: 44.88m, foul, 46.11m, foul, 44.61m,
46.25m.
"I'm pretty happy," Hall admitted.
"But I'm still a bit off course and am bowling the discus
instead of throwing it. I've still got a bit to work on."
Hall has set tough targets for himself this season and wants
to win the New Zealand senior and the Australian under-23
titles.
He finished fourth in an Australia Cup event at Brisbane
earlier this month and knows that to win the title in
Australia he must throw 50m.
Bates was watching on the bank on Saturday and urged Hall to
drive through the circle from the back.
Hall, who grew up in Invercargill before starting his studies
in Dunedin, won the New Zealand junior title two years ago
but missed last season after a spinal operation.
The other highlight in the discus came from national
schoolboys' champion Matthew Aitken (Hill City) who won the
athletes with disabilities (AWD) event with a throw of
21.89m.
He also won the men's 17-19 100m in 15.43sec.
Todd Bates (Taieri), a medallist at the New Zealand College
Games, won the boys aged 14 and under hammer throw with a
distance of 35.92m.
Fiona Hely (Hill City) was dominant in the women's sprints
and convincingly won the 100m (12.74sec) and 200m (25.68sec)
double.
National schoolboy medallist Toby Flett (Hill City) was the
top male sprinter and won the 100m in 11.17sec and the 200m
in 22.95sec.
Pacific Schools Games champion Rebekah Greene (Hill City)
demonstrated her class when she won the women's aged 15 and
16 400m in a personal best 60.95sec and the 1500m in 4min
48.64sec.
Training partner Anna-Lisa Uttley (Ariki) ran a personal best
4min 53.28sec when finishing second in the 1500m.
Daniel Balchin (Caversham) put his foot down with 650m left
to win the men's 1500m in a personal best time of 4min
05.26sec.
Julie Wilson (Ariki) broke her own Otago Masters aged 50 to
54 record when she finished runner-up to Sue Cuthbert (Leith)
in the Masters women's over-35 1500m in 5min 07.06sec.
She also holds the 800m and 3000m records in her age group.
Glen Ferguson (Leith) demonstrated the value of the Lydiard
training methods when he broke an 18-year-old Otago Men's
masters aged 40 to 44 record in the 5000m.
He lowered the record that Allan Davis (Ariki) set in 1991 by
25 seconds with his time of 15min 42sec.
Ferguson also claimed the Otago 3000m record when he ran 9min
05.1sec at Christchurch earlier in the month.
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