Rhian Ward (Dunstan) was inspired to break two records after reading a book about New Zealand Olympic champion Jack Lovelock.
"My coach, Allan Hamilton, gave me the book to read and I learned how he put in a longer kick to win gold medals," Ward said.
Lovelock won the 1500m gold medal at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 by sprinting home from 300m.
Ward (16) broke the intermediate boys 800m record when he put his foot down in the last 200m to win in 2min 01.62sec.
It smashed the old record by 4sec at the annual Otago secondary schools championships at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday.
Ward also broke the record in the 400m, when he scorched round the track in 52.40sec to beat the record Paul Innes (Otago Boys') set in 2001.
Ward also won the intermediate boys 1500m in 4min 29.89sec.
Robert Jopp (John McGlashan) won the senior boys sprint double in the 100m (11.45sec) and 200m (22.82sec).
Rodney Bungard (St Kevin's) got the jump on Jopp at the start of the 100m and it was 40m before he took the lead. Bungard was second in 11.87sec.
More than 600 athletes braved the strong wind to break 16 records at the championships.
One of the best performances was by Meg McKay (St Hilda's), who broke the intermediate girls high jump record by 2cm with a leap of 1.64m.
Mackenzie Haugh (King's) smashed the senior boys high jump record by 4cm when he jumped 1.90m.
Hanna English (Columba College) lowered the girls under-15 3000m record by 6sec with her time of 10min 55.92sec.
Maddy Spence (Columba) beat a 1998 record when she won the girls under-15 80m hurdles in 12.44sec.
Courtney Martin (East Otago) broke a 12-year-old record when she won the girls under-15 shot put by 26cm with a distance of 11.76m.
Kawana Tokona (East Otago) broke a 2001 record by 50cm with his boys under-15 triple jump of 11.74m.
Adriana Mawhinney (Dunstan) extended the 2002 girls under-14 record triple jump by 57cm with her leap of 9.94m.
Ricky White (Sara Cohen) broke the AWD boys 100m (12.85sec) and 200m (26.17sec) records. His sister, Nikita White (Otago Girls'), set records in the girls AWD sprints with her 100m (15.96sec) and 200m (33.16sec) times.
The Columba College senior girls 4 x 100m relay team of Christie Wood, Zoey Flockton, Samara Dalziel and Laura Saville broke the record with a time of 50.86sec.
The Bayfield intermediate girls relay team of Tori Clearwater, Britta Hamill, Danielle Galdeman and Kara Helm broke the record with a time of 51.74sec.
The Columba College under-15 relay team of Kate Guilford, Maddy Spence, Analise Cowie and Phoebe Pegg set a record of 52.45sec.
