Schools records tumble

More than a dozen records were broken at the Otago secondary schools athletic championships at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin on Saturday.

A strong head wind in the home straight meant times were not too quick in the sprints but there were some impressive performances in the field.

In the pole vault, which is a relatively new event, Luke Moffitt, of Otago Boys’ High School, set a record of 3.30m in the under-16 grade, Cole Gibbons, also of Otago Boys’ High School, set a record of 3.50m in the open grade and Alika Croot, of St Hilda’s Collegiate, set a mark of 2.40m in the under-19 grade.

In the under-16 shot put, Renee Willis, of St Hilda’s Collegiate, set a record of 13.38m, while Ben Baines, of Taieri College, set a record of 8.86m in the para shot put.

Willis also set a record in the hammer of 38.37m, while Jake Hibbert, of Logan Park High School, recorded a mark of 29.51m in the under-14 hammer.

In the long jump, Bernice Cullen, of St Hilda’s Collegiate, set a record of 5.34m in the senior grade.

Emelia Adamson, of Otago Girls’ High School, set a record of 1.59m in the under-14 high jump.

In the girls under-15 400m, Millie East, of Mount Aspiring College recorded a record time of 59.25sec.

In the 800m senior boys race, Jed Thompson-Fawcett ran a record time of 1min 56.67sec.

Ollie Young, of King’s High School, won the 2000m open steeplechase in a time of 7min 3.44sec and Zara Geddes won the girls race in 7min 22.37sec, both breaking records.

In the 4x100m senior girls relay, the Mount Aspiring College team of East, Abby Fisher, Estelle Gellatly and Niamh Townsend broke 50 seconds to win in 49.99sec.

The team, minus Fisher, but including Georgia Bruce, ran a record time in the 4x400m of 4min 14.49sec.