The 16-year-old, year 12 pupils at Southland Boys’ High School are an integral part of that school’s athletic team, along with fellow pupil and St Paul’s clubmate Jack McNaughton, mostly in middle-distance events. Buddy, who dominated from the start on Saturday, admitted to toughing it out over the closing stages, having not raced the event since the national secondary schools championships last year, in which he finished seventh.
"Everything went pretty good, I guess, though I think the water jump needs a bit more practice.
"A couple of laps to go I mucked up a couple of hurdles, but nothing too major."
Despite this he still maintained a stranglehold on the lead to finish in 6min 43.55sec, from second-placed McNaughton, completing what was his first steeplechase in 6min 49.90sec, with Albie third in 6min 56.58sec.
Despite being a capable 3000m runner, Buddy happened into steeplechase at the Southland and Otago secondary schools track and field meeting 12 months ago and has focused on the discipline since. Although the three Southlanders made short work of claiming the first three places, the Otago title falls to Jordan Frost (Ariki) as the first Otago competitor to finish.
Frost (16), a year 12 pupil at King’s High School, who finished fourth, is just returning from a knee injury that has had him sidelined for the past 12 months, and no doubt will be encouraged with his result. His time on Saturday was 8min 28.50sec.
Frost was a bronze medallist at the South Island secondary schools championships in steeplechase. Taieri athlete Hamish Mears continues to go from strength to strength this season, and he broke his own Otago boys 15 record in the shot put with a distance of 14.51m.
Mears set the mark at 14.36m in December, after beginning the season with a personal best of 12.35m.
But he fell away when it came to discus shortly afterwards, despite still winning the competition with a throw of 43.72m. He established a personal best in discus last weekend with a throw of 45.13m.
The promising young Taieri athlete is looking to qualify for the Youth Commonwealth Championships in July with a top-three finish at the national track and field championships next month. But his first concern may be that of overcoming the challenge laid down by Hugh McLeod-Jones (Hill City-University).
McLeod-Jones has been one of Otago top junior throwers in recent years, though has been succumbing this season to the prowess of Mears.
"He’s got the edge on me at the moment, so I’ll be stepping up my training over the next few weeks," McLeod-Jones said of laying down a challenge for the Otago championship meeting.
Otago middle-distance champion Oli Chignell dominated a large and talent-loaded field to win the open men’s 3000m in a personal best time of 8min 42.38sec. Rhian Ward (Alexandra) blitzed a quality field to win the open men’s 800m in 1min 57.49sec, in what was his first race in three years.
Ward (20) will contest the event at next weekend’s Porritt Classic in Timaru. Masters athletes Raylene Bates (Taieri) and Brian Senior (South Canterbury), dominated a strong field in the Otago throws pentathlon championship. Bates won the women’s title, finishing on 3658pts, and Karen Dunies the senior title, scoring 2343pts. Senior proved unbeatable in the men’s competition, winning with 3374pts, while Simon Maole (Hill City-University) won the senior title with 2398pts.
