Hawkes Bay Sports Park, Hastings - 1 – 3 December 2017

On Friday morning our group of five athletes and two adults made our way by air and road to Hastings for Nationals Athletics.

William Stedman (Year 12) had not competed for quite a while, but still competed to his usual excellent standard. He won gold medals in all five of his events – 100m, 200m, 400m, Shotput and Long Jump. By his own admission, his times were not his best, but he is building towards some big events at the start of 2018.

Gloria Agnew (Year 11) competed in the Senior Girls' grade this year, which meant that she was competing against Year 13 girls. Despite being so young, Gloria qualified for the Final in the SG 100m – She ran a personal best (PB) time of 12.54 s ending 7th out of the initial field of 40 athletes. She also made the top 8 in High Jump and ended 11th in the SG 200m.

Rebecca Joubert (Year 12) also had a very successful meet, ending in the top 10 placings in both her 200m and 400m events. That means, that she missed out by two places on making the final in both events. Rebecca ran a PB of 26.27 s in the SG 200m.

Zinan Bennett (Year 11) also competed as a Year 11 boy, against Year 13 athletes. He ran a PB and ended 10th in the SB 300M Hurdles. Zinan also ran a PB in the 800m and qualified for the Semi-finals in the SB 400m.

Tristan Bennett (Year 9) equaled his PB in the JB high jump, jumping 1.65m. He also ran a PB in his 400m and came close to his best ever jump in the Long Jump.

I am very proud of our athletes' performances on and off the track. They are excellent ambassadors for our school, their families and God.

They will all be eligible in the same age groups again next year in Dunedin. Bring it on!

by Geoff Steyn