Brooke Batters receives her bronze medal by Supplied

A podium placing at the national athletics champs

Three students traveled to Christchurch as part of the Waikato Bay of Plenty team for Athletics Nationals. This is an elite competition for athletes that belong to a club.

Conditions on were extremely cold and wet, with a southerly blast, making both the track and field conditions very difficult for the athletes. It remained cold and wet for the entire weekend, but the extreme conditions of Friday weren't repeated on Saturday and Sunday.

Brooke Batters was competing in the under-18 age group and came fourth in high jump, sixth in 300m hurdles (with a personal best time of 47.89secs) and third in 4x400 under-18 relay.

Caroline Kolver was fourth in the girls' under-18 shot put with a throw of 12.93m.

Mattheus Pio came second in the men's under-20 200m sprint with a personal best time of 22.07secs.