Interschool Athletics and Cross Country

NZSS TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Our athletes put in a great effort competing at the NZSS Track, Field and Road Race Championships in Tauranga over the weekend. The three and six person road race teams both came away with gold medals in the Junior Girls’ Road Race. Liam Dooley ran a great road race in the Senior Boys’ Division to finish 20th in a high quality field of 77 runners. Sophie Kirk ran a good 2km steeples race to finish 7th. WHS also had two 4x400m relay teams compete with the highlight being Odin Herrick making up 50m and almost pulling his team into the placings in the mixed event. BOP ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Whakatāne High School sent a team of 33 athletes across to the BOP Secondary School Athletics Championships. These students had earned the right to represent the school after placing in the top two at the school Athletics Day. The students gained some great results all round, with many personal bests being set by students. It was awesome to see five relay teams compete.

The following students achieved top three placings and have qualified to compete at the upcoming WaiBOP Champs:

Lily Anderson - Junior Girls - 2nd 200m Lily Isaac - Junior Girls - 2nd 3000m Prayer Playle - Junior Girls - 3rd 300m Eva Sexton - Intermediate Girls - 1st Javelin, 2nd Discus, 3rd 100m Jordan Cochrane - Intermediate Girls - 3rd High Jump Milla Dibben - Senior Girls - 3rd 800m Lara Longney - Senior Girls - 3rd Discus, 3rd Long Jump Ben Peat - Junior Boys - 1st Triple Jump Odin Herrick - Intermediate Boys - 3rd 100m Liam Dooley - Senior Boys - 2nd 1500, 2nd 3000m Junior Girls 4x100m relay team - 1st Place - Bea Knapton, Monique Prasad, Sophie Growden, Lily Anderson BOP CROSS COUNTRY

Again, the students put forth a great effort! Sixteen cross country runners competed at the BOP Secondary Schools competition in Tauranga. A special mention goes out to Liam Dooley who blitzed the Senior Boys’ 6km race to win by 30s ahead of the second place runner. Kithmini Melville also ran a very good race to finish, third in the Junior Girls’ 4km race. Anna Isaac also placed sixth in the Junior Girls Division and Ben Peat placed 10th in the Year 9 Boys’ race which he strongly ran. WAIBOP CROSS COUNTRY

Five of our students travelled to Kihikihi Domain in Te Awamutu to represent the school in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools’ Cross Country Championships. A special well done goes out to Liam Dooley who gained second place - coming in a mere nine seconds behind the 1st place runner in the Senior Boys Division. Kithmini Melville placed 8th and Anna Isaac 10th in the Junior Girls’ race. Lily Isaac and Kiera Dooley both gained 20th place in their respective Year 9 and Senior Girls’ races. Most races had over fifty competitors in them so it’s great to see our small town kids up there with some big schools. Well done, all. NZSS CROSS COUNTRY

Whakatāne High School had two students compete at the NZSS Cross Country championships in Hawera. Haley Roebuck was competing for the first time at a national event and ran really well in tough conditions in the Senior Girls’ event. Liam Dooley competed in the Senior Boys’ 6km race which had a field of 181 runners. Liam ran a really good race to finish in 28th place.