College athletes shine at Porritt Classic athletics meeting

Lucy Sheat takes 0.28 from her PB winning women's 200m at #Porritt16 in 24.03

A video posted by Athletics New Zealand (@athleticsnz) on Feb 12, 2016 at 7:10pm PST

Commonwealth Youth Games representative Lucy Sheat (Marlborough Girls’ College) ran a lifetime best of 24.03 in taking victory in a quality women’s 200m field today at the Porritt Classic meeting in Hamilton. 

The 16-year-old, who trains on a grass track in her native Blenheim, destroyed her previous best by 0.28 to secure an impressive win – albeit an agonising 0.03 shy of the Athletics New Zealand qualification standard for the World Junior Championships in Poland.

Behind, 17-year-old Olivia Eaton (New Plymouth Girls’ High School) trimmed 0.26 from her lifetime best to record 24.22 while the top three placings were rounded out by a third teenager World Youth Championships, semi-finalist Georgia Hulls (Havelock North High School) in 24.44.

Sheat was elated with a new lifetime best and says of her performance: “Everything is going to plan at the moment. I couldn’t ask for anything more. I didn’t quite get the qualifying for World Juniors which is a bit of a pain (note, she has the 100m qualifier) but there is still time to get that.”

The next stop for Sheat is an outing with a crack New Zealand Junior 4x100m squad in Canberra next week before she competes at the New Zealand Track & Field Championships in Dunedin early next month.   

Earlier in a women's 100m field stocked with great depth, leading teenage talents Georgia Hulls (11.96) and recent New Plymouth Girls High School’s Zoe Hobbs (11.95) also both dipped below 12-seconds to take victory in heats one and two. In the final, Zoe finished third behind two senior athletes, Georgia fourth and Olivia fifth. 

Alisha Gilchrist (Onslow College) won the Girls 1500m Dianne Rodger race in 4:41.61, ahead of Emerson Deverell (Cambridge High School) in second at 4:43.81 and Charli Miller (St Peter’s School) in third at 4:44.69. 

James Uhlenberg (Sacred Heart College, Auckland) won the Boys 1500m Dick Quax race in 3.57.99, beating Theo Quax (Maclean’s College) in to second with 3.58.48 and Christian Condor (Wanganui Collegiate) in to third at 3.59.43. 

Local athlete Isaiah Priddey (Hamilton Boys’ High School) easily won the Men’s 1500m run in a time of 3.52.12, 11 seconds faster than the second placed finisher. 

Ryan Ballantyne (St Paul’s College) won the men's shot put, throwing a 6kg weight 17.94m, which was a new personal best. Maddison Wesche (Lynfield College) won the women’s shot put by over seven metres to second place, throwing the 3kg put 16.07m. 

Opetini Dryden (Wanganui Collegiate) hurled the spear 55.20m to take out the boys’ competition in the mixed javelin secondary school event, whilst Caitlin Bonne (St Margret’s College) won the girls javelin in 43.70m. 

Wanganui Collegiate and Auckland's Sacred Heart College won the girls' and boys' Nick Willis relays respectively. 

Special mention to James Preston (Year 13 at Scots College 2015) who shaved 3 seconds off his personal best to win the 800m in 1.48.92 and qualify for the World Junior Championships. 

In another fantastic achievement for a recent school athlete, Hayden Wilde (Year 13 at Trident High School 2015) won the two-day Coast to Coast race today.