 NZ SS XC Senior Boys 1 Daniel Hoy (Westlake Boys HS) 2 Angus White (New Plymouth Boys HS) 19:33, 3 Goiteom Gebremedhin 19:42. NZ SS XC Senior Girls 1 Tessa Webb 14:43 (Feilding High School), 2 Amelia Persson 14:45 (Christchurch Girls High), 3 Ari Graham 14:49 , 4 Samantha Burke (Mt Aspiring College) 14:51 5 Tessa Hunt (wellington East Girls) 14:56 NZ SS XC Junior Boys 1 Murdoch McIntyre 13:19 (Westlake Boys High), 2 Luke Hill 13:23 (Waitara High School), 3 Liam Chesney 13:28 (St Patrick’s Kilbirnie), 4 Theodore Purdy 13:31 (Freyberg High School) 5 Dylan Lynch (Wellington College) 13:37 NZ SS XC Junior girls 1 Hannah O'Connor 10:28 (Sacred Heart Girls NP), 2 Liliana Braun 10.53 (Cashmere High School), 3 Kirstie Rae 11:02 (Wellington East Girls), 4 Aimee Ferguson (Rotorua Junior High School) 11:18 5 Lucy Rowe (Mahurangi College) 11:19 NZ SS XC Year 9 boys 1 Laurence Pithie (Christchurch BHS) 9:58, 2 Finn Seeds 10:04 (Hutt International BS), 3 Jeremy Burke 10:24 (Macleans College), 4 Felix Williamson 10:26 (Wellington College) 5 Mitch Snell 10:26 (Lindisfarne College) NZ SS XC Year 9 girls 1 Charli Miller 11:00 (St Peters School), 2 Briana Irving 11:04 (Gisborne Girls High School), 3 Olivia Cummings 11:17. Daniel Hoy took it to the next level in his final crack at the NZ Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships in Rotorua today, finally winning gold after four years of silver medals. The Westlake Boys High School athlete ran at the font of the field for the entire race, before attacking on the penultimate hill of the final lap, recording 19:22 for the 4km distance. Mitchell Small (St Andrews) kept him company on the first two laps, but wilted near the end, while Angus White (New Plymouth Boys) finished strongly to claim second place. Goiteom Gebremedhin (Papanui) also finished well for third. Tessa Webb from Fielding High School won the senior girls race from Amelia Persson (Christchurch Girls) and Ari Graham (St Andrews). Webb also ran in the leading bunch before getting away from Persson and going on to win by two seconds in 14:43. Murdoch McIntyre made it two wins for Westlake Boys, taking the junior boys race by four seconds from Luke Hill (Waitara) and Liam Chesney (St Pats Kilbirnie). McIntyre's winning time was 13:19 for the 4km distance. The most dominant run came from New Plymouth Girls High athlete Hannah O'Connor in the junior girls 3km, winning in 10:28 with a margin of 25 seconds from Liliana Braun (Cashmere) and Kirstie Rae (Wellington East Girls). Laurence Pithie (Christchurch Boys) took out the Year 9 boys 3km title in 9:58 from Finn Seeds (Hutt International) and Jeremy Burke from McLean’s College. The winner of the Year 9 girls race was Charli Miller (St Peter's School) from Brianna Irving (Gisborne Girls) and Olivia Cummings (Otumoetai). Anton Besseling (New Plymouth Boys) and Siobhan Terry (Rotorua Lakes) were winners in the Para athlete championships. Over 950 athletes from 120 schools took part in the championships, in their 43rd year, at the Agrodome in Rotorua.  The 43rd New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships are this coming weekend at the Agrodome, Lower A&P Oval, Rotorua.
This is one of the biggest events on the secondary school calendar, with some 960 runners from 120 schools throughout New Zealand taking part. A number of individual and team winners will be crowned. The races are Year Nine boys and girls 3,000m, U16 Junior girls 3,000m, U16 Junior boys 4,000m, Senior girls 4,000m, Senior boys 6,000m and the combined Junior and Senior para races of 2,000 each. A 24-strong New Zealand Cross Country paper team (12 boys, 12 girls) will be selected afterwards, with these runners eligible to travel to Canberra in August for the 2016 Australian Secondary Schools Championships. With some 240 runners the Senior Boys race will draw the largest field of the day, with several noted contenders expected to battle it out for 2016 title honours. Hamilton Boys High School’s Isaiah Priddey will be all out to add the senior boys’ cross country title to the junior boys’ title he won last year. He will be up against the inform Dan Hoy from Westlake Boys. Hoy was second last year to Conal Wilson in the senior boys and last week had no trouble winning the Auckland schools title at Pukekohe. A strong field has entered with Max Karamanolis, James Uhlenberg, Nick Moulai, Jacob Holmes, Angus White, Stefan Przychodzko, Bradley Christison, Theo Quax and Jared Lautenslager all capable of a podium finish. Katherine Badham (Takapuna Grammar) should have a heads up in the senior girls 4000m. Triathlete Badham won the Auckland title from Maiya Christini (St Mary’s Auckland) and Georgia Clode (Baradene College) who will also be racing in Rotorua. Others who will up with the pace from the start will be Amelia Persson (Christchurch Girls), second in the junior girls last year, Tessa Hunt, Tessa Webb, Catrin Dawson, Grace Ritchie, Alice Bird, Gina Butler, Isabella Robinson, Bridie Edwards and former junior winner Ari Graham. Hannah O’Connor (New Plymouth Girls) should successfully defend her junior title ahead of Phoebe McKnight (Hutt Valley High School) and Liliana Braun (Cashmere High School). The year nine girls should go to Charli Miller (St Peter’s Cambridge) from Lucy Burrell (Baradene College) and Esther Kozyniak (St Catherine’s). Leading contenders in the junior boys race include Jaxon Taylor (Southland Boys), Murdoch McIntyre (Westlake Boys) and Ayrton Shadbolt (St Andrews). Jude Darby (Westlake Boys) and Jamie Robertson (Kings College) should continue their rivalry in the year nine boys race. Three and six person teams champions will also be crowned. As well as the NZSS Cross Country Championships on Saturday, the inaugural New Zealand Schools Cross Country Relay Championships are being run on Sunday. Selected athletes in this race have the opportunity to represent their region competing in a five-person relay team in each of the year 9, junior and senior grades. Last year’s individual race winners were:
 Murdoch McIntyre winner of the Intermediate Boys Race The Westlake Cross Country Team had a very successful day at the Auckland Secondary School Cross Country Champs on Thursday 9 June in Pukekohe.
The team of 55 boys won seven of the nine Auckland Titles on offer over a tough hilly course in windy conditions. In the Junior grade the team won both the three and six person team titles with six runners finishing in the top thirteen. Judy Darby finished runner-up over the 4km course with Blair Hill 4th and JJ Weston in 6th place. They were well supported by Matt Gould 9th, Ben Lewis 10th and Arsh Kazi in 13th. In the Intermediate grade over 4km Murdoch McIntyre finished first leading the team to a three and six person team victory. With 115 runners in the race the Westlake team had six runners in the top 16. Murdoch was well supported by David Moore 3rd, Jesper Bengtsson 9th, Josh Spraggon 12th, Nikola Sovljanski 14th and Daniel Robertson 16th. Racing against the very best in Auckland the Senior Boys won the three person title. Dan Hoy won the Senior grade 6km race with teammate Joseph Clark runner-up and Bradley Hall in 5th. Strong performances from Euan Grigor 16th, Oliver Heal 19th and Oscar England 23rd led to a second place finish for the six person team. The team look forward to continue their success in the upcoming New Zealand Cross Country Championships in Rotorua on the 18th June. |
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