Four Aquinas students headed off to the sunny Hawkes Bay on the first weekend in December, for the NZSS Athletics and Road Race Championships. With 210 schools from all around the country present, competition was always going to be red hot! Our students represented us with great pride and determination.
The best performance came on Saturday morning. Yr 9 student Hannah McGregor competed in the Junior Girls Shot, pushing the steel ball out to 12.13 m. This outstanding effort gained her 4th place overall and demonstrated once again, how technical and skill based this event is. Hannah was throwing against much bigger, older and stronger girls. She amazed them and the crowd watching, with the way she performed! In her other events, (Discus, Hurdles and Long Jump) Hannah was not quite able to produce enough to progress to the finals. A point worth noting too, is that because of her age, Hannah has another year competing in this same age group. We look forward to her success in 2018!
Yr. 13 student Petra Gough ran well in her 300m Senior Girls Hurdles heat, but found the opposition too tough over the final gut-busting 70 m. Later in the day she took part in the pole vault and in clearing 2.90 m, finished in a very creditable 6th place. This event has really progressed over the last few years thanks to Eliza McCartney’s heroics at the 2016 Rio Olympics. A special thanks to Petra who has been a wonderful representative for the college over her years at Aquinas.
Sunday morning saw Yr. 9 students Reece McCarthy and Tom McCarroll take on a large field of 70 athletes in the 3 km Yr. 9 Boys’ Road Racing Championships. This was a brutal affair run in blisteringly hot weather. Reece ran an outstanding race and finished in 13th place overall, only 15 seconds slower than the winner (whose time of 9.05 secs was faster than the Under 16 Boy’s 3000m track time recorded the previous day). Tom McCarroll finished 35th .
Thanks to all parents and supporters who travelled to the event over the weekend. We look forward to seeing more of our athletes at various championships in the new year.
