Sprint ace Sheat moving to Nelson
School’s out for Marlborough Girls’ College sprint ace Lucy Sheat.
The 18-year-old wound up her secondary school athletics career in the best possible fashion on Sunday.
She produced a couple of stunning efforts in Hastings at the weekend, winning both the senior 100m and 200m finals at the New Zealand schools track and field champs, setting a new national record and personal best time over the shorter distance.
Now, with her academic and sporting time at the college officially coming to an auspicious end, Sheat has decided to increase her commitment to track and field.
She is moving to Nelson in February to be closer to her longtime coach Dennis Kale.
‘‘I’ll just train and work. I’ve got a job at Rebel Sport so I can focus on my training with Dennis over there,’’ said Sheat, who will continue to compete for Marlborough.
She has several major commitments marked on her busy calendar. In mid-December she will take part in the Northern Region championships in Papakura, where she will participate in a national relay qualifying trial and individual events, followed in January by the Classic Series in Wellington, Whanganui and Hastings, then the Porritt Classic in Hamilton in February and the national champs in March.
Sheat feels she is on track to produce her best in the coming events.
‘‘The secondary schools gave me a lot of confidence, I’m feeling good.’’
In Hastings the 18-year-old eclipsed her previous 100m personal best of 11.68, recording 11.59 in the final and setting a new benchmark by breaking the record for the event. The previous mark of 11.66 was set by Kim Robertson at the inaugural NZ schools champs in 1973 and is the longest-standing record in the books.
Sheat’s time moved her to seventh on the all-time NZ women’s 100m list and is a qualifying standard for the world junior championships next year in Finland.
Confirmation was also received later in the week that her time is a new Tasman record for both women and women under-20 grades.
She previously held the record for both categories with her 11.68 mark, ironically also set in Hastings but at the Potts Classic back in 2016.
Last weekend she also flew down the track in the 200m, her time of 23.42 under her PB of 23.75 and potentially another meet record, before being ruled out due to wind assistance.
Asked what she puts her rapid improvement in times this year down to, Sheat says it is a case of ‘‘who, not what’’.
‘‘Just Dennis’s coaching really ... we have had a massive build-up this winter which I haven’t had previously due to being away overseas.
‘‘The planning that we have been able to do and being able to take time to slowly build up my strength and improve other areas, that has really helped.’’
She has also worked hard on her race management. ‘‘I’m not always going to be first out of the blocks so I just need to keep calm and do my own race ... focus on the process.’’
Although hard at work during the summer months building her fitness, strength and technique for forthcoming challenges, Sheat says she will get some time to relax over Christmas.
‘‘I’m think I will be able to treat myself a little on Christmas Day.’’