Moffitt, Brown seek to defend titles

OTAGO’S top school athletes will be hoping to make full use of their hometrack advantage this weekend.

The national secondary school track and field championship begins today and runs through to late on Sunday afternoon at the Caledonian Ground.

Among Otago’s best prospects will be two athletes seeking to defend the titles they won last year.

Otago Boys’ High School’s Cameron Moffitt was last year’s junior boys 100m hurdles champion and lines up in the event again this year.

He will also compete in the 300m hurdles.

King’s High School’s Alex Brown will be looking for

another gold in the open 3000m walk.

The region’s other gold medallist from last year, Dunstan High School’s Tegan Chapman, will hope to repeat her success from the junior grade in the senior triple jump this year.

Both hurdlers and jumpers feature prominently among the other contenders, too.

Taieri College’s Tara McNally is the No 1ranked under18 300m hurdler in the country and is also ranked fourth in the 100m hurdles.

She will be a favourite in the senior races, while St Hilda’s Collegiate’s Sarah Langsbury will be a contender in the junior races over both distances.

Langsbury is also a chance in the junior long jump, as is Otago Girls’ High School’s Emma McKay, who will also seek to build on her silver medal in last year’s triple jump.

Otago Girls’ also has a medal contender in the high jump in Taylor Thorne, who delivered an impressive 1.68m jump last weekend.

Taieri’s Hamish Mears and Zharna Beattie will both be in the hunt in the senior shot put and discus for boys and girls respectively.

Tokomairiro Area School’s Ethan Walker and Blue Mountain College’s Mikairi BeauchampMoore both move to the senior grade.

They won silver in the junior boys and girls javelin respectively last year.

On the track, John McGlashan College’s Josh Hou figures to be among the leading hopes.

He will be eyeing a title in both the junior boys 800m and 4km road race, coming off a very impressive 12 months.

Otago Boys’ pupil Nathan Hill is will also be seeking a medal in the senior 1500m, 3000m or 6km road race, while King’s runner William Scharpf will contend in the 800m and 1500m.

Mount Aspiring College’s Abby Fisher, who looks to be the best chance in the sprints, will contest the junior girls 100m.

Fellow sprinters Michael Manson, of Otago Boys’, and Flynn Murdoch, of King’s, could also be chances of sneaking into medal spots.

John McGlashan paraathlete Liam Wilson has also had a strong season and will be hoping for big performances in the junior para 100m, 200m and long jump.

Otago schools also had an impressive showing in the relays last year and several will be looking to back up those performances.

The championships begin today at 1pm and run from 9am tomorrow and Sunday.