Athletes perform in competition
Paraparaumu Track and Field athletes have performed well recently at Hastings and Wellington, reports club captain Brian Seymour.
At the Potts Classic held in Hastings the club was represented by Jordan Stewart, Louis Northcott and Ben Lambert.
Jordan and Ben were competing in the open 100m against the country’s top sprinters.
Jordan qualified for the final, eventually running seventh in the final in a PB of 10.88.
This ranks him third in the country behind Eddie Osei Nketia and Jacob Stockwell.
Ben also ran a PB of 11.26 which ranks him fourth in New Zealand in the U18 grade.
This was outstanding as Ben is only 14 and has another two years in that grade.
Both are part of the national 4 x 100m relay squads who competed against the national senior team.
Jordan is in the under 20 squad which is endeavouring to qualify for the world junior championships.
Louis is in the under 20, 4 x 400m squad which held a camp in Hastings on the Sunday.
Wellington has a strong presence in the sprints right now with Cody Taylor one of the top seniors and Jordan and Isaac Oliver featuring in the under 20 grade.
The under 18 section is even more prominent with Oliver Krijnen ranked first, Zachariah Kingi third and Ben fourth.
At the Wellington championships Jordan won the U20, 100m and was second in the 200m, Ethan Calder Cass who has shown dramatic improvement this year was third in the U20, 100m Ben was third in the U18, 100m and 200m and Francis Mettrick was fourth in the U18 100m.
Louis also cleared 3m 60 for a PB in the pole vault.
Louis had a very busy weekend taking part in nine events.
He has the national decathlon champs in Christchurch coming up.
The Paraparaumu Club held its annual ribbon day at the domain this month with athletes from all over the region taking part.
The local club had a strong turnout, winning and placing in many events.
The event is sponsored by Coastlands and commenced in the late 1970s.
Competitors came from as far away as Feilding and Palmerston North.
Many of the local athletes have a busy time over the next few weeks with the secondary schools athletics getting under way.
The local colleges have their own events followed by the Te
Rauparaha Shield, Western Colleges, regional champs and the North Island Secondary Schools Champs in Hamilton.
For some the national champs take place on March 6, 7 and 8.
The Wellington Children’s Champs are scheduled for the middle of March and the Interprovincials, a teams event at Easter.