Otago competitors bag three titles
THREE Otago athletes claimed South Island combined events titles at the weekend.
Cameron Miller and Felix McDonald were winners in their respective grades in the decathlon championships, while Tara McNally claimed a heptathlon title in Timaru.
Miller had the toughest competition, scoring 6061 points to beat secondplaced Jared Neighbours on 5285 in the under18 grade.
The Hill CityUniversity athlete claimed victory in seven of the 10 events in a dominant display.
He opened up a major gap in the 1500m, in which he blitzed the field in 4min 31.86sec.
That was nearly 50sec ahead of secondplaced Neighbours and racked up 732 points to Neighbours’ 450.
He also cracked 700 points in both the 100m and 400m, running 11.69sec and 52.5sec respectively.
Taieri’s McDonald was in a competition by himself, although he posted a handy 6458 points to claim the under20 title.
His best scoring performance came in the 400m, with a time of 49.80sec securing 824 points.
He also managed 800 points in both the long jump and 100m, with a distance of 6.98m in the long jump and time of 11.25sec in the 100m.
In the women’s under16 heptathlon,
McNally, of Taieri, accumulated 3752 points and won six of the seven events to claim the title. She beat Christchurch’s Caroline Richards, who finished with 3181 points.
McNally’s highest scoring event was the 80m hurdles, in she ran 12.67sec to score 735.
Taieri’s Joccoaa Palmer finished second in the under20 women’s heptathlon, with 3410 points, beaten by South Canterbury’s Christina Ryan, on 3410 points.