Whanganui High School Sports
Athletics Insight: Whanganui schools set for national cross country championships
Alec McNab
Columnist·Whanganui Chronicle
More than 850 athletes from 147 schools will compete in Trentham at the 52nd New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships.
This weekend’s event features six races over three grades, including Paras.
Whanganui athletes have grasped the opportunity provided by a venue only two and a half hours’ drive from home.
Last year in Whangārei there was only one athlete from a Whanganui school and in 2024 just 22 athletes (21 from Whanganui Collegiate and one from Whanganui High School) made the winter journey to Christchurch.
At Trentham’s Memorial Park in Upper Hutt, Whanganui Metropolitan Schools will be represented by 62 athletes from three schools, with two more from Ruapehu College. Nga Tawa, which is part of the Manawatū region, was well represented in the Far North last year and will have 25 running at this year’s championships.
Ruapehu College will be represented by Puliputi Wikohika in the Year 9 girls and Sam Williams in the senior boys.
Wikohika finished second in the Whanganui Schools Championships at Dudding Lake earlier this month and Williams was sixth in a strong Whanganui Schools senior race.
It is pleasing to see the two prepared to take the next step by making the journey south to compete at a national level.
Cullinane College has 14 athletes at Trentham and, for the first time in many years, is fielding teams in the junior boys (three- and six-to-score) and junior girls (three-to-score).
Cullinane won the three-to-score junior boys team event at the Whanganui Schools Championships with Miles Donald (2nd), Lincoln Beamsley (3rd) and Logan McBride (6th).
Whanganui Secondary Schools junior champion Grace O’Leary heads the Cullinane girls team. Aiden Billing will run in his first New Zealand Championships in the para grade.
O’Leary will be joined by Abigail Glasgow, Donald and Beamsley the next day as a mixed junior team representing Whanganui in the Regional Relays at the same venue. The relays are for teams of four running 2km in boys, girls and mixed grades.
Whanganui Collegiate School travels south with 21 athletes, including three and six-to-score teams in the junior girls and senior boys and three-to-score teams in the senior girls and junior boys.
At Dudding Lake, Whanganui Collegiate won all the girls’ team events. Hannah Byam, who has built a strong competitive CV, has the ability to finish high in a strong field. Ruby Bartley, Alex Jones and James Lupton were Whanganui grade winners.
There is strong local interest in the senior boys team event with Whanganui Collegiate seeking to reverse the Dudding Lake result over Whanganui High School.
For the first time in many years, Whanganui High School will be represented by three-to-score teams in all but the senior girls and also has a six-to-score team in the senior boys.
The 27 Whanganui High School athletes at Trentham are the fifth-largest entry of the 147 schools competing. The strong Westlake Boys team with 43 athletes has the largest entry, followed by Wellington College with 34. New Plymouth Boys’ High School (31) and St Peter’s School Cambridge (30) are the only other schools with larger teams.
Whanganui High School is especially strong in the senior boys grade, headed by Whanganui title winner Sean Frieslaar backed up by Xavier Brotherton, James McGregor and Alex Payne.
It is encouraging that the majority of the High School seniors are still in Year 11. At Year 9 level James Macpherson and Jess Matheson were second and third respectively at the Whanganui Schools Championships and head High School’s Year 9 challenge.
Nga Tawa has 25 entries which is 12.5% of the school roll. Bill Twiss has done an outstanding job encouraging and developing a strong programme at the Marton school which has competitive teams in all three grades.
In the Year 9 grade, the nine entries are headed by Mila Knox who was fourth at the Manawatū Schools Championships. Nga Tawa has eight entries in the junior girls, led by the well-performed Brooke Duffy after her win at Manawatū Schools, where she impressed completing the 3km in 10m 53s.
Nga Tawa is especially strong at the senior girls level. It has entered eight athletes and had six athletes in the top 10 at Manawatū Secondary Schools. Nga Tawa’s leading runner Holly Munday was second at Manawatū Schools, completing the 4km race in 15m 20s, just ahead of Madi Honeyfield, four seconds back in third.
I hope to report on some good Whanganui results from Trentham Memorial Park in next week’s Insight.
18/6/26