WHS athletes enjoy a record year

Sport Whanganui continues its review of college sport in the region, this week focusing on Whanganui High School.

ATHLETICS
School athletics this year at Whanganui High School was another successful year for the whole school. Having our four houses Awa, Maunga, Moana and Whenua made the day exciting with plenty of competitiveness and school spirit among everyone.

The competitive races were an eye opener to what an amazing job coach Greg Fromont and assistant coach Elaine Baker have done with our athletes here at WHS.

 

A school record was broken by Rebecca Baker first time in Senior Girls 1500m. This was last set in 1998 by Sarah McLeod with a time of 4.44.09. Baker broke this setting a time of 4.40.08.

WHS had 80 athletes compete at the WSS and it was a successful year for us having two school records broken. Karl Lobe broke the Intermediate Boys 800m record with a time of 1.59.15. This was last set in 2002 by Jamie Kauika with a time of 2.01.05. Travis Bayler also broke the Senior Boys 800m record with a time of 1.59.41. This was last set in 1997 by David Mangan with a time of 2.00 flat.

Students to win their event:

JG - Eliza Maxey 1st High Jump
IG - Maggie Jones 1st High Jump
IG - Kara Adrole 1st Javelin and Shot Put
IG - Rebekah Phillips 1st Triple Jump
IG - Paris Munro 1st 80m Hurdles
IB - Karl Loebe 1st Discus, Javelin, 800m and 100m Hurdles
IB - Vincent Ye 1st Long Jump and 400m
SG - Sophie Andrews 1st Discus
SG - Rebecca Baker 1st 1500m and 3000m
SB - Josefa Tamaniyaga 1st Discus
SB - Archie Smith 1st High Jump
SB - Travis Bayler 1st 800m

Our relay teams also did well with teams competing in both 4x100m and 4x400m for each grade and our Intermediate Boys and Senior Boys taking out their 4x100m race.

A selection of these students will be named in the North Island Secondary School Wanganui Athletic Team to compete in April in Tauranga.

SWIMMING
This year for Whanganui High School has been another success for our school swimming sports. Having our four houses Awa, Maunga, Moana and Whenua made the day more exciting with plenty of school spirit and competitiveness among everyone.

Not only did the A grade swimmers competed well but also the B grade swimmers. Many swimmers from both grades were selected to compete at WSS Swimming Champs.

WHS took 42 students to compete at the WSS Swimming Champs and it was another successful year for us.

The following students took out their grade:

U13 Boys - Henry Carver 1st 100m Backstroke and 1st 50m Backstroke
U13 Boys - Liam Cromar 1st 50m Butterfly
U13 Girls - Reeve Watson 1st 100m Freestyle and 1st 50m Freestyle
U13 Girls - Cayden Earles 1st 100m Breaststroke and 1st 100m Medley
U15 Boys - Nat Kirk 1st 50m Breaststroke
U15 Boys - Phoenix Grammaticogiannis 1st 100m Breaststroke and 1st 100m Medley
U15 Boys - Lennart Nowak 1st 50m Freestyle and 1st 50m Backstroke
U15 Boys - Ethan Bryers 1st 100m Freestyle, 1st 100m Backstroke and 1st 50m Butterfly
U15 Girls - Catherine Tidy 1st 100m Breaststroke
U15 Girls - Maggie Jones 1st 50m Freestyle
U15 Girls - Cheyenne Nightingale 1st 100m Freestyle, 1st 50m Butterfly and 1st 100m Medley
U15 Girls - Lucy Somerville 1st 100m Backstroke
16+ Boys - Connor Munro 1st 50m Freestyle
16+ Girls - Amelia Cronin 1st 100m Freestyle, 1st 50m Butterfly and 1st 100m Medley
16+ Girls - Sarya Lower 1st 100m Backstroke

Our relay teams also did really well with our U13 Girls, U13 Boys, U15 Girls and 16+ Girls winning their races.

WSS LIFESAVING
WHS took four teams to the WSS Lifesaving held at the Splash Centre. Our team did well with the girls team winning their section and the boys team coming runners up. Oliver Keelty also won the Male Instructor Award.

 

KAYAKING
This year we had students from WHS compete at the Sprint Kayak Nationals held at Lake Karapiro. With Whanganui taking away 18 crews the majority of the squad made up of WHS students competing in the Men's Premier division down to age group events including under 13, under 14 and under 18. In the u18 age group Lucas Thompson at stroke, Jack Clifton and Cameron Russell absolutely destroyed their rivals in the K4 200m winning gold. Our kayakers won 14 gold.

CYCLING
Whanganui High School student Jack Overweel won gold in the U15 Boys Derby at the Age Group Track Nationals. He also came 2nd U15 Boys 500M Time Trial, 2nd U15 Boys 7.5Km Points Race, 2nd  U15 Boys 500M Team Sprint (with Lachlan Foote) and 4th  U15 Boys Scratch Race 3000M. This is a New Zealand premier national track cycling event for Age Group riders from U15's through to Masters riders. Riders are selected to represent their Cycling Centres ensuring the top riders attend to race for national titles. Track cycling events involve a mix of speed, skill and tactics. The sport is highly competitive and hugely entertaining, and because events are raced in a velodrome, track is arguably the best type of cycling for spectators. 

JUDO
Whanganui High School student Keightley Watson has made the podium again with two medals at the 2019 Sydney Judo International. Following on his success in Canberra the previous weekend at the ACT Open where Watson won the Junior Men's 100kg+ division. In the Senior Men's 100kg+, Keightley had to settle for silver, losing to the Australian and Oceania No1 ranked heavyweight Liam Park, who he had beaten in the semifinals the previous week. Keightley Watson will have no down time since arriving back home, as preparations begins for the Asia-Pacific Championships, being held April 20-22 in the United Emirates at Fujairah, where he will represent New Zealand in the 100kg+ Senior Men's team.

ROWING
This year Whanganui High School took 27 students to compete at the North Island Secondary School Rowing Champs held at Lake Karapiro. The squad managed to race in 4 A finals and 5 B finals however were unable to finish on the podium but our crews worked tirelessly all weekend. This week they are away competing at the AON Maadi Cup Nationals held at Lake Karapiro.

SUMMER TOURNAMENT WEEK
Every year WHS takes teams to compete at Summer Tournament week. We have five teams away this week. A squad of 21 rowers are at the AON Maadi Cup Nationals at Lake Karapiro. We have a Boys and Girls Softball team in Gisborne at the Division 2 Secondary School Softball Nationals and our Boys and Girls Volleyball team are in Palmerston North competing at the New Zealand Secondary School Volleyball Champs.

 

College Sport
Sport Whanganui
Whanganui Chronicle 27/3/19