Report: Auckland Secondary Schools Athletics Championships

The Auckland Grammar Athletics team finished the Term 1 School Athletics season at the Auckland Secondary Schools Championships at Mt Smart Stadium on Tuesday 26 March. 49 athletes competed across all events and managed to claim a total of 39 podium finishes, including 17 titles and mostly new personal best times across the board.

Form 3 student D. Overend picked up the first two Silver medals in the Junior category for the 80m and 300m hurdles respectively. Form 4 student T. O. Henderson, who won the 80m hurdles, gain a second gold in the High Jump at 1.71m. Other Gold medals were won by Form 3 students R. C. Davies in the 800m, S. Yushchenko in the 200m and L. J. N. Caffery in the Shot Put, with each athlete gaining at least one further Silver medal, in the 1500m for Davies, two Silvers for Yushchenko for the Long Jump and the Javelin and the Discus for Caffery. Form 3 student Z. L. Stanley won the Javelin after narrowly missing out on podium placings in the Long Jump and High Jump, thus ensuring that Grammar athletes had won six medals out of nine across all age grades, including all the gold. Two further Silver medals were won by Form 3 students Z. J. Johnston in the 2000m Steeplechase and J. L. Martin in the 200m.

In the intermediate grade, Form 4 student R. W. Walker was second in the 300m hurdles, he earned Bronze in the Javelin and teamed up with Form 5 students M. M. Browne, N. J. Stanley and L. C. R. Thomson to gain silver in the 4x100m relay. L. C. R. Thomson went on to win both the 100m and the 200m, while N. J. Stanley won Silver in the Long Jump. Form 4 student H. C. Day won the 800m in 1:59:34s, a repeat of his 2023 success, while Form 5 student M. E. Wilkins was in third. Wilkins also took home Bronze in the 150mm with fellow classmate T. C. L. MacDonald earning Bronze in the 2000m Steeplechase. Form 5 student M. K. Jacobs fell just short of a podium placing in the Shot Put but threw a personal best of 13.28m, A. K. Sharma jumped over 1.80m in the High Jump to secure Gold and O. D. D. B. Neely secured a second consecutive win in the Javelin with a throw of 47.84m.

Captain of Athletics J. A. Thomson won Silver in the Senior hammer throw and the 100m, as well as Gold in the Javelin (with a throw of 49.04m), and in the 4x100m relay together with Form 6 students T. Chu, C. G. Howlett and S. C. Paris in 43.67s. Howlett won two further Gold in the 300m Hurdles in a record-breaking time of 39.31s, and the Open 4x400m relays, alongside Form 5 student L. C. R. Thomson 5G, Form 6 student C. P. Wagener and Form 7 student R.W. Fitzpatrick. C.P. Wagener dominated the senior 3000m, running alone at the front for most of the race and established a new Auckland record of 8:26.73s. He also won the 1500m in 4:02.27s, just three seconds ahead of R. W. Fitzpatrick in second place after an exciting race that was contested to the last bend. Fitzpatrick then went on to claim Bronze in the 800m and Form 6 student M. C. Lindsay 6D was second in the 400m. Fellow classmate H. P. Mossman narrowly missed out on a podium placing in the Triple Jump by a few centimetres, but was selected into the Auckland team for the North Island Secondary Schools Championships. Form 7 student T. C. Fox won Bronze in the Senior Javelin, and the Senior B 4x400m relay team, comprising Form 5 student J. A. Smith and M. E. Wilkins and Form 6 students M. C. Lindsay and S. C. Randerson placed third.

Special thanks to Athletics coaches S. Blackwell and C. Oates and to Master in Charge of Athletics N. Leiseder for their ongoing support of the squad.