South Canterbury Amateur Athletics Club

Timaru Boys High School athlete Tyler Collings has made the cut in the revised Athletics New Zealand Rio squad for the 2016 Olympics.

Collings and his coach, Don Garland, have been invited to be members of the “silver” squad.

A total of 51 athletes have been named in two levels, gold and silver, for the next 12 months.

The squad standards were raised for stage two of the project but Collings still made the cut.

It was intended that with the higher standards imposed each year, the squad would be trimmed, but the number of athletes making the cut at stage two has both surprised and pleased Rio 2016 performance project manager Terry Lomax.

“We are finding that athletes are rising to the challenges put in front of them and that there is a big group of athletes striving for the ultimate goal of the project – a competitive team at Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”

Lomax stressed that the door is not closed to the athletes who have not been named in stage two and expects a number to rise to the challenge to make the squad. Herald staff

The squads:

Gold athletes: Zoe Ballantyne, Brendan Barnett, Matt Baxter, Kelsey Berryman, Portia Bing, Jesse Bryant, Peter Callagher, Hamish Carson, Dalton Coppins, Cameron French, Nick Gerrard, Margot Gibson, Madison Gipson, Cameron Graves, Paige Harwood, Joshua Hawkins, Ryan Howe, Pascal Kethers, Ben Langton-Burnell, Kieron McDonald, Brad Mathas, Julian Oakley, Florence Reynolds, Nicholas Southgate, Emma Sutherland, Tama Toki, Scott Walker, Andrew Whyte.

Silver athletes: Mohammed Ali, Greer Alsop, Hazel Bowering-Scott, Rochelle Coster, Richard Callister, Tyler Collings, Daniel Dyet, Hayden Hall, Marshall Hall, James Hutchens, Stephen Isaac, Mackenzie Keenan, Ellie McCleery, Nicki McFadzien, Sarah McSweeney, Fiona Morrison, EJ Nathan, Daniel O’Shea, Franco Patu, Charles Scannell, Ryan Tinkle, Lauren Wilson, Campbell Wu.

There were two outstanding performances by South Canterbury students at the South Island Secondary School Track and Field Championships in Timaru over the weekend.

Timaru Boys’ High School sprinter Tyler Collings showed great composure to win the 400m in the last individual event of the meeting and slash the 16-year-old record. Collings was strong on the bend and came home well to beat South Otago’s Andrew Whyte.

He stopped the clock in 48.31 seconds, taking 1.08sec off the old record set in 1995 by world junior representative Clyde McIntosh.

It was also a new personal best time for Collings and reversed the result of the New Zealand championships the weekend before against his New Zealand team-mate.

Roncalli’s James Sandilands was also impressive in winning the under-15 high jump, in a leap that beat his own personal best by four centimetres.

Sandilands overcame shin splints to clear 1.85m on his first attempt to win gold and beat the old mark set by Jess Bryant of St Bede’s College by a centimetre.

He also won the 80m hurdles in 11.62sec for an excellent double.

Sandilands also anchored the Roncalli 4 x 100m relay team that were pipped by Nayland College for gold by just one hundredths of a second.

The other big performance in the open grade was the outstanding win by the Timaru Boys’ High School’s 4 x 400 metres of Henry Chamberlain, Brett Clifford, Josh Westland and Collings.

They beat both Dunstan High and James Hargest High School by 50m in 3min 29.75sec.

TBHS’s Jonathon Lord walked away to win the open boys’ 3000-metre track walk in 14min 11sec in style.

In the boys’ under-16 grade TBHS’s Tom Cooper won the discus with a 43.47m effort while school-mate Sam Small won the javelin with a 48.93m throw.

In the boys’ under-14 grade Roncalli’s Jacob Matson was in a class of his own in taking out the 100m, 200m sprint double in 12.16sec and 24.27sec.

In the 200m he was so impressive he won by 15m and took the 100m easily as well.

Mountainview’s Leanne McKenzie took out the senior girls’ high jump clearing the bar at 1.67m, while in the field events Timaru Girls’ High School’s Rebecca Hodgson won the hammer.

South Canterbury schools also impressed in the girls’ under 16 age group.

Waimate’s Ruby Cochrane won the discus, while Roncalli’s Leanna Ryan took out a double in the long jump and 80m hurdles.

TGHS’s Caitlin Henderson won the javelin and Geraldine’s Louise Hefford took out the high jump.

In the girls’ under-15 Roncalli’s Brittany Cannell came home swiftly to beat St Margaret’s Laura Watt in the 200 metres, recording a time of 26.81sec.

In the girls’ under-14 events Craighead’s Lauren Bruce won both the hammer and triple jump.

PHOTO FINISH: Roncalli’s James Sandilands (right) was pipped at the finish line by one hundredths of a second in the 4 x 100m by Nayland College’s Thomas McGhee, at the South Island Secondary School Track and Field Championships.