Personal best efforts from a quartet of South Canterbury athletes helped Canterbury comfortably defend their youth Interprovincial Teams title in Hastings.
Canterbury held off Auckland and Wellington in the 12 and 13-year-old competition by amassing 115,116 points, almost 5000 ahead of Auckland.
Each competitor was awarded points against a time and distance chart for their efforts, similar to decathlon scoring, and they were totalled against the 11 other regions competing.
While it is a team event, individual times and placings are recorded, with South Canterbury’s Christina Ryan putting in the third-best overall effort in the 12-year-old girls.
Ryan amassed 2527 points for Canterbury in winning the 80m hurdles and finishing fourth in the long jump. A personal best by four metres in the discus allowed her to record a throw of 27.53m.
Jacob Matson proved he is in the country’s elite for his age in sprinting.
The 13-year-old was first in the 400m in a personal best of 54.94s.
Matson also finished second to Counties-Manakau’s Brett Farrell in the 100m by just 0.04s, stopping the clock in 12.29s.
He was also placed third in the 200m, but the head wind was very strong over the two shorter distances and did not allow Matson to challenge his personal best times.
Lauren Bruce finished fifth in the 13-year-old discus with a 26.51m throw. She was also in the top 10 for the high jump and put the shot out 9.11m for a personal best effort.
Mac Basford recorded a personal best in the 400m in the 12-year-old race, recording 64.25s.
Basford also finished eighth in the 80m hurdles and was part of the winning four by 100m mixed relay team.
Matson also helped Canterbury win the boys 13 medley relay, while Bruce’s relay team finished third, wrapping up a good effort by all four.
