Sweet taste of McEvedy sucess

BY PENNY MILES

Beaming with pride, St Pat's Town athletics captain Yarride Rosario rated the McEvedy Shield win as his career highlight.

Rosario, 16, the top-ranked under-17 sprinter in the country, said his school's pumped-up victory yesterday, over bigger cross-town rival Wellington College in the prestigious schoolboys' athletics competition, was by far his sweetest moment.

And for Rosario there were significant comparisons to make. Lifting the historic shield on the Newtown Park track meant more than wearing the silver fern or winning a national secondary schools sprint title. "It's amazing. I wish I could live this moment every day of my life," said Rosario, after he was swamped by frenzied St Pat's Town boys at the finish of the senior 4x100m relay.

"Especially winning that last race. That was indescribable."

St Pat's Town beat Wellington College by 185 points to 172, with St Pat's Silverstream and Rongotai well off the pace. Rosario said the margin was too close to call until the last of the four relays.

After claiming the senior sprint double earlier in the day, he anchored the St Pat's senior 4x100m team in 43.47sec to seal the satisfying victory.

"Before the relays it was touch and go. I didn't want to believe we had it until the last race," he said.

He paid tribute to the work of his squad, saying fellow team captains Matt Proctor and Stephen Isaac led by example.

Proctor won the senior high jump at his last attempt when he cleared 1.89m, and the long jump in 6.41m.

Philip Peni, in winning the under-16 shot put in 13.16m, and the discus in 38.42m, kept St Pat's Town in the hunt in the field.

"We dominated on the track last year, but this time we knew we had to work on our field events," Rosario said.

"All holidays, lunchtimes, we've put in a real effort this year. Losing last year really helped motivate us.

"It was a real team effort. The boys had self-belief."

Next week Rosario is off to Sydney to represent New Zealand at the under-18 Oceania championships. He signalled strong form yesterday, winning the senior 100m in 11.11sec and 200m in 22.58sec.

Wellington College had been in touch on points all day but their challenge fell flat in two of the four relays, with disqualification from the under-14 and under-16 events due to baton mishaps.

Records fell in the junior events with a new mark in the under-14 400m to Fletcher Greaves (St Pat's Stream) in 54.51sec. Rongotai's Barkhad Mohamed claimed the under-14 400m, 800m and 1500m titles.

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