Pacific trip no holiday

CRAIG SIMCOX/The Dominion Post

ON TRACK: Taking on Oceania's athletes are, from left, Olivia Blundell, Vicky Paine and Kathryn Kennedy.

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The Northern Mariana Islands are the last place three of Wellington's most promising athletes expected to be this month.

But for Kathryn Kennedy, Olivia Blundell and Vicky Paine, the tiny group of Pacific Islands, with a population of 80,000, is where they hope to represent New Zealand with distinction when the Oceania track and field championships begin tomorrow.

The trio are part of an 18-strong national squad at the championships: Wellington Girls' College's deputy head girl Kennedy will tackle the 400 metres and triple jump, Samuel Marsden head girl Blundell is entered in the 100m, 100m hurdles and long jump, and Wairarapa College's Paine will run the 200m and 400m double.

Mike Beable, who coaches training partners Kennedy and Blundell, said they had not expected to be selected for the Pacific event, but strong performances at March's national track and field championships had pushed their cause. Kennedy won the under-16 long jump, Blundell placed second in the senior girls' 100m hurdles and Paine was third in the under-16 400m.

"This thing has come out of the blue and obviously they'll do their best," Beable said. "I don't think they knew about it [Oceania championships] to be honest, which is a nice thing in a way that it has happened, but it's pretty hard to prepare on less than two months' notice, so you can't expect top results."

Beable believed Kennedy, who captains her school's first XI football team, and Blundell, a talented netballer, have long-term potential.

"They're too young for me to put too much pressure on them and say they're going to be top New Zealand athletes, but Kathryn's already a New Zealand champion and Olivia certainly has the capability to be," he said. "I think she'll [Blundell] be a very good hurdler because she's got a lot of power. With Kathryn, it comes down to that difficult decision of which event to choose because the triple jump and the 400m are totally incompatible.

"They're obviously going to develop and they're going to be in the top echelon in New Zealand over time if they carry on."

Wellington athletes didn't bring home any individual gold but picked up two team gongs at the New Zealand secondary schools cross-country championships at New Plymouth's Francis Douglas Memorial College on Saturday.

Scots College's Nathan Barrett finished third in the 6km senior boys' race in 19min 57s, with St Pat's Silverstream's Corey Casey seventh in 20min 14s.

Wellington College won the six-person senior boys' teams event.

Wellington Girls' Barbara Roy (14min 53s) placed fifth in the 4km senior girls' race, ahead of Samuel Marsden's Anna Roche (14min 57s) and Wellington Girls' won the three-person senior girls' teams event.

Tawa College's Jack Oliver (13min 36s) finished third in the 4km junior boys' race, ahead of Rongotai College's sixth-placed Hassan Roble (13min 51s). Tawa were third in the three-person junior boys' teams event.

Hutt Valley High School's Emily Stotter (11min 26s) ran fourth in the 3km junior girls' race, with Wellington Girls' Jess Paton (11min 42s) seventh.

- © Fairfax NZ News