From Track & Field Convenors, Jeremy Roff and Kyle Newbury
During the school holidays, while many boys still slept, the most enthusiastic of our athletes were at Queens Park three times a week from 8am. Working hard to catch up to last season’s highs, make improvements, and strive to improve on our never-ending search for personal bests.
Back at school in the new term, the boys had a maximum of six training sessions under their Waverlian belts before taking to the track at SOPAC against old rivals. With old and new faces alike, boys set themselves to doing their best, whether on the track or field, our athletes were keen to show their very best.
With some outstanding team and Waverley spirit displayed over the course of the day, it would be amiss not to mention a few special efforts. Our 13 and 14’s age group dominated throughout! Great news ahead for the Waverley Track and Field team in the coming years. Some special mentions include the following:
- Campbell Porteus in the 13s managed to make every holiday session, all six morning and afternoon weekly sessions and competed strongly across all sprints events.
- Pheonix Dale showed some early season greatness in the 800m and 1500m events cruising home to some great competitive times.
- 13’s relay Ricardo Zanapalis, Declan Minto, Deuchar “The Duke” Dezarnaulds and Campbell Porteus put in a gutsy relay performance to chase down Trinity in the last 20metres to claim 3rd place.
- Jared Garwood (14s) came back from a season off due to injury to show some serious wheels on the track, dominating in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay
- Zachary Straker ran the 200m and finished well in front of the main field for 1st place, beating his two Trinity counterparts comfortably.
- 14’s relay Connor Andrews, Jared Garwood, Zac Straker and Alejandro Zanapalis competed against five separate Knox relay teams (yes you read that right) to claim 2nd place.
As our Intermediate and Senior boys led the day, demonstrating their love for the school and personal growth, these boys showed that they bled Blue and Gold for the school, and demonstrated leadership to our younger athletes. Special mentions of the week include the following:
- Remy Compton-Lamb ran his first serious 400m run ever and may have permanently moved himself to the front of this event with an amazing achievement of running 54 seconds.
- Luke Marshall competed against an extremely strong Opens Hurdles outfit, and looked comfortable for his first outing of the season.
- Captain Thomas Jaeger rallied the group early for a team warm-up, demonstrating leadership and great team spirit.
With the season still young, the Track & Field team are very excited to see new faces and athletes down and joining the team. Whether you’re in Year 7-12, it’s never too early, or too late to join. Track & Field may at times be an individual sport, but it’s the team spirit and friendly competition that gets people home in record times, improved distances and always pushing for those personal bests. We encourage all athletes to get down to Queens Park on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to get involved and challenge themselves to be the better version of their current self.
Waves to Win!
