N.Z. juniors set national records at world titles

Press, 21 July 1986, Page 8

N.Z. juniors set national records at world titles

NZPA"staff correspondent . .. Athens, .Sonia Barry, of New Plymouth, set a new national junior record of 9mln 19.61 s when she finished eighth in the 3000 m final at the world junior.' athletics -championships in Athens on Saturday. • She clipped less than 0.2 s off the old mark of 9:19.8 set by Canterbury’s Sue Bruce in-' 1981 at Christchurch. Tracy Kennedy, of Invercargill, was tenth in the race in 9:21.94, 16s inside her best time set' before leaving New Zealand. Another New Zealand record fell in the men’s 4 by 400 m relay team when Grant Gilbert (Christchurch), Craig Purdy (Palmerston North), Jonathon Moyle (Auckland) and Scott Bowden (Christchurch) clocked an unofficial 3:11.7. The old record of 3:13.4 was set by the Waikato team in 1982. But the New Zealanders’ effort resulted in only fifth place and was not good enough to put them in the final. Andrea Stuart, of Wellington, made the final of the women’s 1500 m with a well judged run to fourth place in her heat in a time of 4:25.30. She trailed the field for much of the race but kept to the inside and ran no further than necessary. With one lap remaining she was sixth and took the fourth position she heeded to qualify during the

\ last 200 m. : \ “It has been a great day for New Zealand junior athletics. Two personal bests, >. two national records and An- ; drea Stuart in the final can’t > be bad by any standards,” ..said the New Zealand manager, Don Willoughby. “Sonia Barry and Tracy Kennedy both ran a solid >■ race. They gave it all they had and came up with two personal bests and a national record. And Tracy’s time was an amazing improvement” The two stayed together for most of the race, hovering at the back of the field of 15 until halfway before moving up to tenth and eleventh. They made up 30m to overtake the ninth placed runner with two laps left and Barry gained similar ground during the Anal 400 m to take another place. Stuart looked .comfortable throughout her race and finished very strongly. Her time was identical to the third placed runner and was only 0.23 s down on the heat winner, Suzy Favor of the United States. It was also nearly three seconds faster than the best winning time in the other two heats. Stuart will be the only New Zealander competing when the championships end today. Nearly 14,000 athletes from 146 countries have taken part in the competition at Athens* four-year-old Olympic Stadium.