Outstanding discus throw takes limelight at QEII

Press, 11 December 1989, Page 27

Outstanding discus throw takes limelight at QEII

A mighty discus throw of 57.2 m by one of Canterbury’s most promising young field athletes, Chris Mene (Papa-nui-Toc H), stole the limelight in the Trust Bank Canterbury inter-club track and field meeting at Queen Elizabeth II Park on Saturday. The performance was just I.lom short of the New Zealand record, held by Commonwealth Games selection, Courtney Ireland, aged 17, of Waikato, and easily the best by an under-18 athlete in Canterbury. Mene’s listed Canterbury record of 55.06 m was bettered four times during his sequence, but the old record will stand. The event was not officially programmed, so Mene cannot claim his performances as new records. This is hardly likely to diminish his satisfaction, however. Throwing into a slight head wind, Mene achieved his big throw in the last round. Before that, he

had distances of 55.18 m, 55.60 m and 56.14 m. Mene also won the under--18 shot with a distance of 12.86 m. Another outstanding performance came in the men’s 3000 m steeplechase. Paul Smith (Olympic), the Canterbury cross-country-champion, achieved his best performance on the track so far with a splendid win in 8:58.9, a personal best. The runner-up was Duane Humphreys (New Brighton) in 9:14.7. Smith, who had a late start to the season, was later' named as the senior “Athlete of the Week.” The junior award went to Cheryl Murray (CashmereHillmorton) for her excellent win in the open 400 m in 58s. An under-18 competitor, Murray won the New Zealand secondary schools 800 m championship a week earlier and, before that, was a meritorious seventh in the final of the senior New Zealand 800 m championship at Auckland.

Chris Wilkinson (PapanuiToc H) moved up a rung or two on the national long jump ranking list with a superb leap of 7.10 m in the senior contest. This left him comfortably ahead of his nearest challenger, Brent Devlin (Greymouth), whose contestbest was 6.90 m. Wilkinson also gained second place in the senior 200 m sprint in a very close finish with Craig Galilee (Old Boys-United). Both were credited with the same time, 21.85, but first place was awarded to Galilee. Earlier in the day, Galilee won the senior 100 m in a smart 10.9 s from Anthony Doreen (Old Boys-United). A visitor from England, Mark Bishop, won the javelin with a solid throw of 52.40 m. Another impressive field event performance came from the Commonwealth Games selection, Janice Maxwell (Technical), in the women’s shot. She sent the metal ball thudding out to

14.31 m. Tania Lutton (Technical) was the runner-up, with 13.71 m. Debbie Nelson (New Brighton), third in the national 1500 m championship a fortnight earlier, was unsuccessful in her attempt to better the Games qualifying standard of 4.16. The blustery wind helped defeat her, but her run was still a worthy effort. She stopped the watches at 4:23.2, a personal best by more than 5 seconds. The performance has encouraged her to try again. This will probably be next Saturday. Debbie Sheddan (Olympic), who cracked the 1500 m standard a week earlier, changed her mind about attempting to qualify in the 3000 m on Saturday. She and her coach (Mr Bob Grieve) decided that she had done enough to warrant selection. Sheddan was overjoyed to learn that her run of 4:15.2 had been approved by the Canterbury Athletic Centre as a new provincial record. The

time was set in an open race against male competition. Sarah Lynn (Papanui-Toc H), a young athlete of considerable potential, won the senior 100 m sprint in 12.5 s and later completed an excellent double with a fine win in the 100 m hurdles in 14.85. Her sister, Adrienne Lynn (Papanui-Toc H), also ended the day with a double success. She won the under-18 high jump with a clearance of 1.60 m, and the under 18 discus with a distance of 42.22 m. . Rob Howell (St Martins) ran a well-judged race in the 1500 m, winning in 3:56.5 from John Greenwood (Old BoysUnited). Greenwood, a particularly determined and gritty performer, narrowly held off the well-performed junior, Pen Trevella (Christchurch Boys’ High School), who had to settle for third in a time three-tenths of a second slower. Richard Lindroos (Old Boys-United) comfortably won the open 3000 m in 8:31.1.