One week after claiming seven out of nine titles at the Auckland Secondary School Cross Country Championships, the Westlake Cross Country team travelled to Rotorua for the highly anticipated New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships. The field of over 950 athletes from 120 schools took part in a variety of individual and team races held at the Agrodome – it was the first time in the annual cross country event’s 43-year history to take place in this area – Ngati Whakaue Tribal lands.
Racing against the best athletes in the country, Westlake lived up to its reputation of being one of the top performing Cross Country schools in the country, winning two of the three individual national titles as well as four from six titles on offer in the team events. The junior teams took out four of the four titles available in the national tournament!
Having finished runner-up for the last three years after winning the title in the 2012 junior event, Westlake Boys 2014 Sportsman of the Year, seventh form student Dan Hoy, took out top spot in the senior event, clocking a time of 19:22 for the 6km distance. Dan ran at the font of the field for the entire race, before attacking on the penultimate hill of the final lap, deservedly taking gold to finish off his Secondary Schools Cross Country chapter in style.
After his third podium placing last year, fourth form student Murdoch McIntyre made it two wins for Westlake Boys, taking the junior boys race by four seconds from the silver medallist. Murdoch’s winning time was 13:19 for the 4km distance.
New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country Champs
Saturday 18 June 2016 – Rotorua
Summary:
Westlake won two of the three Individual Titles
- Junior Boys 4000m – Murdoch McIntyre
- Senior Boys 6000m – Dan Hoy
Westlake won four out of the six titles in the team events – four out of four in the Junior Grades
Year 9 Boys
Three Person Team – Winners and Six Person Team – Winners
Jude Darby 9th
Blair Hill 10th
Matt Gould 22nd
Arsh Kazi 29th
Ben Lewis 32nd
Max Johnson 52nd
| Three Person Team | Six Person Team |
| Westlake Boys 41 penalty points
Wellington College 56 penalty points Hamilton Boys High School 68 penalty points Macleans College 74 penalty points Napier Boys 82 penalty points |
Westlake Boys 154 penalty points
Wellington College 159 penalty points Auckland Grammar 253 penalty points Hamilton Boys High School 308 penalty points New Plymouth Boys 323 penalty points |
Junior Boys
Three Person Team – Winners and Six Person Team Winners
Murdoch McIntyre 1st
David Moore 15th
Stuart Hofmeyr 20th
Josh Spraggon 23rd
Nikola Sovljanski 29th
Daniel Robertson 36th
| Three Person Team | Six Person Team |
| Westlake Boys 36 penalty points
Auckland Grammar 45 penalty points New Plymouth Boys 57 penalty points Wellington College 61 penalty points Palmerston North Boys 87 penalty points |
Westlake Boys 124 penalty points
Auckland Grammar 167 penalty points New Plymouth Boys 225 penalty points Wellington College 308 penalty points Kings College 462 penalty points |
Senior Boys
Three Person Team – Runners-up and Six Person Team – fifth place
Dan Hoy 1st
Joseph Clark 11th
Bradley Hall 40th
Euan Grigor
Oscar England
Lawrence Gao
| Three Person Team | Six Person Team |
| Hamilton Boys 42 penalty points
Westlake Boys 52 penalty points Sacred Heart College 57 penalty points New Plymouth Boys 73 penalty points St Bede’s College 77 penalty points |
Sacred Heart College 235 penalty points
Hamilton Boys 284 penalty points New Plymouth Boys 309 penalty points Wellington College 327 penalty points Westlake Boys 124 penalty points |
New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country
Regional Teams Relay
Sunday 19 June 2016 – Rotorua
Teams consist of the five top runners from a region, with each runner running 2000m.
Participating Regions: Auckland, North Harbour, Wellington, Counties Manukau, Waikato Bay of Plenty, East Coast North Island, Taranaki, Wanganui, Canterbury, Tasman, Southland, Otago, Wellington.
North Harbour Teams
Year 9 Boys (4/5)
Jude Darby, Blair Hill, Matt Gould, JJ Weston and Callum Hockey (Rangitoto)
Junior Boys (5/5)
Murdoch McIntyre, David Moore, Stuart Hofmeyr, Josh Spraggon, Nikola Sovljanski
Senior Boys (4/5)
Joseph Clark, Bradley Hall, Euan Grigor, Max Rickards, Sam Caldwalter (Mahurangi Bay)
Results
Junior Boys – Champions
The Team of five Westlake Boys defeat all 13 regional teams!
Year 9 Boys – Runners Up
Senior Boys – Fifth Place
