By Jonathan Leask  December 16 2009

Ashburton College had four athletes at the New Zealand secondary school athletic championships on the weekend at Aoaraki Park in Timaru.

Of those four athletes Sam Johnstone provided the top performance with a second place finish in the junior boys 800m with a time of 2:03.30 minutes.

 It was a personal best time as he shaved an impressive seven seconds of his previous best, which equates to an approximate distance of 45m or half the length of the straight.

 The result made all the more impressive considering the gusty winds the athletes had to deal with on the day.

 “It was hard running into the wind. But it would be blowing into you and then from behind you,” Johnstone said.

 It followed up his successful runs at the South Islands earlier in the year where he won the 800m and came second in the 400m.

 This weekend he heads to trials in Christchurch where he hopes to gain selection for the Canterbury athletics team to go and compete in Australia.

 His excellent results at the nationals also put him in the frame for the national squad for the world championships.

 The other Ashburton athletes also had some good results.

 Hayley Whiting made it into the senior girls 200m semi-final with a time of 26.70 seconds which was close to her best time. She was unlucky not to actually make the final as she recorded the seventh fastest time running from the semi-finals, but the top four finishers in each race qualified for the final, a situation which left her pretty gutted, she said.

 Adam Williamson was a finalist in the junior boys’ javelin, finishing eighth overall with a best throw of 39.57m, only 20cm short of his best, but he was also hampered by the conditions.

 “It wasn’t so easy to throw a javelin into the wind,” he said.

 Sam Briggs ran 11.9 seconds in the 100m and covered the 400m in 57.49 seconds. His times were not his best as he is still recovering from shoulder reconstructive surgery earlier this year.

Pictured: Junior New Zealand secondary school silver medallist Sam Johnstone (front) with other national athletes (back from left) Sam Briggs, Hayley Whiting and Adam Williamson. - Photo Carmen Rooney 151209-CR-163