STEPHEN HAUNCH - Tapawera Area School
Tapawera’s proud tradition in the jumping events has gained another standout, with Year 11 student Breeze Streeter-Mantell stepping onto the South Island podium after a demanding week of sport.
For more than a decade, Tapawera has produced several notable athletes in the jumps, with competitors representing the area at South Island and national level.
That legacy stretches back to Chris Brake, who won three gold medals at the 2013 national championships, followed by Tess Haunch, who achieved placings at both South Island and national competitions in the triple jump. More recently, Bronco MacDonald set a regional record and secured a South Island placing in the triple jump.
Last season, Breeze began her own athletics journey with success in both the long jump and triple jump. She set new school records and achieved regional success in both events, recording personal bests along the way.
What makes her progress particularly notable is that Breeze has never been formally involved in athletics. A natural talent, she has developed her technique on the school field and built her fitness alongside other sports, including preparation for the TOSI tournament.
This year presented a new challenge, with Breeze facing the task of competing in Christchurch following a full week of sporting competition in Tapawera.
After the TOSI prizegiving on Friday, she travelled south to test herself against the region’s best. On Saturday, she delivered a personal best of 10.24m in the under-17 triple jump, finishing third.
Sunday’s long jump saw a slight drop from her peak performance, but she still claimed fifth place. Had she matched her 4.92m jump from regionals, she would have finished second.
Despite the fatigue and pressure, Breeze’s dedication and resilience stood out. Tapawera has reason to be proud as she continues her athletics journey.
Athletics Day
The annual Athletics took place this term with a great turnout and some impressive results along the way. The House competition was well contested, starting with the 3000m the previous week.
Hunter Page set a new record for U19 boys with a time of 10.45mins beating the time of 10.57 minutes set by Dylan Morris in 2010. On the day itself, Breeze Streeter Mantell broke records in the 200m and 100m. In the 14-15 girls 200m she improved her open record of 27.50secs to 27.34secs and in the 100m she broke a record from 1991 set by Leah Morgan of 14.27secs by setting a new standard of 13.12secs.
It didn’t stop there; Levi Davis had an excellent run in the 800m setting a new standard of 2.29.29mins beating a record set by Johnny Tetau in the year 2000 of 2min 30.49.
In the House event, Motupiko did the double with first place in both the performance and participation categories.
Regional Athletics
This year, we managed to take a large team of 10 athletes. There were some notable performances during the day held at the Saxton Fields Track.
Logan Walsh managed a third place in the Triple Jump, Joseph Butcher was Third in the U19 boys Discus, and Breeze was third in the U17 girls 200m.
The girls' 4 x 100m relay team finished in second place in the U17 girls category, finishing behind the Marlborough girls. This team consisted of Alyse Clarke, Kiana Collins, Mela Jelinek, who ran an excellent bend and Breeze Streeter-Mantell, who secured our position.
Levi Davis, in his first competition, finished third in the Triple Jump. Harry Butcher, in his first competition, finished second in the boys U15 Discus with a throw of 25.76m In the U19 Javelin, Jada Jelinek finished first in the Javelin with a throw of 26.51m.
Breeze went on to set new records at this event in the Triple Jump coming first with a new personal best of 10.18m and coming first in the Long Jump with a new best of 4.92m. This meant that Harry, Breeze and Jada all qualified for the South Island competition which was to be held on the weekend after the TOSI tournament which was always going to be a big ask.
