Stoke School sprinter Micayla Whiti completed a double-double at the Colgate Games when she won the 100m and 200m at the South Island Colgate Games in Invercargill.
The talented 10-year-old had already won the sprint double at the North Island Colgate Games held in Hastings a week earlier. She completed the clean-sweep of the 10-year-old girls sprints, winning the 100m and 200m finals by big margins after cruising through the heats and semi-finals unbeaten in Invercargill on January 14-15.
But what was even more remarkable was the Athletics Richmond sprinter’s times. Micayla recorded personal bests at Hastings of 29.33secs in the 200m and a stunning 13.94sec in the 100m, only running slightly slower times in blustery conditions in Invercargill.
“It was so windy in Invercargill, I couldn’t go fast,” Micayla says. “But I got personal bests in Hastings which was cool.”
Micayla attributes her fast times to a lot of hard training and her coach Dennis Kale, who also has New Zealand age group 200m record holder Lucy Sheat in his squad.
“Lucy is amazing, I’m so lucky to train with her,” Micayla says. “She always tells me to do my best – I hope I can run as fast as her one day.”
Micayla’s sister Ashleigh, 12, also won a gold at Invercargill running the 200m leg in Athletics Richmond’s successful medley team with Lilly Zwart, Jacob Neal, Alex McGillivray and Kristal Bennett.
