Young Kiwis lead medal count

New Zealand may have only brought its under-18 team to the 2008 Oceania Championships, but that didn’t prevent the kiwis from scooping gold and silver medals in the Cross Country event early yesterday morning at the Laolao Bay Golf Resort.

With Laura Nagel and Danielle Trevis finishing first and second in the women’s 3-kilometer run, New Zealand finds itself on top of the medal standings of the biennial athletics event.

Team manager Joan Merelisse said to begin with New Zealand wanted to bring along both its open and under-18 teams to Saipan, but the prohibitive cost of airfare—NZ$4,500 per head—scuttled that plan from the onset.

“It’s more like a developmental squad. For all of these guys, it’s actually their first international experience so it’s really been very good. We have a good group of kids and it’s a lovely place for them to go to,” she said.

Kiwi head coach Ed Fern, for his part, noted that despite the absence of New Zealand’s “A-Team,” he still expects the black and white to put on a good performance in the Championships.

“We are very strong in the field events and we have some very good sprinters and distance runners. We have a thrower (William Hubber) who is extremely good. The kids that we brought [to Saipan] are of very high caliber in New Zealand,” he said.

Fern sounds optimistic about his under-18 team’s chances in the Championships, but when asked if he has a medal count in mind for his team, he said he doesn’t believe in prognosticating.

He, however, is happy that his kids got a lot of experience in the 2008 Oceania Grand Prix and are expected to learn more about the ropes of international competition in the 2008 Oceania Championships.

“All of these kids are in high school. We have another competition later this year, the Commonwealth Youth Games, and that goes up to 19. So our top kids that are just older than who we have here will be going to that and there will be a few from this age group as well, who are a little bit of a higher level,” said Fern.

Merelisse and Fern said, so far, they and their athletes have enjoyed their five-day stay on Saipan. They specially like the food catered to them by the organizers.

“We’re extremely happy about the food here. The variety of food that they serve us at the catered meals—three or four different kids of meat—are just absolutely fabulous. It’s amazing and it’s lovely. Everything is great,” they said.

Aside from a brief excursion to DFS Galleria Tuesday, the team mostly has been holed up at the Aquarius Beach Tower Hotel. Fern said they do plan to rent vans after the competition on Sunday “and bum around all day long.”

Coming from a country made famous by snow-capped mountains, you would think the Kiwis would find Saipan’s oppressive heat and humidity too much, but Merelisse and Fern said it’s not been an issue at all.

“I guess [it would affect] us the most because our country is probably the coolest of the countries that come here. But we haven’t really suffered that much,” said Fern.

The rest of the New Zealand under-18 team are Alex Jordan, Corey Casey, Daniel Fake, Joel Armstrong, John Kendall, Michael Cochrane, Nick Gerard, Rory Hoffmans, William Hubber, Emily Kinsler, Kathryn Kennedy, Kelsey Berryman, Kimberly Burke, Kirsten Hurley, Livvy Wilson, Rachel Peeters, and Tamara Antis.