Day 1
A very good first day of Open Heptathlon competition for Tiana Solley who won her 200m heat in 25.59 to sit in 5th place overall and 4th Australian. A PB of 14.34 in the 100m Hurdles, 1.69m High Jump and 3rd place in 12.29m in the Shot Put made it an excellent day all round for Tiana and we wish her all the best in the Long Jump, Javelin and 800m tomorrow.
Day 2
Tiana Solley finished fifth overall and fourth Australian in the Open Women’s Heptathlon with a score of 5274 points after narrowly fouling what appeared to be two Long Jumps in excess of 6 metres.
Aidan Dallinger finished 15th and 14th Australian in the Under 20 Men’s Triple Jump with a jump of 12.85m.
Congratulations to both Tiana and Aidan on these achievements in the pinnacle Open and Under 20 events section of the meet and thanks for your consistent efforts for the club week in week out over the years.
Day 3
You have to be pretty consistent and committed to make it to the Under 20s at Nationals and perform well and that’s exactly what Lee Martin has done in Adelaide finishing 8th in the Shot Put Final today recording a new PB of 15.27m.
Like Aidan Dallinger, Lee still has another year in the age group so well done Lee – plenty to look forward to!
Day 4
It was so pleasing today at the Nationals in Adelaide to see three good mates and talented up and comers from Marist Ashgrove in action.
Connor Campbell was 5th in his U16 400m heat with 53.82, Sania Elisala 6th in his U15 400m heat in 56.37 and Isaac Ting who only took up 400m Hurdles in January 6th in his U17 heat in 62.28.
From what I have observed over the past couple of years these three have enormous potential and a strong team environment to realise it in so well done on some good results today guys.
Well done also to Zel Van Loggerenberg 14th in 4:56.06 in the Under 15 1500m.
Tomorrow is Super Tuesday for Ashgrove Rangers here in Adelaide with a long list of emerging youngsters involved so wishing everyone all the best for their events.
Day 5
Well it certainly was a Super Tuesday for us with some excellent efforts by our ten athletes in action at the Nationals today here in Adelaide.
Sam Shaw ended up with Silver in the Under 13 200m with a PB of 25.56 into a 1.9 m/s headwind and then backed up as anchor leg for the Queensland Under 14 4 x 100m Relay claiming another Silver going down to Western Australia by 0.01 seconds after some serious trouble for Queensland at the first change.
Given Sam has had a hip flexor niggle since his Queensland Little Athletics State 100m record of 12.42 three weeks ago and only got back up to full speed in training last Thursday it was a top effort by an athlete whose ability to learn and adapt quickly to his craft is remarkable.
In the Girls Under 15 3000m that 1.9 m/s wind seemed to have increased but in spite of that we saw very good runs by Zel Van Loggerenberg 7th in 10:23.23 and Laura Bray 13th in 10:52.49.
In the Under 17 5k Walk held in hot conditions this morning Katie Bray was 7th in a good time of 31:10.03.
A handy 1.80m High Jump in the Under 17s saw Lyndon Maynard finish in equal 7th place after a very consistent season.
The Under 18 Shot Put saw Isaiah Burgess perform quite well for 8th place with a throw of 14.31m.
Similarly Cooper Lofts also topped off a very convincing season with 43.57m for 9th in the Under 16 Javelin.
In the Under 15 100m Hurdles Hayden Lockhart was 8th in 16.11 and Charlie Campion 9th in 16.12 with Hayden also 10th in Under 15 Long Jump with a 5.46m PB. Connor Campbell was 6th in his 100m Hurdles heat in 14.70.
Someone from South Australia came up to me today at the warm-up area and asked why Queensland is so good at athletics.
If that’s what the Olympic journey legacy ends up being – that more kids want to better themselves by getting involved and excelling at the sport – then the whole thing will have been well worthwhile.
Day 7
A bit quieter today at Nationals after all the intense action of yesterday but a real highlight for Sam Shaw and his mum Natalie as Sam scored an U13 100m Silver in 12.60 into a 2 m/s headwind to add to his growing tally of Silvers in the U13 200m and U14 4 x 100m yesterday.
We also had good efforts today from promising Marist hurdlers Connor Campbell 3rd in his U16 200m Hurdle heat in 28.16, Joseph Jackson 7th in Under 18 110m Hurdles heat in 18.93 and Charlie Campion 6th in Under 15 200m Hurdles heat in 31.39.
We are very appreciative of the terrific levels of effort and contribution that all of our up and coming athletes and parents have put in to help make this such a great meet for us so far.
Day 8
By and large apart from a bit of wind we have had great weather at the Nationals here in Adelaide for a whole week and then the rain came just in time for one of the trickiest events the 2k Steeplechase but it didn’t stop Laura Bray in spite of a sniffle from capturing a Bronze Medal in the Under 15 Girls race in 7:21.88.
Congratulations to Laura for her perseverance and hard work. Laura is pictured here with maestro Queensland and Toowong Harriers Steeplechase coach John Davis and we thank John for all the assistance he has given to Laura and so many other local youngsters taking up the event.
In other events today Zel Van Loggerenberg ran well for 7th in her U15 800m heat with 2:22.70 while Sam Shaw was 2nd in his U13 800m heat with 59.90 to qualify for tomorrow’s Final on the last day of the Championships.
Day 9
An exciting final day to wrap up nine days of action at the Nationals Track and Field in Adelaide.
Hayden Lockhart produced a new PB of 11.97m for 5th in Under 15 Triple Jump while Sam Shaw added two more Bronzes to his tally in the 400m with a 2 second PB of 57.58 in the U13 400m and the U14 Mixed 4 x 200m Relay.
Certainly it was a very enjoyable and interesting nine days of action with the growing interest in athletics seeing 3500 athletes in action.
The Mile End facility really allows the crowd to get up close to the action although warm up facilities are somewhat limited.
The Coach Education Seminars by Athletics Australia were excellent and will help inform our abilities to innovate at speed moving forward.
A big thanks to Athletics Australia, Queensland Athletics, the Officials, coaches, parents and athletes for a great meet.
And lastly I would also like to acknowledge our own on and off track support teams whose knowledge and continued contributions down through the years have put us in by far our strongest position ever to move forward and keep improving in Track and Field across the disciplines.
Medal Summary
Silver
Sam Shaw U13 100m/200m, U14 4 x 100m Relay
Bronze
Laura Bray U15 2000m Steeplechase
Sam Shaw U13 400m, U13 4 x 200m Mixed Relay
Congratulations to all athletes involved here on their remarkable achievements and to everyone who was involved in what was a very successful season across the disciplines.
