There were many very impressive performances by local athletes from Nowra Athletics Club at the 2015 Australian Junior Track and Field Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park last week. There were personal bests, National medals and even a world championship achievement.
Fifteen athletes from the Nowra Athletics Club competed at the Championships against the very best athletes from across Australia. Fifteen representatives from a country club like Nowra is an amazing effort, and a credit to the dedication and commitment of these young athletes and the support of their families and coaches.
The highlight of the Championships for Nowra was when discus thrower Samantha Peace achieved automatic selection for the IAAF world youth championships to be held in Cali, Columbia in July. Competing in the under-18 discus, Samantha started nervously with throws of 44.08m, 41.86m and 43.89m; all well below her five qualifying marks and personal best of 48.12m. Worse still she was in second place. “Sitting behind them going into the final made me realize that I needed to change my approach. Luckily a good friend had come to watch, so instead of going to the gate to see my coach, I went to have a good laugh. After this my muscles were relaxed and my mind was clear” said Samantha. The result was a 46.79m throw, her sixth qualifying mark and she moved back into the lead which she held until the end of competition. Samantha said “The feeling of securing my spot to Colombia was absolutely amazing, six years ago I set a wild long term goal of getting selected in this team, and walking off the field today realizing that it was actually happening was absolutely unreal. I am very excited to take the next step onto the world stage.” Samantha also won silver in the Under 20 discus with a throw of 47.04m – a bigger throw than her gold medal effort in the Under 18’s.
Another amazing achievement came from local athlete Zac Jones who competed in 8 events at the Championships and came away with a remarkable 7 National medals! In the under-20 men’s para 1500m championship, Zac ran 5:07.73 to take the title. Zac also won two silvers for the 200m and 800m, and 4 bronze medals for the 400m, long jump, discus and shot. What an absolute champion effort!
One more Australian champion amongst our midst is Arron Spiessberger-Parker who won the National title in the Under 20 5000m in a time of 15.02.84. Well done Arron.
Achieving personal bests at the championships included Clare Dobson in the 2000m steeplechase. Clare went into the race ranked 20th and finished with a 12th place. Brother Hugh Dobson also ran strongly in his steeplechase event; ending it with a gutsy sprint finish for 14th place.
Young Victoria Kennedy gave it her all against athletes much bigger and taller to finish 15th in her first National steeplechase.
Annette Peace threw well in the field events to finish 12th in the Under 15 hammer and 5th in the discus while Siwa Harvey-Aziz threw his way into 8th place in the Mens Under 15 discus.
Sprinter Zac Havadjia was elated to finish 3rd in his heat of the under 18 200m and qualify for the final. However coming onto the bend in the final Zac tore his hamstring and courageously finished the race to take 8th place, before being stretchered off the track. Zac was unfortunately unable to compete in the rest of the championships due to his injury and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Jye Edwards narrowly missed out on a national medal finishing 4th in the Under 18 800m final. Jye also ran in the 1500m and finished 8th in his heat.
Shenay Edwards ran well in the Under 16 800m for a 6th place in her heat in a time of 2.21.38 while Jade Mustapic finished 7th in her heat in the under 15 800m. Jade also competed in the 400m where she ran in 4th in her heat.
Harry McGill was battling illness during the championships but still managed to place a creditable 12th in the Under 18 3000m and qualify for the 1500m final after a 6th place finish in his heat. Illness got the better of him in the end and he was unfortunately unable to compete in the final.
Jake Myors ran against the best Australian athletes as well as 6 New Zealand competitors in the Under 20 1500m and clocked up a time of 4.10.80 for his event.
The youngest of the Nowra competitors, Jess O’Donnell, proved that age is no barrier as she lined up in the Under 14 100m sprint. Jess did herself proud as she sprinted in for a fifth place in a fast time of 13.34, finishing up 18th overall from 30 of the best in Australia in her age group.
It was a tremendous effort from all the athletes involved in the Championships.