The State Track and Field Championships for Little Athletics NSW were held on the weekend at SOPAC. The State Track and Field Championships are the culmination of the track & field competition season and there were several junior athletes who are also members of Nowra Athletics Club who qualified for these Championships.
These junior athletes competed with outstanding sportsmanship, determination and enthusiasm with many achieving personal bests.
Lara Check jumped to a silver medal in the U14 high jump, clearing 1.62 metres. Lara was over the moon with this achievement, even though it was 1cm below her personal best which she jumped at Regionals. It was a medal well deserved after training determinedly. In long jump Lara placed 12th and she also placed 14th in the 200m hurdles.
Hugh Dobson added another silver medal to his collection with a 2nd place in the U17 3000m in a time of 9.11.55 minutes.
Young Jasmine Wheeler had a busy competition qualifying for 4 events. After placing 2nd in her hurdles heat Jasmine went on to win a silver medal in the U9 60m hurdles in 10.07 seconds. Jasmine also placed 18th in 100m and 17th in 70m as well as jumping to 4th place in the long jump. Sister Lily Wheeler was jumping high over the weekend with a 9th place in the U15 high jump after clearing 1.45m and a 4th place jump of 10.92m in the triple jump event.
Lauren Percival who is a member of Ulladulla Little Athletics Club continued her strong athletics season with a 5th place in the U14 100m in 12.59 seconds and a 5th place in the 200m in 25.92 seconds. Lauren also leapt 4.52 metres to place 20th amongst a large field in the long jump.
Will Maher ran strongly to take the bronze medal in the U15-17 multi-class 100m run and looked proud as punch on the podium. Will also placed 4th in the multi-class discus.
Kynan Miller excelled in his event of the U9-10 multi-class discus winning gold with a throw of 13.98 metres. He also took gold in the long jump and silver in the 100m. Meanwhile sister Talea Miller placed 17th in the U11 discus.
In the field Ebony Johnson tested her throwing arm with a top 20 placing in both the U17 javelin (15th) and discus (18th). Jayla Beresford also competed in the throwing arena with a placing of 22nd in the U12 javelin after spearing 15.11metres.
Reilly Caswell placed 5th in his heat of the U11 400m, placing him 10th overall and Hannah Brian ran a PB of 27.51 to place 17th in the U13 200m.
Mikayla Check was valiant in the U17 300m hurdles placing 4th in her heat, and 10th overall despite being plagued again by illness.
Alec Dobson ran a massive 15 second PB in the U13 3000m race finishing 8th and Alisha Mustapic competed well in her first State competition in the U11 800m finishing 22nd overall from a strong field. Ryan Smith contested the 1500m in the U13 group placing 16th in 5.02.3.
There were 3 athletes that competed in both middle distance events of 800m and 1500m with all achieving some personal best times. Jesse Buckham ran hard to place 5th in the U17 1500m with a huge 7 second PB, clocking 4.19.19 minutes. In the 800m he placed 12th in 2.04.72 minutes whilst Max Buckham ran 9th in the U15 1500m then backed it up with a PB in the 800m placing 12th. Will Dyball was outstanding at his first State competition with a 10 second PB in the U13 1500m and a 14th place and another PB of 2.25.66 in the 800m placing 17th.
Congratulations to all these athletes on a fantastic season.
Cooper takes a National Bronze!