Members of Illawarra Blue Stars have ended the summer season on a high with some outstanding performances in recent major meets.
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Our athletes contesting the Australian Open and Youth Titles were outstanding and the performances now rank them amongst the best in the land. What an effort for young Grace Adams to bring home the bronze medal in the girls under 16 200m hurdles in a time of 29.14. She backed this up with a finals spot in the short hurdles over 90m to gain 8th spot in a time of 13.63. Younger sister Ashlyn competing in the under 14 girls also made the final of the short hurdles to finish in 7th spot in a time of 13.49.
Jye Shumack has finally done it – a brilliant 2m in the high jump, and although he was beaten on a countback for 3rd spot, his magic 2m shows this talented young man has the ability to go even further. He was joined by clubmate Nicholas Horton who qualified for three events to take out 14th in the hurdles in 15.44, 6th in triple jump with 12.99m and 8th in the high jump with 1.95m, showing how close the high jump competition was.
Chelsea Lenarduzzi could not produce the form of last year and finished in a good 4th in the open women’s shot with 14.17m but considering her injuries, it was a great effort.
Sprinters Kyle Grubnic was again an unlucky racer, just missing the open men’s 100m semi-final. His heat time of 11.11 placed him 25th overall while Lachlan Parry took out 36th spot in a time of 11.27 in a highly contested open 100m. Female sprinter Stephanie Power was lucky to make it to the start line but her time of 12.66 placed her in 39th overall in the women’s open 100m.
Connor Dymond was placed 10th in his hurdles, this young man showing a lot of potential as a very good all round athlete in sprinting and hurdling.
Whilst our senior and junior athletes fought it out in Australian titles, our masters athletes did battle with the rest of the world in South Korea. Competing in the World Masters Indoor Championships, once again the three athletes did themselves and their club proud. Sprinter Lynda Douglas ran her debut indoor race over 60m, taking out 3rd in a time of 8.71. Lynda contested the women’s 54/59 age bracket.
She followed this up with a good 4th spot in the 200m in a time of 29.52. A silver medal in the women’s Aussie relay team capped a top championship for her.
Contesting the 50/54 age bracket Giana Mogentale was just edged out for 3rd (4th spot) over 60m in a time of 8.46, then backed this up with a 5th spot in the 200m in 28.30. But her 400m was the impressive run to bring home the bronze medal in a hard fought competitive race. Gianna’s time was 65.01. She then teamed with a very good Australian team to take out the gold medal in the 4x200m.
What can we say about Mary Thomas, many say getting better with age. Competing in the 70/74 age bracket, she thrives on competition and her five gold medals justifies this. She took gold in the hammer (28.36m), gold in javelin (21.29m), gold in discus (22.53m), gold in weight throw (10.34m) and gold in the shot with 8.08m to give her a highly successful championship.
Masters athletes will now have to wait till June for their own Australian titles, due to the event being held in Darwin. This gives them one of the longest summer seasons they’ve had.