Competing in the Australian Junior Youth Championships, members of IBS showed they are certainly among the best in the land. To achieve a PB at the most important meet of the season is great credit to not only the athletes but their coaches also. Having a very hectic season and having to meet standards to compete, athletes are always striving to meet that standard but to then come up with PB is even more creditable.
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Marie Luise Meier, in her final year as a junior, showed the talent that she has when she took out 5th placing in the under 20 women’s discus. Following in the footsteps of her aunty, Jacquie Meier – herself a former state rep, Marie Luise waited until the final throws to create a new PB for herself with a mighty throw of 45.85m, and is within striking distance of the club record of 47.85m held by Sue Culley.
Jye Shumak has again fallen to a countback but is now showing the consistency of clearing the high jump at 2m. Jye finished in 4th placing only to be beaten for the bronze on a countback but this talented young jumper has another year in under 20 and will revel in the challenge to be up there on the podium again at an Australian title.
Nicholas Horton finished in 10th placing in the same high jump, with a 1.90m showing the closeness of this event. He also finished a creditable 10th in the hurdles with a PB, and he too will have another year in this age bracket.
Jake Attwell walked himself to a PB in the gruelling 5km track walk – only having walked this distance once before to qualify. He took a massive 2secs off his former best to take out a well deserved 9th placing in the under 17 years title. Now he is tuned to this distance expect to see more of Jake, not only as a walker but a strong contender in distance running.
Emma Matthews has had a great year and her decision to change direction a little and concentrate on shorter sprints is paying off. She recorded two personal bests in the women’s under 15 100m (12.54) and 200m (25.94), finishing in 17th spot overall in the 200m and 19th in the 100m – and at the time of writing she will be contesting the state Little A’s titles, to finish off her successful season.
Hurdling/sprint sisters Ashlyn Adams and bigger sister Grace are a talented twosome when it comes to hurdling and although Grace has been injured and has hurdled very little over the longer 400m hurdles, her 12th placing in the under 17 years with a PB was a great performance and an indication that there is more to come as she steps up to the longer distance.
Younger sister Ashlyn was not be to be denied in her event – the women’s under 15 200m hurdles. Hurdling well to make the final, she finished in 7th spot, and although she admits that she would not have finished any higher, her time would have been better if not impeded by another athlete who fell into her lane.
The athletes will take a short break after a very hectic season but at the time of writing some are contesting the Little A’s state titles, an event that will finish the summer season on a high for our juniors.
Thanks are extended to all our members who acted as officials on the highly successful Tri the Gong. Used as a fund-raising event for our athletes, the event was conducted in extreme heat especially on the Sunday and organisers have extended their thanks for a job well done.
Meanwhile masters athletes have one more event to go to finish their summer season: The Australian Championships to be held in Perth over April 26-29.
Athletes and supporters are urged to read all emails and check our facebook page and website to see upcoming events including a. Winter series, b. Presentation evening, c. Annual general meeting.