Illawarra Blue Stars athletes had a great few days and two of the members, Grace Adams and Emma Matthews are now off to the Australian titles after their fabulous efforts in both sprints and hurdles. Emma captured a well deserved silver medal in the girls’ 15 years 100m whilst Grace took out the silver medal in her 100m hurdles 16 years in a new personal best time.

Emma had a dream run and after her good 200m. Her silver in the 100m now stamps her as one of the quickest young girls at this age in Australia. Grace followed her 2nd up with a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles also in a new PB. She also sprinted well in both the 100 and 200m.

Younger sister Ashlyn was a little unlucky not to be chosen after she clipped a hurdle but she backed this up with good sprinting in both her 100 and 200 and then took out bronze in the girls’ 14yrs 90m hurdles also in a personal best time. Only two athletes in each event are selected for the Australian titles, so she can class herself unlucky but she will have the Youth titles to look forward to later in the season.

Walker Jake Attwell is another who performed well and took the bronze medal in the 5km track walk. He too just missed a berth by one place. Great to see the performance of thrower Grace Meier, who finished a well earnt  5th placing in the girls’ 17 years hammer. With coaching and training she will develop into a fine young thrower. Clubmate Charlotte Smith took out a good 6th in the girls’ 14 years javelin and is now starting to throw consistently over the 30m mark.

Unlucky for high jumper Grace Shaw who withdrew a day beforehand with illness and on her past CCC success and the height she cleared she would have placed second. Grace, at the CCC choose not to go any higher when she had the event won, so who knows what this young lady is capable of. Andrew Lau is showing he is improving with each competition whilst Jonty Faulkner chose to run the 100m at this meet, and only just missed the semi-final by a small margin. Hurdler Abby Cox just missed the final of the hurdles in her age bracket.

All-round performances were very good, and we wish our athletes the best of luck for the Australian All Schools when all student athletes gather from over the country.

Meanwhile, senior athlete Connor Dymond has started the season well with a good second placing in the University Games.  Dymond took out 2nd placing in the open hurdles, in an early season time of 16.14 over the 110m. Competition at this meet was also of a high standard with  many of the nation’s leading athletes attending university and eligible to compete.

Sprinters Cameron Chisholm and Chris Devery showed early season speed both running well to make the semi-finals of both 100 and 200m sprints. This competition has now shown them what they are capable of doing as the season progresses. Chisholm has returned from overseas and his form early indicates that he will be a force throughout the summer.

Blue Stars have started the summer and from indications of our first rounds, it looks like the club is in for a good season. Membership is being taken each Sunday at club meets, and encouragement to families is a big one with IBS. We also encourage our dual registered members to take advantage of extra competition by coming down to the relaxed friendly meets the club conducts each Sunday afternoon. See our website for more information on events and dates, times etc www.illawarrabluestars.com.