The Queensland State Athletics Championships were held recently at the State Athletics Centre in Brisbane. Our Somerset College Spartans were out in force, competing at an exceptionally high level.
With so many outstanding performances achieved, the Spartan Athletics programme is on the rise. I am looking forward to continuing to build the programme with the fantastic support from student athletes, their parents and of course all our outstanding coaches. Thank you also to our Director of Sport, Candice McKenna for attending the meet and supporting our programme so well.
Overall, we collected eight Golds, four Silver and one Bronze medal with many national qualifying performances and Personal Bests. Outstanding results! The weather conditions were quite good for competing on the first two days of the meet, however by Saturday and Sunday the winds had escalated. The big headwinds for the sprints and blustery winds for the circular events certainly impeded many of the results. The jumpers and hurdlers also had to contend with sporadic winds, which played havoc with run ups and sighting the take-off positions.
Britney Ingr continues to amaze with her three Gold medals and always producing when it matters most. Prosper continues to dominate his age group and rises to the occasion at championship level. Felix is really starting to develop his massive potential and the results are showing. Stephanie, a newcomer to vaulting displayed composure and focus to claim her first ever state title. Jake Giltrap-Good continues to deliver PBs when it matters most and ran some very intelligent tactical races. Starr ran beautifully and I am sure will continue to improve in the lead up to Australian Track & Field Championships. Vivian continues to achieve excellent results in the walks and will be a force at the Australian competition. Alex Halloran, ran her heart out and produced a massive PB in her first state championships competition was a national qualifier and came an impressive third place, Bronze in the Steeplechase. Jake Iles has come from relative obscurity and keeps stepping up to the challenges in front of him, unlucky not to claim a medal, although PBs and national qualifiers are a sensational result. Jess Velloza competed under duress with a sore ankle but turned up and gave it her all finishing an excellent sixth place in the Final. There is lots of potential yet to be realised there. Kartier Marjanovic, qualified for the 200m final and finishing seventh displayed some of her potential we all know she has – well done everyone!
It was also fantastic to see some of our Somerset College alumni continuing to compete in the sport years after their student days at Somerset. Alex Beck, aiming for Olympic selection this year, won Gold in the Open Men’s 400m (46.29); Ryan Neale won Silver in the Open Mens 110mH; James Arnold placed ninth in the Open 800m. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone.
At the end of March (21 to 29) many of these athletes will be travelling to Sydney for the Australian Championships. If you see any of these students around, please wish them well. I will be updating their results after the competition. Good Luck to all of them!
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