Spartans Achieve Outstanding Results in Athletics Championships

Several of our Spartan athletes performed exceptionally well at the recent Queensland Athletics Championships, held at the Queensland Athletics Centre in Brisbane. Normally a four-day competition, this year due to the weather forecast, the event was condensed into a two-day carnival making it two very long days with many of the events crammed together.

Our Spartan results were as follows:

Aspen Anderson (u17) has transitioned to the track from Triathlon seamlessly, winning Gold in both the 800m (2.13min) and 1500m (4.34min). Aspen continues to display amazing composure in all her races and runs with tactical intelligence that matches her physical abilities. I am really looking forward to seeing her compete at the Australian Championships at the end of March in Sydney against the best in the country and vying for a place on the Australian World Junior Team later this year.

Cru Scott (u16) continued his medal winning ways claiming the Bonze medals in both the 800m (2.01min) and 1500m (4.10min). Cru has continued to improve his performances over the past couple of seasons and is building nicely towards the Australian Championships.

Starr Scott (u20) has made a strong comeback from injury to claim a Bronze medal in the 800m (2.17min) and a fourth place in the 1500m (4.40min). With minimal training under her belt and in very wet, humid conditions, Starr performed exceptionally well and will really improve from here on.

Ava Stephens (u16) had a very busy weekend, and her biggest issue was deciding which events to compete in. Ava has blossomed into an excellent all-round athlete over the past 12 months and the hard work and dedication she has started to put into her training is starting to show. Ava won the Bronze medal in the u16 High Jump (1.55m), placed fourth in the 90m Hurdles and 11th in the Long Jump (unfortunately not quite hitting the take off board with a very big foul jump! Ava will head to the Australian Championships to compete in the High Jump and gain some invaluable experience for the future.

Sophie Clements (u18) also performed very well over multiple events winning the Bronze medal in the Triple Jump (10.46m), placing 4th in the Long Jump (with a very big foul also!), and 8th in the highly competitive 100m sprint in a new PB of (12.99sec). Sophie is a very committed athlete and works closely with our amazing jumps coach at school, Phil Newton.

Luke Shirley (u17) in the Javelin, placed an agonisingly close fourth place (42.26m – only 47cm from Bronze). Luke is another athlete who trains consistently and has plenty of talent. Just missing out on Australian Championship selection, Luke is very keen to work towards the Australian All Schools Championships in December.

Lucy Twigg (u20) was easily the youngest in the u20 age group competing against some girls two years older and acquitted herself very well after a steady return from a niggling hamstring injury in December. Lucy placed eigth in the 100m and seventh in the 200m and is progressing very well towards the Australian Championships in a few weeks.

Jake Giltrap-Good (u17) also made his comeback at State level after nearly 12 months of struggling with a huge growth spurt. Jake grew more than 25cm in height over the past year and has really struggled with training and niggles. He was finally able to string together some quality training and placing fifth in the 800m final was a positive step forward to getting back to his best this year.

Kenny Ming (u17) has been tearing up the track in training and really put it on the line in the 800m placing sixth and then 14th overall in the 1500m. Kenny continues to evolve as an athlete and is really learning his trade of becoming a high performing middle-distance athlete. 

Having only just got back onto the new track over the past couple of weeks, these athletes have all shown their resilience to perform often having to travel to other venues to get access to a track. Now we have the brand-new track available to all our students I am really looking forward to seeing what great results we can achieve by the end of the year.

The Australian Championships will be held in Sydney from 27 March to 3 April, when we will have nearly 10 students competing. Good luck to all of them.