World standard for Gleeson and Kildare wins four national relay medals
Ben Crampton (Newbridge AC) won silver in the Boys U18 High Jump Photo: Perri Williams
The curtain has been drawn on the National Juvenile Indoors as the third of the three Championship days concluded last Saturday. Hosted in Athlone, the final day consisted of the relays, 1500m and the remainder of the shot, high jump and triple jump competitions. There were further national medals added to the Kildare vast pile already accumulated from day 1 and 2.
St Coca’s AC and Clane AC secured silver medals in the girls U12 and 13 4x200m relays respectively. Newbridge AC took bronze in the girls U18 and Crookstown-Millview were bronze medallists in the girls U14. In the individual events it was silver for Ben Crampton (Newbridge) in the U18 high jump. Juliet Oliver (St Coca’s) made a great comeback to competition with a bronze in the girls U18 high jump.
Several athletes were in action at the National Spring Throws in Templemore, an event that kick starts the throwing season for many athletes. Theo Hanlon (Suncroft) won the 6kg shot event while Holly Wright (Crookstown-Millview)s was 3rd overall in the discus.
In the USA, Cillian Gleeson (Celbridge) continued to show improved racing performance. Gleeson running in his first outdoor 5000m, secured a World u20 standard. He ran a new personal best of 13.56 for 5,000m in the UW-Platteville Invite, meet in the USA.
Cillian Gleeson (Celbridge) had a few good 1500m and mile events under his belt from the indoor season. Last weekend Gleeson delivered a standout performance at the University of Wisconsin Platteville Invite, winning the 5000 meters in 13:54.27.
Competing unattached, Gleeson's time marked a significant personal best, shaving more than 20 seconds off his previous mark of 14:19 and dipped under the World Athletics U-20 qualifying standard of 14:08.00 for the World U20 Championships, set for August in Eugene, Oregon.
The final day of the National Indoors was one to remember. With road blockages on many routes leading to Athlone (due to the fuel protests, parents and coaches had to navigate non-traditional roads to get to Athlone. The arduous journey was worth it as four teams secured podium placings.
The first set of relay medals to be won came from the Clane AC u13 4x200m relay quartet. The team of Hayley Dunne, O Jane Isatu Bangura, Annie Gray, Amelia Osarugue Owie and Indie Mawer produced an incredible performance to take the silver medal in a time of 1:55.16. With the relays being run on a time-trial basis, it was the best results from all the heats that constituted the overall top three winners.
Running in heat 1, the fastest teams from across the country got on their marks along with the Clane girls. Clane AC finished second in this heat to overall winners Galway City Harriers who produced a whopping 1:52.49 smashing the national record in the process. Clane AC team member Haley Dunne went on to compete in the high jump where she leaped 1.30m to take 14th place.
St Coca’s AC were another team to produce silver medals. The girls U12 4x200m team of Maya Rus, Amelia Brogan, Zoe Forde, Pippa Donnelly and Tara Fagan were outstanding. In Heat 1 they were up against Munster champions Moyne AC. Pippa Donnelly got the team off to a good start handing over to Maya Rus.
A strong run from the u12 national 60m champion and national record holder Rus put the team move from fourth into a close second, just a fraction behind Moyne AC. Some excellent baton changing took place through each change overs with Zoe Forde handing over to Amelia Brogan still in second place. Challenged several times by the much taller Athenry athlete, the diminutive ten year old held off all challenges. A strong run on the final bend saw Brogan move ahead and cross the line a comfortable second.
This was the team’s first national podium position at these indoor championships, with the excitement of the event obvious on all their faces as the final results were announced. Naas AC also competed in the u12 girls. The quartet chosen from the team of Eibhin Valentine, Saoirse Burke, Ava Kelly, Kate Geraghty, Kate Sheehan and Kate Foley finished second in heat 3 in a time of 2:05.15.
There were further relay medals later in the day with the Newbridge AC team of Eve Dowling, Elsa Browne, Mia Brennan, Eabha Brennan and Mya McKenzie-Smith taking the bronze. At first there were visible signs of disappointment as the team finished fourth. Their 1:52.70 performance was one they had hoped would see them take the top three spots. However, moments later it was announced that Ferrybank AC who finished ahead of them in the heats were disqualified for an infringement, with the bronze medals being awarded to Newbridge. The overall winners were Metro St Bridget’s. Celtic DCH took silver.
The Newbridge boys u12 had an excellent race, finising fourth overall. The team of Tim Barron, Eirnin McElroy, Conor Farrell, Billy McCabe, Michael Gardiner and Billy Dowling won heat 3 in a time of 2:01.09. This was just a second behind bronze medallists Claremorris AC. It does beg the question, would the team have managed to secure bronze had there been heats and finals.
Also in the same age group was St Coca’s AC. The team of Garbhan Prendergast, Harry Naughton, Leo Donnelly, Quin MaGuire, Charlie Kinsella ran in the second heat. The Naas boys u14 team of Max Drennan, Senan Smith, Michael Brennan, Oscar Ross, Daniel O’Connor and Cian Butler finished 6th in heat 1 – a difficult draw with some good running by individual members of the team.
Crookstown-Millview had severa teams who qualified for the nationals with three teams competing on the day - the U14 Girls, U16 Boys, U17 Boys. A set of bronze medals and two fourth places constitutes a good performance from the club. The girls U14 team of Caoimhe Conroy, Georgia Coughlan, Roisin Allen, Ella Murphy, Emma Dunne and Amy Heavens has plenty of talent with some of the members already picking up individual All-Ireland medals. Convincing winners of heat 2 in a time of 1:52.06 some 2 and a half seconds ahead of Rathfarnham, it was a waiting game for the final heat to finish before overall winners could be announced.
It was Roisin Allen who ran the first leg, with an excellent reaction from the starting blocks. She handed the baton to Georgia Coughlan who brought the team further into the lead. From Georgia, Caoimhe Conroy maintained that lead with Ella Murphy crossing the line in first place. With the third heat slower it was confirmed that Crookstown-Millview were bronze medallists. Their time of 1:52.06 was less than a second slower than gold medallists Tara AC and silver medallists Limerick AC who were first and second in heat 1. A true final might have yielded a different medal order.
The boys U16 team of Mbongeni Blessed Nleya, Charlie Murphy, Dominic Binns, Oisin McGrath, Daniel Hanlon and Charlie O’Neill finished third in their heat and fourth overall. It was another fourth for the boys U17. The team of Mbongeni Blessed Nleya, Finian Sexton, Matthew Osadolor, Daire Molloy, Charlie Murphy and Dominic Binns finished fourth overall with a time of 1:38.07.
It was Blessed who started the team off, navigating a difficult first leg against some of Ireland’s finest sprinters. A change to Charlie Murphy and then Daire Molloy saw the team hold their position. A storming final leg by Matthew Osadolor saw the team move closer to bronze medallists Dundrum South Dublin. The boys just needed a few more meters to catch those medals.
Fourteen Kildare athletes qualified for the final events of the All-Ireland indoors: Shot putt, high jump and the triple jump. The first individual medal of the day came from Juliet Oliver (St Coca’s) in the girls U18 high jump. With her coach Dad Werner Oliver, the recent European masters over 50 silver medallist by her side, there was plenty of solid advice given throughout the competition. Clearing 1.55m Oliver took the bronze medal. This was a good return to competition by the St Coca’s athlete ahead of the summer season.
In the boys U18 high jump Ben Crampton (Newbridge) was having the competition of his life. Shifting his winter focus to cross-country, the tall Newbridge AC athlete had not as much high jump specific training as he would have liked coming into the competition. Jumping a PB of 1.80m on his second attempt, Crampton was thrilled. Little did he realise that he would clear 1.83m creating another new personal best. He finished on the same height as the winner Jude Glover (Lagan Valley) with countback dictating the gold and silver medals. It was silver to Crampton after an excellent mornings competition.
There were two Newbridge athletes who qualified for the boys U12 high jump: Tim Barron and Eirnin McElroy. McElroy finished 6th and Barron 8th. It was a very close competition between the top ten athletes with second, third and fourth jumping 1.30m and 5th to 10th clearing 1.25m.
The Triple Jump is a popular event for Crookstown-Millview athletes with six athletes qualifying for the national championships last weekend. Siomha Mills finished 10th in the girls U15 with a leap of 8.64m. Daire Molloy finished 5th in the u17 event with a best jump of 11.27m. It was seventh place for Tuilelaith Mills in the girls U17 with a jump of 9.55m. Georgia Myerscough may have been carrying an injury but her fifth place and leap of 10.34 was so close to a medal position. Unfortunately for some athletes, the lack of availability of fuel impacted their ability to reach the venue.
It was Newbridge AC who represented the county in the 1500m races. While no medals results from any of the races, there were some promising prospects from some of the athletes performances. For many the nationals came on the back of what has been a very long season of Cross-country, starting last September and finishing just a few weeks ago with the All-Ireland schools in Newtownabbey. Competing for the club were: Jayden Murphy, Harry Boland, Robyn Browne, Alexander Guther, Mia Lennon and Elsa Browne.
The competition never stops. One day after the conclusion of the National Indoors, athletes from Kildare were in action at the National Spring Throws in Templemore. Added to the fixture list predominantly to mitigate against the lack of early competition for javelin, hammer and discus athletes, the spring throws also includes shot putt.
Theo Hanlon (Suncroft) was back in action winning the 6kg shot competition. Hanlon who is chasing a World U20 qualifying standard of 18.60m in the shot putt. These championships will be held in Oregon in August. Hanlon has a current personal best of 18.00 meters will be seeking to close that gap over the summer. Early days yet, with plenty of winter training still in his body, his distances should creep up with the added benefit of summer competitions. In Templemore he won the 6kg competition throwing 17.27 in windy, cold but sunny conditions. Having fouled his first two throws, the pressure was on to put in a third one, in order to gain three extra throws. He managed to do this successfully, and threw his best throw in the final round of competition. Daniel Sheehan (Naas) won the U16 competition with a throw of 8.07m. John Molloy (Celbridge) was the winner of the over 70 competition. Molloy also won the over 70 javelin.
A large contingent of Kildare athletes travelled for the Javelin competitions. In the men’s 700g it was Hugh Melaniphy (Naas) who took third place with a throw of 44.39m. The winner Kevin O’Shea (Farranfore Maine AC) threw 64.15m – a European U18 standard. Melaniphy was the first U17 athlete with Noah Treacy (Kildare AC) throwing a best of 44.26m just one place behind. Eoin Cassidy (Naas) threw a best of 34.82m.
Grace Garvey (Clane) finished third overall in the ladies 500g javelin with a throw of 31.22m from her first round. Garvey was the second u17 athlete just behind Caprini Pyne (Lifford Strabane). Clubmate Hannah McBride competed in her first competition of the season throwing 27.57m. Meave Moore (Newbridge) threw 23.77m. Leaving cert student Isobel Kearns (Naas) finished third in the senior ladies with a first round throw of 35.55m while clubmate Abby Lewis threw 25.75m. In the shot putt Lucy Cousins (Suncroft) was the second overall U16 athlete with a throw of 8.73m.
The Wright sisters (Crookstown-Millview) were had their season opener in the Discus. Holly, the elder of the two, threw a new personal best of 43.61 from her third throw. Cara finished eighth with a best effort of 33.30m. The windy conditions were not ideal for performance, particularly the cross-wind which blew up from time to time, making discus throwing less than ideal. Two young Suncroft athletes took part. Ella Hanlon moving up to the 1kg discus threw 27.18 while Lucy Cousins threw 17.52. Moving for the first time to a heavier weight is always a challenge. One that the athletes manage to navigate through as the season and their training progresses.
