Geraldton athletes stamp their authority at the WA Track and Field Athletics Championships

Mid West Academy of Sport athletes excelled last weekend at the Western Australian Track and Field Athletics Championships in Perth, with an impressive bag of 10 medals.

MWAS head high-performance track and field coach Gary Clark said it was a very satisfying result after a lot of hard work by all athletes, with many of them qualifying for the national titles to be held in Perth in early April.

“There were so many outstanding performances it is hard to highlight one from the other,” he said.

“What it has shown from the results and comments at the championships is the academy is fast becoming a centre of excellence for the discipline of hurdling.”

Dan Hunt, the executive officer of the academy who also attended the championships, said the result showed the healthy state of athletics in the Mid West.

“It is an exciting time for the MWAS and is a testament the strength, conditioning and coaching programs are at the elite level,” he said.

On the opening day, Reuben Chapman ran the 400m hurdles in the under-17 division winning by 30m in an impressive time of 58.01sec. He went on to collect gold again in the 110m hurdles in a quick 15.08sec. Both were personal bests for Chapman.

Another outstanding result came from under-14 hurdler Amelia Heinrich. Heinrich is the new State champion in the 80m hurdles, which she won in a close finish in a time of 12.79sec.

Heinrich went on to finish second after storming home in the under-15 200m hurdles, crossing the line in 30.83sec. in an outstanding effort considering she was running outside her age group.

Under-20 athlete Wynand Neethling also had an impressive competition in the throws and was unlucky not to take out the discus and javelin events.

Neethling led throughout both competitions until the last throw to collect silver in both events with an excellent 46.52m in the javelin and 40.17m discus, with the winner throwing 40.96m.

Neethling went on to contest the 100m and excelled again finishing second in the heats and collecting bronze in the final with an 11.18sec run.

State heptathlete Macey Hadley performed well in the heptathlon with a bronze in the javelin. The 30m throw, although well down on her best of 38m, was enough for a podium finish.

She too ran a very good 100m hurdles in a very competitive field in a personal best of 15.69sec. to collect bronze and rounded off her competition with a third in the shot put with a 10.66m throw.

Hadley’s younger brother Lochie won gold in the under-16 300m walk in 18.49sec. He added 10cm to his best high jump with an impressive 1.60m finishing equal fifth and was seventh in the 200m hurdles in 30.75sec.

Other athletes to perform well included Kian Smit who was unlucky not to collect a medal in the under-16 shot put with a close fourth. Smit also contested the 100m and although not making the final, ran a competitive 12.23sec. This was Smit’s first competition.

Two young distance athletes competed over the three days, including under-16 Noah Brown who took almost 20sec. off his 2000m steeple chase with a good time of 6:58 to finish 5th.

Brown went on to contest the shorter 1500m and 800m events with a 4:42 and 2:16 finishing 11th and 10th respectively. Bede Halford ran well in the boys under-14 1500m and 800m with huge personal best times of 4:51 (sixth) and 2:25 for fifth place.

Rowan Dennis, although missing her 400m hurdles event, contested the 400m, finishing fifth in 66sec. Other Geraldton athletes competing over the weekend were Taylah Dean who was third in the triple jump and fourth in the 100m hurdles with Shiloh O’Reilly third in the high jump.

The next big competition for MWAS athletes is the Australian Track and Field Athletics Championships in Perth from April 4 to 13.