Weekend 1 of the Munster Indoors completed and successful days for our athletes in an event that serves as a season opener. Medals, qualification to Nationals and personal bests always the target but a foot, jump or throw ahead of where you were this time last year a marker for progress also. On the medal front it was two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal across a range of events.
U12
Lacie Boylan competed in the 60m Hurdles heat where she placed 7th in her heat with 12.68 in her first ever hurdles race. 60m Sprints followed for Lacie where she narrowly missed out on her pb by 2 hundreds of a second but set a new fastest ever indoor time. Long Jump closed out her day where she got a new pb of 3.09m in the 3rd round.
Christiaan Van Niekirk competed in 3 events on Day 2, first up for him was his first ever hurdles race in the 60m sprint hurdles where he placed 8th in his heat with 13.78. Back in action in the sprints he finished in 8th place in 60m heats with 10.38. Rounding off his day he emptied the tank in the 600m distance race with a 2:23.16 in the heats.
Cody McKenna took part in his first ever hurdles races on Day 2 where after qualifying in the heats he had a storming run in the final to take the gold medal, his time in the heats was 11.39 and he took that down to 10.87 in the final…a time that was fast enough to win a silver medal in the next age group up. Back in action in the 60m sprints he got within 0.03 of his pb of 10.38 and just narrowly missed out on a fastest qualifying time for the final after making it through to the semi. Closing off the day with a best jump of 3.47m in the long jump where he placed 14th overall.
Colm Fletcher returned to competition for the club this weekend where he competed in the shot put. Improving on his result from the same event last year he goes away with a new personal best of 4.89m for 15th place in a big field.
Conor Slattery who joined the club recently made his excellent debut at this event. Conor first won his 60mH heat to make it through to the final of the sprint hurdles event where he placed 7th overall with another good run. Back to the sprints, Conor won his 60m heat with a great time of 9.56 and went even faster again in the semi-final 9.54 for 5th place. Conor’s final event of the day was his 3rd debut event where he competed in shot put where a best throw of 5.85m which placed him 10th overall.
U13
Katie Butler started her day in the 60m Sprints where she took her time of 10.77 last Munster indoors down to 10.44. Back in action in the afternoon she competed in a large field in the shot put where her best throw of the day of 7.58m (just 2cm off her personal best) saw her reach the top 8 final where she finished 7th overall. Up a position from last year where she threw 5.87m in that final.
John McCarthy’s indoor season kicked off with another appearance for him in the 600m distance race, a solid run with a strong finish saw him improve his time from the same event last year by 9 seconds for a new indoor pb of 2:14.97. John’s next event was the 60m sprints where he placed 5th in his heat with 10.44. John will be back in action in the coming weekends.
U14
Alex Blackett made Munster competition debut, where he also made his debut in hurdles. He placed 5th in the 2nd heat of the 60m Hurdles. Back in action on Day 2, Alex placed 5th in the 60m sprint heats with 10.15. His final event of the day was the 800m distance race where an intraclub battle looked to be on the cards with his friend Oisin running in the same heat but Alex held the spot for 9th place with 3:05.84
Aoibhinn O’Driscoll started her indoor season in a big field in the long jump. Her first round jump of 4.70m broke her old pb of 4.59m and put her into the first position. Aoibhinn held that place through all the rounds. However during that final round she slipped back to 2nd place…but there was more to follow and leaving no doubt about it she leapt to new lifetime best of 4.86m to secure the gold medal. Returning to action on Day 2, it was another great day for a consistent championship performer. First event of the day for her was the 60mH where after winning her heat (10.20), winning her semi-final (10.19 to her equal her pb and current club record) she lined up in what proved to be a hotly contested final. To show the standard of this event, Aoibhinn smashed her pb to bring it down to 9.87 to win a bronze medal. A long wait ensured until one of the final events of the day for the high jump competition in which again high level competition ensured. After 1st time clearances from 1.25m-1.35m, the fatigue of the day starts to catch up where she cleared 1.40m on her 2nd attempt. The bar was raised to 1.43m and Aoibhinn cleared it on her 3rd attempt as did her main competitor. Unfortunately with the bar at 1.46m it was not to be for the gold medal but her best jump of 1.43m secured Aoibhinn a silver medal for a full set of gold, silver and bronze medals from this championships.
OisÃn Fletcher also had two days of events in Nenagh this weekend. Oisin got a new pb of 13.22 in the 60m Hurdles where he placed 5th in the heat. Returning for day 2, in the 60m sprint he finished in 5th place in his heat with 10.38. His final event of the competition was the 800m distance race where he recorded a time of 3:08.66 to finish in 10th place in his heat.
Oliver Chruszcz made his debut at Munster competition this weekend and also in two new events for him. In the 60m Hurdles he qualified from the heats through to the final with 13.02. Shot Put was next for Oliver where his best throw of 5.22m placed him 12th overall in the event.
U15
Maddison O'Connor was one of the first club athletes in action day on Saturday. She opened up her indoor season with a best jump of 3.59m in the 2nd round of the long jump which placed her 15th overall. An excellent season opener for her where she recorded 3.27m in the same competition this time last year. First up in action again on Sunday, Maddison had a great run in the 60m hurdles final where she finished in 6th place overall taking her personal best from this time last year of 11.66 down to 11.11, the hurdle height increasing as she moves up the age groups not slowing her down at all.
U16
Jessica Leen competed in two events on Saturday; her first round jump of 4.43m secured her a place in the top 8 final. Jessica finished in 8th place overall with 4.43m but showed great improvement going from 4.01m and 13th place in the same group of athletes last season. Following the long jump it was into the 200m heats where she finished in 3rd place in her heat with 30.30.
U17
Eoin Malik was in action in the Long Jump on Day 1 where he broke his pb from this time last season (5.41m) with a great 5.66m in his 2nd jump on the day and showed his continuing good form with a 5.58m in the 6th round. Eoin placed 4th overall in the event and he will be back in action in the triple jump next weekend on the hunt for more pbs and a podium position.
Well done to all competitors on the weekend, thanks for their parents for bringing them to the competition and our club coaches who helped prepare them for their events and supported them on the day. Club athletes will be back in action next weekend for the Munster Indoor relays and some field events for older age groups.
Full results HERE.
