Joy for Juveniles
National tests end on very high note
JOE MOONEY of Adamstown took gold at the GloHealth Juvenile track and field championship in the Under-19 5k walk in Tullamore.
Meanwhile, it was a double for Taghmon’s Hanlon brothers, Joseph and James, who were both second in their national walks finals, James in the Under-15 2k walk and Joseph in the Under-17 3k walk, an impressive medal tally for the walkers.
On the track there were impressive performances leading to national medals for both the Bree and Menapians athletes in the sprint finals.
Seán Rowley of Bree was second in the Under-12 60m, Chloe Whelan of Menapians was second in the Under-19 100m in 12.6 seconds, Sophie McCabe of Bree was third in the Under-19 400m in a time of one minute, and Aoife Cloke-Rochford of Bree ran the Under-18 100m in 12.28 seconds.
Also placed well and just outside the medals were Katie Whelan of Bree (fifth in the Under-14 80m) and Jack Hayden of Menapians (fifth in the Under-17 400m in 52.44 seconds).
Other good performances on the track came from Eve Byrne of United Striders who was fifth in the Under-14 2k walk, and April Keeling of Menapians who was seventh in the Under-15 100m.
The field events found us more national medal winners with bronze for Tara Connick of St. Paul’s in the Under-19 discus, throwing 25.03m, Shane Parle of D.M.P. in the Unde-19 high jump with 1.75m, and Peter O’Shea of D.M.P. in the Under-19 javelin, throwing 46.53m.
Again there were more great performances throughout the field for Wexford athletes, with Aisling Kelly of Taghmon fourth in the Under-14 long jump with 4.9 metres.
Saidhbhe Byrne of E.A.C. was just pipped into fourth place in the Under-13 javelin, throwing 25.16 after holding third place for most of the competition. Saidhbhe went on to compete in the Under-13 long jump with 4.06m and eleventh place. Eva Casey of Macamores was fifth in the Under-12 shot putt, throwing 7.43m.
There were a number of athletes placed sixth in their competitions: Bronagh Hanlon (Under-16 hammer, 30.16m), Kate Jackman (Under-15 discus, 24.38m), Maeve Hayes (St. Paul’s, Under-15 long jump, 4.93m), and Jack Hayden of Menapians (Under-17 triple jump, 11.56m).
Other athletes who performed well were Tara Doyle of Adamstown (seventh in the Under-16 triple jump with 9.65m), Aoife Muldoon of United Striders (seventh in the Under-17 triple jump with 9.34m), and Rachel Power of Adamstown (twelfth in the Under-15 shot putt).
The final day of the Juvenile national championships took place in Tullamore and it was a great one for Wexford athletes.
Ryan Carthy-Walsh (Adamstown), who had just returned from the European Athletics Youth Championship in Tbilisi, won the Under-18 high jump with 2.04m and gained himself another national championship.
It was a great day for the throwing athletes in the county, with first place and a national championship for Joshua Hewlett (United Striders) in Under-16 javelin, while Jack Forde (St. Killian’s) was national champion at Under-14 in the shot putt.
Joshua threw 48.97m to take the title, in what was a close contest between the top three athletes, with only two metres separating them and all three significantly ahead of the rest of the field, but it was Joshua who came out on top.
Jack threw 13.22m to take the Under-14 shot putt title and led the field from round two, increasing his throw a further two times.
There was further success for our throws athletes and in particular some of our dual athletes, with Gergely Pap (St. Paul’s) winning two silver medals in Under-15 discus (throwing 33.37m) and Under-15 shot putt (throwing 13.29m).
Amy Forde (St. Killian’s) took third place in Under-17 hammer with a throw of 36.19m.
The jumpers were not going to be outdone and again dual athletes Peter O’Connor (E.A.C.), Jack Forde (St. Killian’s) and Sophie McCabe (Bree) had fine performances with all three getting second place in their jumping events.
Peter was second in the Under-19 triple jump with a jump of 11.91m, Sophie was second in the Under-19 triple jump with 11.11m jump, and Jack was second in the Under-14 high jump with 1.5m.
Our attention then turned to the finals on the track and Sophie McCabe (Bree) headed for the winners’ podium again, getting second place in the Under-19 200m final.
Also from Bree, Aoife Cloke-Rochford was second in the Under-18 200m final with a time of 25.15 seconds. These were great performances from the Bree girls.
Others who performed well at the national championships were Chloe Doyle of Menapians (fifth in the Under-18 hammer with 33.43m), Nathan Murphy of Menapians (seventh in the Under-14 discus throwing 28.84m), Kate Jackman of Adamstown (ninth in the Under-15 javelin), and Conor Brennan of D.M.P. (twelfth in the Under-15 high jump).