Novices take first pentathlon in stride
Central had 10 under 13 athletes taking part with every one of them attempting a pentathlon for the first time.
The boys event featured Dylan McCulloch, Henry Crossley and Alex Dunlop and Dylan opened well in the shot with a personal best 6.39m for fourth place. Alex threw 4.64m and Henry 3.90m.
In the hurdles Dylan was a clear winner of his heat in his first ever attempt with an excellent 11.16s, the third fastest of the day, to move him into third place. Alex finished in 13.72s and Henry 15.13s.
In the high jump there were pbs all round as Alex and Dylan cleared 1.08m and Henry 1.02m. Further pbs came from all three in the long jump - Dylan (4.14m for third in the event), Henry (3.15m) and Alex (3.01m).
The final 800m event saw Alex set a pb 2:48.17 for second in his heat and a final score of 559 points while Henry finished in 2:57.85 for a final score of 377 points. As Dylan was in fifth place he ran in the final race for the event leaders to decide the medals. He was unable to catch the top three but still ran a decent 2:43.67 which gave him a final score of 1143 points and maintained his fifth place position.
The girls’ event saw a big field of 37 athletes. Danielle Abel led the Central athletes clearing 1.20m at high jump then winning her heat comfortably in the 60m hurdles with a pb 10.54s. She then set a pb at long jump (4.06m) and 800m (3:03.12) to finish with a score of 1840 points for 15th overall.
Just behind her was Jessica Hanson who started with an excellent 1.29m high jump then ran 11.32s at 60m hurdles, threw 5.68m at shot, jumped 3.78m at long jump and ran 3:00.34 at 800m to score 1756 points for 17th.
Niamh MacKinlay set pbs at high jump (1.11m), 60m hurdles (12.54s), long jump (3.43m) and was a clear heat winner in the 800m with a pb 2:44.79 to score 1394 points for 27th.
Also taking part were Loren Stewart who opened with a big pb at high jump with 1.23m then set a season’s best 4.73m at shot and 3.85m long jump to score 1302 points. Emily Guest cleared a pb 1.17m at high jump but her hopes of a good score were dashed when she was unable to finish the hurdles. She stuck to the task though and set pbs at long jump (3.96m) and shot (6.39m) to score 1256 points in spite of her no score in the hurdles.
Connie Bateman set pbs in high jump (1.08m), 60m hurdles (12.62s) and shot (4.39m) for a score of 998 points and Alice Cameron long jumped (2.89m) and ran 3:15.6 at 800m on the way to a score of 800 points.
The under 13s set 40 new personal bests including 25 events attempted for the first time.