Pole vaulters flying high
TWO rising Geelong athletes have continued to shine on the big stage, claiming medals at the All School National Championships.
Olivia Gross, 15, and Cassidy Bradshaw, 14, produced personal best jumps to finish first and second, respectively, in the under-16 pole vault in Adelaide earlier this month.
Trained by Hamish Nelson at Landy Field, Olivia and Cassidy surpassed the leader, who had jumped at 3m.
Gross reached heights of 3.8m to take out first place, while Bradshaw jumped 3.3m to finish second.
Gross also attempted the meet record of 3.9m, set by Olympian Nina Kennedy, but fell just short.
A jump of 3.95m or more would have seen the 15-yearold qualify for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in October, 2018.
Both young athletes surpassed their personal best jumps, with Gross particularly impressing by flying 25cm higher than her previous best of 3.55m.
Geelong Athletics board member Kelvin Gray was very impressed with the pole vaulters.
“Olivia has just been improving each year that she’s done pole vault (and) Cassidy still has another year to go in the under-16 section so she’s one of the up and coming future stars,” Gray said.
Olivia’s mother, Sheri Gross, was proud of her daughter’s effort in Adelaide, although still feels the pain of her first daughter, who repre- sented Australia in the Bahamas at the Commonwealth Youth Games in July this year.
“Mia broke her arm in the warm-up. She still has issues with her arm now (and) she can’t do push-ups,” Sheri Gross said.
While Sheri demonstrated excitement for Mia’s upcoming return from injury, she remains cautious about Olivia’s chances at the Youth Olympics.
“Because surfing is now an Olympic sport they’ve had to take numbers from athletics, so unfortunately there’s only six sports which means only three girls can go,” Sheri Gross said.
Coach at Geelong Athletics and former Sri Lankan Commonwealth Games team member Anula Costa was at the event and said that Georgia Tarr was also outstanding on the day, claiming bronze in the under-14 hammer throw, launching 41.85m.
Mitchell De Man also took out a podium finish on the hammer throw, this time in the under-16s with a throw of 54.89m.
Oliver Courtnay impressed with silver in both the under-16 shot put (17.34m) and discuss (59.42m). Megan Dickson came third in the under-14s 1500m with a personal best time of 4 minutes and 39 seconds.