Bell’s jump is the high point for St Peter’s club
GABRIEL Bell ensured St Peter’s AC didn’t go away empty-handed from days three and four of the Leinster Indoor Championships at the new National Arena in Abbotstown over the weekend.
The club fielded boys and girls relay teams at Under-13 and the girls were really in the mix until an unfortunate error on a baton change caused them to finish third in their heat and miss out on a final place.
Still, the team - comprising Judith Bell, Julie McLoughlin, Lucy Smith and Niamh Brady - recovered well and picked up valuable experience.
The Under-13 boys team had no such mis-haps and the quartet of Ronan Deerey, Cian Loy, Dean Murtagh and Ronan Deerey put in a real brace performance in what was the fastest of the three heats to qualify for the final as one of the quickest runners-up.
The final was also fast and furious and the team performed well with excellent baton passes to finish just outside the medals.
In the afternoon the boys and girls Under-12 teams were in action, and with 26 teams entered qualifying for the final was going to be a really tough proposition. Unfortunately for the four girls - Ellie Smyth, Katie Mulligan, Dearbhla Allen and Lucy Brennan - they just came up short in their gallant efforts but couldn’t be faulted for their efforts in a competitive heat.
The Under-12 Boys - Jack McLaughlin, Padraic Tinnelly, Conor Litchfield and Harry O’Reilly - also competed really well and were unfortunate not to make the final as they missed out by less than a second.
In the individual events, meanwhile, Gabriel Bell was back in action on Saturday and followed up his medal-winning performances on days one and two by winning a bronze medal in the Under-17 high jump with a best of 1.65m.
On Sunday the curtain came down on the provincial indoor championships and the club had four athletes compete.
Emily Rogers was again on top of the podium and although her performance wasn’t just as good as previous weeks her jump of 1.70m was enough to win the Senior high jump.
Her brother Mark’s first event was the 200m which wouldn’t be an event he would be familiar with, but he ran a strong heat to finish second and then sixth in the final. However, Mark wasn’t as fortunate in the 400m event which he is more used to as he had to pull up with a suspected hamstring tear.
Conor Durnin was in action in the Senior triple jump and collected a silver medal with a jump of 13.16m.
Tom McGrane celebrated his birthday with a season’s best throw in the Senior shot putt of 9.13m to finish fourth, and he then threw 9.91 in the Over50 masters category to win a silver medal.