Cushinstown athletes take Meath by storm

THERE were some great performances by the Cushinstown athletes in the blistering sunshine at the weekend with an abundance of new personal bests and county medals on days 2 and 3 of the Meath Track & Field Championships.

Saturday was the hurdles competition and 11 Cushinstown athletes travelled to Claremont Stadium in Navan to lay claim to 11 medals, the first of which came in the 60m U12 hurdles where Lee Callaghan won gold and James Bellew silver.

In the U13 boys hurdles Lochlainn Harris claimed gold and in the girls equivalent Laura Bolster claimed the gold and Ella Barry the silver.

In the U14 60m it was Cushinstown girls all the way, with Mollie White first, Niamh Quinn second, Amy Callaghan third and Amy Bellew fourth.

In the U15 60m Aine O’Sullivan won gold and then claimed a second gold in the 250m hurdles.

In the Junior Men’s 110m Donal Kearns won gold over scarily high hurdles.

On Day 3 of the Championship on Sunday, with the sun blazing down in Navan, the Cushinstown athletes shone yet again, this time dominating the high jump event.

In the U-12 age group Lee Callaghan won gold and James Bellew silver, while in the girls equivalent Isabella Gogan won bronze, while at U13 level Roisin McManus won silver, in the U14 age group Amy Callaghan came first and at U15 level Orlaigh Quinn claimed the gold.

In the throws the Cushinstown athletes were also very strong. In the U12 turbo javelin James Bellew came first and Lee Callaghan second, while in the girls U12 Ellen Gough claimed the bronze.

In the U12 shot putt Lee Callaghan claimed gold, completing a hat-trick of wins over the two days. In the U13 shot putt Roisin McManus won the gold and at U14 level Amy Callaghan claimed gold and Amy Bellew the silver. In the U15 shot Katie Lenehan came first and Aine O’Sullivan second and in the U18 shot putt Aoife Lenehan claimed the gold.

In the U14 discus Amy Bellew claimed the gold and Niamh Quinn silver. in the U15 age group Katie Lenehan won the gold and Aine O’Sullivan silver and at U16 level Orlaigh Quinn came first.

In the U14 javelin Amy Callaghan came first and Amy Bellew second and in the U15 Katie Lenehan won gold and Aine O’Sullivan silver. In the U18 javelin Aoife Lenehan came first and in the Senior Men’s competition Shane Joyce came first with an impressive throw of over 50m.

In the girls U12 long jump Isabella Gogan won bronze and in the U13 event Lochlainn Harris won gold for the boys and Laura Bolster claimed the gold and Ella Barry silver for the girls. In the U14 long jump Niamh Cahill won gold, Mollie White silver and Ciara Smyth bronze.

On the track the Cushinstown athletes also continued to do well in the sunshine.

In the U12 60m sprint Isabella Gogan came second, while Lochlainn Harris claimed silver in the U13 60m sprint and 600m. In the U13 girls 60m sprint Laura Bolster claimed gold, Roisin McManus silver and Ella Barry a strong fourth.

In the U14 80m sprint Mollie White won gold and the same girl won her second gold medal of the day in the 200m, with Ava Purcell in second and Abi Sheehy third. In the U14 800m Ciara Smyth claimed the bronze.

In the U14 200m Mollie White claimed the gold, closely followed by Ava Purcell silver and Abi Sheehy bronze.

Cushinstown athletes had almost swept the boards with a dominant showing in the throws events on day one of the championships in Athboy.

Michael O’Sullivan won the Junior Men’s discus with a throw of 35.95m and also came first in the Senior Men’s discus, while there was a one-two for Zoe Mohan and Aoife Lenehan respectively in the Under-18, Junior and Senior Women’s discus.

On top of all that, Zoe won the Under-18 hammer competition with a throw of 42.80m and came second in the Junior hammer competition.