Ardee club complete long jump double
SIX of Ardee & District AC’s most talented young athletes can look forward to competing in next month’s All-Irelands after producing top-four finishes in the provincial competition last weekend.
The club had 11 juvenile athletes competing over the two days in baking-hot Tullamore and Jonathan Commins was the big medal winner on Saturday as he claimed silver in a closely contested 100m hurdles and 400m. Then it was a quick dash over to the shot putt area where Jonathan threw well to finish third.
Over at the long jump Ardee produced two Leinster champions. Up first was James Maguire in the Boys U-13 competition, and after leading the group into the final three jumps James jumped 4.83m to claim the title.
Also on the top spot was Conor McMahon in the Boys U-18 long jump where a great sequence of jumps saw him add to his personal best with a jump of 6.23m.
Emma Gillespie competed among big numbers in the Girls U-15 long jump and Eireann Hoey competed well in the shot putt in that age group.
A countback decision was required in the Girls U-16 high jump, with four girls in contention for medals, and it was Ardee & District’s Abbie Sheridan who took the final place on the podium to receive bronze.
Sian Mothiram was in action in the Girls Under-15 hammer where her best throw of 19.18m was enough to earn her third place.
Hallie Sands ran a super heat in the Girls Under-13 60m hurdles, finishing first, and after leaving the long jump competition to compete in the final she stormed down the track to take second place.
Sunscreen was also the order of the day on Sunday as the temperature in Tullamore rose to the high 20s.
Fresh from his win in Saturday’s long jump, Conor McMahon competed in the Boys Under-18 high jump and finished third after clearing a height of 1.75m.
Abbie Sheridan ran a very fast two laps in the Girls Under-16 800m where she finished fifth.
In the throwing events Kya Mothiram was eighth in the Girls Under-12 turbo javelin and her sister Sian finished fourth in the Under-15 shot putt. While not winning a medal, she finished high enough to qualify to compete in the National finals.
Also throwing well in the shot put was Aoibheann Carolan (Under-16) who finished in sixth place.