Cushinstown athletes in show of force
CUSHINSTOWN AC athletes brought a successful May to a close with success on the provincial, national and international stage.
The final week of the month began with a gold medal for Aoife Lenehan in the shot putt at the Leinster Junior Championships in Drogheda’s Lourdes Stadium.
Then Donal Kearns and Michael O’Sullivan represented their country at the Irish Universities v Scottish Universities match at Grangemouth in Scotland, winning silver medals in the 110m hurdles and discus respectively and contributing valuable points to their team who won the men’s and overall competition.
The following day Santry was the venue for the AAI Games where Elizabeth Morland captured titles in the 100m hurdles (13.58sec) and long jump (5.95m).
Elsewhere, Cushinstown athletes earned medals of every colour - but mostly gold and silver - after some great performances from their athletes on day six of the Meath Track & Field Championships at Claremont Stadium.
The gold rush started with Kacey McManus in the U-9 turbo javelin, with clubmate Annalise Harris taking the silver, while there was a good performance from U-9 long jumper Casper Cudden in his first competition.
In the U-11 Girls high jump Roisin Quinn was unable to match her winning effort in the Meath League earlier in the week made up for that by claiming the silver medal in the turbo javelin. In the U-12 Girls shot putt Nia Hetherton came first and Katie Lawlor third, while it was silver and bronze for Cushinstown in the U-12 Boys high jump courtesy of Kevin Doyle and John Dardis respectively.
The day’s star performer was Lee Callaghan who put in some great performances and completed a notable hat-trick with victories in the U-13 javelin, discus and shot putt, while in the U-14 boys high jump Loclainn Harris came third.
In the Girls U-14 shot putt Roisin McManus threw brilliantly to win the gold, while the club had a 1-2-3 in the U-15 long jump as Amy Callaghan, Niamh Quinn and Abi Sheehy won gold, silver and bronze respectively.
It was the same story in the U-15 discus, with Niamh Quinn taking first place ahead of Amy Bellew and Emily McGreal, while Cushinstown also dominated the javelin in that age group, with Amy Callaghan pipping Amy Bellew and Emily McGreal in yet another 1-2-3 for the club.
In the U-16 shot Katie Lenehan came first and Aine O’Sullivan second, while Jack McGeer did brilliantly to take silver in both the U-16 high jump and shot putt and Orlaith Quinn won the U-17 Girls long jump.
On the track the Cushinstown athletes continued to do well, and their first medals came in the U-14 200m where Loclainn Harris and Roisin McManus both won silver in their respective events.
In the U-15 Girls 200m both Abi Sheehy and Mollie White ran very well in the heats to get through to the final, and although Mollie had to pull out of the final with an injury Abi went on to run brilliantly and snatch gold in a very tight finish.
Elsewhere, Amy Callaghan also competed in the All-Ireland Combined Events in Santry and came a brilliant fifth overall in the pentathlon.
Last Saturday attention turned to the All-Ireland Secondary School Championships in Tullamore, where again Cushinstown athletes enjoyed medal success, this time in the colours of their respective schools.
Niamh Quinn threw brilliantly in the Minor discus to claim silver and it was second place also for Zoe Mohan in the Senior hammer.
Laura Bolster ran very well in a fast heat in the Junior 100m sprint, while Amy Callaghan and Aoife Lenehan were just out of the medals in fourth in the Minor shot putt and Senior shot putt respectively.
Emily McGreal came sixth in a very competitive Minor javelin and Jack McGeer jumped well in the Senior high jump competition.