Fowler making mark nationally
PESKY headwinds made it a day for the field athletes at the last meeting of the year at the Caledonian Ground on Saturday.
For the third week in a row, Kieran Fowler won both the senior men’s shot put and discus events.
A former national silver medallist in both events, Fowler threw 13.06m in the shotput and 42.42m in the discus.
Before this season it had been six years since the 28yearold had competed, but he has made an immediate mark on the national rankings.
He shot to No 5 in the senior men’s shot put two weeks ago with a throw of 13.71m — two of those in front of him being world champion Tom Walsh and fellow Olympian Jacko Gill.
He also ranks inside the national top 10 in discus.
Hamish Mears was similarly impressive to win the under18 grade in each event.
The 16yearold threw 44.25m in the discus and 13.80m in the shot put to continue his impressive season.
Zharna Beattie was the best of the women, throwing 31.06m to win the discus and 11.91m to take the shot put.
In the hammer, Todd Bates threw 47.24m to beat out Mike Scholten, who threw 42.50m.
Fiordland’s Dyani ShepherdOates impressed in the women’s hammer with a throw of 48.37m.
Anton Schroeder had the best javelin performance, throwing 52.63m.
Meanwhile, the women’s long jump produced a close contest, with 14yearold Emma McKay jumping 5.03m to edge Mikayla Thorn — who jumped 5m.
Cameron Miller won the men’s event with 6.42m, while also winning the high jump with 1.80m.
Taylor Thorne won the women’s high jump with 1.60m.
On the track, the Palmer twins dominated all three women’s sprints. Leonie ran 8.72sec to win the women’s 60m, while Joccoaa won the 100m and 200m in 13.27sec and 27.38sec respectively.
Flynn Murdoch ran 7.78sec and 11.99sec to take the men’s 60m and 100m races, while Felix McDonald was a comfortable winner in the 200m with 23.43sec.
In the 800m, Sam Gouverneur blitzed the field to win in 2min 02.33sec, while Drew Cairney cleaned up the 3000m in 9min 15.27sec.
Tara McNally and Cameron Moffitt were the two best hurdlers on show.
McNally won both the under18 100m and 300m hurdle races, with times of 14.91sec and 47.97sec, while Moffitt won the under15 100m hurdles in 13.93sec.
In the masters women’s pentathlon championships, 61yearold Claire Giles won the 50plus title with 2662 points.
Carolyn Wills was second with 2482 and Paula Cotter was third with 1067.