All-Ireland medals for Barrow Valley and SLOT
Boys u15 Long Jump L to R: Anthony Kenny (South Galway) 2nd, Harry Butcher (SLOT) 1st, Jack Andrulenis (SLOT) 3rd.
It was back to Tullamore again last weekend for another round of National Track and Field Championships. This time the National u13 to u19s. A weekend of golden moments where four athletes took home gold medals.
It was gold for Eanna Dunican (SLOT), Harry Butcher (SLOT), Libby Harris Byrne (SLOT), and Alana Callinan (SLOT), all from Saturday’s events. Eight silver medals and four bronze also contributed to the county’s overall haul of 16 national medals, with SLOT and Barrow Valley sharing in the distribution.
In Watford at the BMC Gold Standard meeting, Robert Crowley (SLOT) finished second in the 800m in a new personal best of 1.50.16.
After a scintillating week of intense heat, athletes were greeted with a balmy, windy weekend with intermittent showers. Wind speeds certainly interfered with some of the events such as high jump, javelin and of course the legal limits for sprinters and jumpers.
The first gold on day 1 (Saturday) came from Harry Butcher (SLOT). Butcher was already in the leading position after his first round jump of 5.93m. His fourth round jump saw him once again clear the 6m mark, something he had already achieved for the first time this year. Jumping 6.02m he pulled further ahead of Anthony Kenny (South Galway).
His clubmate Jack Andrulenis took the bronze medal with a third round leap of 5.64m. Two clubmates appearing on the podium together. Butcher has now very much established himself as a 6m man, elevating him in rank in the long jump circle.
Libby Harris-Byrne has had a terrific season. Coming from a train of sprinting talent under the auspices of coach Billy Delaney, Harris Byrne has already the All-Ireland schools hurdles title under her belt. The Leinster u15 champion was the fastest qualifier having won the first heat in 12.36 seconds, with Charlotte Trimble of Louth in second. It was Harris-Byrne and Trimble who took the gold and silver in the final.
Eanna Dunican (SLOT) looked impressive in his boys u19 100m heat. Easing towards the line, he won comfortably in 10.76 seconds. The final was a different affair. Gabriel Ebo (Belgooley) was the firm favourite along with the fastest qualifier David Konovalov (Raheny). After a good start Dunican had positioned himself well.
A fast final 50m saw him gradually edge into the lead, crossing the line in 10.64 seconds, half a second ahead of Ebo with Konovalov in third place. This was a lovely way to round off what has been a good juvenile sprinting career for the Carlow man. He will now race the u20 championships this coming weekend.
An unusual situation occurred in the girls u15 pole vault. Three girls vaulted 2.40m each with the same number of faults on countback. This produced a three-way tie for the gold medal position. Nora Bayon (Celbridge), Alana Callinan (SLOT) and Alison Guerin (Middleton) stood together on the top tier of the podium as Brid Golden, president of Athletics Ireland presented their medals. Callinan adds the national title to her Leinster one from earlier this month.
It was silver for Sephora Mahon (SLOT) in the girls u14 discus. A first round foul tends to unnerve athletes a little. Mahon recomposed herself to get an assured valid throw in round 2. Gaining more confidence she threw her best throw of 27.80m in round 3, moving from fourth place into second.
The final round throw from Blarney’s Caoimhe O’Connell looked far but it was still 57cm behind that of Mahon, thereby guaranteeing Mahon of her silver medal. This is the first All-Ireland discus medal for the St Laurence O’Toole athlete.
It was silver for Billy Og Forde (Barrow Valley) in the boys u14 80m. Forde had the misfortune to be in the position where both the Long Jump and 80m were concurrent. While his 6th place in the long jump may have disappointed him, he more than made up for his disappointment with his excellent run in the 80m.
The Barrow Valley athlete finished second to Nathan Hoban (Roscommon) in the heats. In the final he faced the winner of heat 2 Elvis Urbstas (St Josephs). It was Urbstas who took gold with Forde silver, almost a second ahead of the bronze medallist. Another Barrow Valley athlete was making their All-Ireland debut. Aoife Rattigan finished 8th in the girls u15 discus.
A third silver medal was achieved in the girls u19 400m. Two Carlow girls qualified for the final; Cassie O’Byrne (SLOT) who won the first heat and Sophia Granjo (SLOT) who was second to Erin Friel (Letterkenny) in heat two.
Both Granjo and O’Byrne are members of the Irish 4x400m relay squad. As expected it was Friel who dominated the 400m final, showing her talent at the early stages of the race. Granjo did however draw closer to her over the final 100m but perhaps left it a little late to overhaul her. Granjo crossed the line for silver in a time of 58.97 with O’Byrne in fourth place.
With three silver medals already in the bag, day 2 continued to produce more medals of the same colour. Isabelle McCormack threw 33.52 in the girls u19 Javelin to take second place, a meter behind long time rival Isobel Kearns (Naas). This rounds out a nice juvenile career for McCormack, who has made the javelin her niche event.
Running concurrent to the u19 Javelin was the boys pole vault. Martin Óg Nolan-Hosey, finished second in the boys u18 with a height of 2.90m, a new personal best.
Silver was the colour of the day it see as the SLOT as the pole vaunter’s amassed three silver medals. The second silver came from the boys u17 pole vault where Jack Wickham finished second with a leap of 3.80m. This was a highly competitive event that saw Fionn Naughton hit the 4m mark.
The high winds did play havoc with some of Wickhams earlier jumps, as the bar was succumbing to forced movement by the strong winds. Wickham did however manage to get through those trick moments as he stood proudly on the podium. The third pole vault silver came from Cian Opera in the boys u15. Opera cleared 2.35m, narrowly missing 2.45m on this final attempt.
Conor McDonald (Barrow Valley) added another national medal to the clubs haul. McDonald was competing in the boys u17 discus. Throwing 36.97m in the second round, he momentarily led the competition.
Five minutes later Dominic Lipowski (North Down) closed out the second round with a massive throw of 42.50m, which was the eventual gold medal winning throw. With all of his throws consistent McDonald can be well pleased with how he performed.
There were three bronze medals from Saturdays competitions– both in the 100m sprints. Ava Broderick (SLOT) finished 3rd in the girls u16 100m with Mia Cullen (SLOT) taking bronze in the girls u18 100m. Broderick did very well to overtake the Leinster winner Jaiden Shaw-Hanlon in the final and was just two hundredths of a second behind Kilkenny’s Jasmine McEneaney Timmons.
It took a photo finish to decide the ultimate outcome. For Mia Cullen a slight upset in the girls u18 gave her a surprise bronze medal. Race favourite Destiny Lawal, withdrew from the final and Tiffany Nwaedozie (Begooley) was disqualified for a false start. This left the competition wide open. Cullen herself had been disqualified at the Leinster championships for a false start. Running well in the final Cullen picked up a bronze medal, crossing the line in 12.29 just three hundredths of a second off silver.
The third bronze medal was from Jack Andrulenis who stood on the podium alongside Harry Butcher to finish third with a jump of 5.64m.
On day 2 (Sunday) Emily Kidd bounced back from what has been a flat few weeks for her to clinch the bronze medal in the girls u15 80m hurdles. Her time of 12.18 seconds was a new personal best. Kidd won her heat in 12.65 seconds, as she eased comfortably into the final.
Up against a strong Munster contingent, Kidd had to work hard from the gun. Her final 30m proved to be her best as she edged herself into the bronze medal position, bending Munster champion Lucia Greany (Riocht) and Munster runner-up Shelia O’Donovan.
