Season 2016/2017 marks the 10th Anniversary of the club’s first ever Junior Association Final win in the 2006/2007 Mens Under 18 Division on 31 March 2007.
Prior to season 2006/2007, SKAAC had won several junior Venue Premierships, as they were known as at the time. However, had never scaled the rise to claim a State Junior Club Championship.
A remarkable performance was required to win this pennant along with some luck.
Final scores were:
St. Kevin’s 262.3
Western Athletics 240
Knox 199.6
Chilwell 0
The luck came in the form of no club competing in the final having any competitors in the Walk event – so often a tough event for SKAAC to field competitors.
SKAAC were pitted against Western Athletics, Knox & Chilwell, a small group, as at the time, only the Venue Premiers advanced to the Shield Final, as opposed to the top 2 teams advancing like they do in current Shield competition.
The amazing thing about this premiership was that there were only 6 SKAAC athletes that competed on the day, compared with 11 for Western Athletics and a staggering 15 for Knox.
The SKAAC Premiership heroes are:-
Shaun Hargreaves
Daniel McKay
James Tamouridis
Mark DeLuca
Gerard Kerr
Peter Shearman
Daniel McKay was an excellent athlete who regularly travelled from Gippsland to compete with St. Kevin’s. His involvement in this premiership was as a sprint/hurdler/jumper and his quiet, steely determination. On the day he competed in 6 events. 100m…12.05s; 200m…24.68s; 400m Hurdles…61.1s; Long Jump…5.64m; Triple Jump…12.07m and also a leg of the 4x400m relay. Daniel’s points tally for the day was 40.25.
James Tamouridis was a multiple State Champion and APS Shot Put Record Holder. However, he was also a very capable multi-event athlete and was crucial to the teams’ success. On the day he competed in 5 events. 100m…11.89s; 200m…24.20s; Discus…40.45m; Shot Put…14.01m; Javelin…46.98m. This was against his long time rivals the Peska brothers from Western Athletics. James’ points tally for the day was 46.75.
Mark DeLuca remains a state level distance performer who ranks highly on virtually all of SKAAC’s Top 10 rankings boards. Whilst he moved to Sydney in 2015, he retains his passion for SKAAC and has continued his running whilst in Sydney. How’s this for a day of distance running – 800m…2:03.1; 1500m…4:10.2; 3000m…9:17.7. A truly legendary single day to deliver the club a long cherished premiership. Mark’s points tally for the day was 30.0, but critically allowed SKAAC to exploit weaknesses in the distance squads of the other clubs.
Gerard Kerr, who would be named SKC Captain of Athletics in 2008, ran all of his juniors with SKAAC, where his prodigious talent saw him win many Victorian medals. Gerard competed in 4 events for the day. 800m…2:06.7; 1500m…4:28.9; High Jump…1.65m and a leg of the 4x400m Relay. Gerard’s points tally for the day was 21.55.
Peter Shearman took on the same distance program as Mark DeLuca and similarly was crucial in the securing of the Premiership as SKAAC exploited the distance weaknesses of our competitors. Peter has competed for many seasons with SKAAC since finishing school. 800m…2:05.6; 1500m…4:22.8; 3000m…9:40.0. Peter’s points tally for the day was 25.0.
Shaun Hargreaves. In this scribes view, among the most amazing individual efforts you will ever see. 10 events on the day, 4 wins, 2 second places, 2 third places and nothing lower than 4th place. This is one of the most brilliant performances ever by a SKAAC athlete – period. Shaun competed in every sprint, throw and jump on the day and scored a staggering 98.75 points. His individual results were: 100m…11.89s; 200m…23.66s; 400m Hurdles 58.1s; Discus…38.31m; High Jump…1.75m; Javelin…58.82m; Long Jump…6.21m; Shot Put…12.10m; Triple Jump 13.69m and to finish his “decathlon in a day”, a leg of the 4x400m Relay. Shaun was duly crowned Under 18 Club Champion for season 2006/2007. To the very many current SKC students that now have the privilege to call Shaun their coach, once you have read this article, make sure that you go up to Shaun and acknowledge his courage, stamina and skill to be able to perform at a level such as this. For we may never see a day of Athletics like this from an individual again.
We salute and remember a significant day in SKAAC’s history on 31 March 2007, and congratulate Daniel, James, Mark, Gerard, Peter & Shaun for being our first ever Junior Association Premiers.
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