AV Shield Final – SKAAC Under 14 – Ohh so close

What a proud club we are today as we congratulate our Under 14 Shield Final team of Jett-Paris Bedelis, Luca DiConza, Matt Dinan, Angus Down, Daniel Doyle, Joel Imbriano Adam McGarry & Samuel Scroggie.

What a wonderful performance we were able to witness on Sunday 12th February 2017, as our boys came oh-so-close to claiming the AV Shield title, finishing 3rd and missing the win by a mere 331 points to a very strong Box Hill team.

1st Box Hill 5,436

2nd Western 5,239

3rd St. Kevin’s 5,106

4th Essendon 4,198

5th Knox 4,060

6th Frankston 3,401

7th Doncaster 3,210

8th Geelong 3,191

9th Bendigo 2,584

10th Ballarat 1,960

11th Diamond Valley 930

Each boy put in a hurculean performance during the season to give us the chance to contest the final, but the heroics on display by these 8 legends for the good size crowd to come so close had all SKAAC parents in attendance in raptures.

The final also had its fair share of drama as well with a re-run of Heat 33 of the 100m required, which unfortunately had Matt Dinan and Jett in it. The re-run did not help the SKAAC cause as Matt Dinan had to complete a mercy dash to get back to the track, having left to avoid a 6 hour break between events, and Jett would strain his hip flexor to limit his output on the day, but more on that later.

We knew the competition would be tough with Box Hill and the ever-strong Western Athletics teams leading into the day, and so it would prove, but with a near full team sheet and a brilliant capacity for hard work, our boys left nothing out there.

Some important numbers…

• 5 Club records…Joel Imbriano in the 2000m walk in completing the event in 11:31.8 and in doing so, taking out every age Club Record from Under 13 to Under 17 inclusive;
• 1 re-run of a 100m race, that forced Matt & Jett to race again;
• 12.5 hours of gruelling athletics, in what is a VERY long day;
• 12 Personal Best performances of the 29 events contested by the SKAAC athletes;
• 1st in terms of team completeness, no club had fewer gaps than SKAAC;
• 3 National Qualifiers…Adam McGarry (Pole) Daniel Doyle (90m Hurdles) and Luca DiConza (2000m Steeplechase); and
• 8 very tough competitors, doing everything they could to secure the ultimate prize for their team.

The day started very early for Luca & Samuel in the Long Jump, where both boys handled the cold & windy conditions really well. Luca was just a touch off his PB with 3.96 and Samuel was desperately unlucky to just foul in his last attempt, that looked well over 4m to finish with a fantastic 3.59m.

The 2000m Steeplechase is a brutal race, and on this day a race where the amazing became reality. Luca DiConza finished 3rd in a new PB of 7:04.98 taking a whopping 19 seconds from his PB and in doing so securing himself a National Qualifier. Angus Down throwing down the challenge to his Box Hill opponent was scarcely less impressive in running 7:37.20 to take 25 seconds from his PB. This event, once a weakness for SKAAC would prove to be our strength, being our highest average points score per athlets for the day at 346.50, an amazing performance.

The 90m Hurdles is a really tough event, with not much margin between success & failure. On this day, Daniel Doyle would run 16.44 for a National Qualifier (&PB) followed closely by Jett in 19.65.

Adam McGarry & Luca DiConza, having spent the previous day scoring an unbeaten 66 run partnership in the 8A’s Cricket win over Burke Hall, tackled the Discus with Adam throwing 24.27 for a 2.25m PB, with 13.29m for Luca, in what by this stage of the day, were really tough, windy conditions.

The 100m would prove to be a strength for SKAAC with 2 out of 4 athletes securing PB performances. Daniel Doyle’s class would be on display winning the event with 12.06. Matt Dinan, having to come back to the track to re-run his race ran 13.48 for a PB (however, one wonders what the first run of Matt’s in Heat 33 might have been). Adam McGarry took a massive 1.55 seconds from his PB to run 13.95, with Jett just getting to the line after injurying his hip flexor, running 15.22.

Joel Imbriano has been a powerhouse for the team all season and this would be “his” day. After some strong training in ealy 2017, Joel had been planning an assault on the 2000m Walk Club record, that at Under 13 level, he already had. On this day Joel would smash the previous records for all age groups up to Under 17, in completing the distance in 11:31.8, a staggering 1:09 minute PB.

The 1500m saw Sam Scroggie take his chance to shine with a sensation 13 sec PB, stopping the clock in 5:22.3. Luca DiConza finished in 2nd place, running 4:37.7, Angus Down ran 5:08.7, blitzing the last 300m and Joel Imbriano was really brave backing up after his walk to run 6:08.3.

Javelin conditions were really tough for Jett & Adam for different reasons. Jett was distracted by the officialling bungle that saw him have to re-run his 100m heat, which took place half-way through his Javelin. However, unruffled he was able to secure a distance of 14.05m. Adam would face difficult headwind conditions, with wind gusts making throwing very difficult. Adam McGarry, after considering abandoning his 3rd and final throw, persuaded strongly against doing so by the Team Manager, he was able to throw a final distance of 24.27m , a mere 35cm from his PB, over 5m better than his previous best for the day, and secure an extra 40 points for the team.

News had filtered through that the Box Hill athlete had 3 no-jumps in the Long Jump (earning zero points) to open the door for SKAAC to swoop and didn’t the boys rally to the cause doing everything they could to catch the leading Box Hill team.

What unfolded in the next couple of hours would have all of SKAAC standing up and being proud of our youngest members.

First up would be the 400m, which is tough for so many reasons. A because it is a long way to try & run fast, because it invariably is run at the end of the program at the end of a long day and finally because the wind conditions can be so cruel when the lactic is burning. The SKAAC 4 to face the starter were, Daniel Doyle 59.47 for 3rd overall, Luca DiConza 65.60 (after a massive day that delivered 1102 points), Angus Down in 70.75 (after a similarly massive day) and Adam McGarry in a PB of 71.02.

Jett-Paris defying all orders to rest his injured hip flexor, committed to 2 attempts at the Pole Vault to earn a valuable 100 points for his team.

Adam McGarry in a competition that started at 5:30pm, stayed back to 9:15pm to complete his Pole Vault of 2.20m (a National Qualifier)

The 4×100 relay team, with a change required due to Jett’s injury took it upon themselves to work with each other on the changes to give themselves every chance in the last track event for the day. The boys were sensational running 55.07 for 4th place. Mention must also be made of Samuel Scroggie for his immediate “yes” when asked if he could fill in for Jett. It is this type of attitude that is typical of the grit of not only Samuel, but of this team.

 Whilst some may look blandly at the result of a 3rd place finish, more seasoned judges would conclude that these Shield Finals are HARD to win and the team that represented all of SKAAC left nothing in the tank. 12 PB’s in 29 events is a great testament to the effort and pride the boys took in wearing our great colours. I will remember this group for the all-round balance and the spread of effort across the whole team.

Thanks for a great season, Daniel, Angus, Luca, Joel, Jett-Paris, Samuel, Matt, Adam & also Matthew Kim who couldn’t compete on the day, I hope that you had as much fun as I did watching your progress through the season.

A big thanks to Lincoln Mah who acted as our official in the Long Jump and also later in the marathon 5:30 Pole Vault (still going at 10:00pm), John Nicolosi from Melbourne Athletic Development for his expert physio management of our team and Steve Cain for his guidance of our throwers and Pole Vaulters.

Full results can be seen below:- 

2016_2017_AVShield-final-graded-results