A stunning exclamation mark was put on an amazing fortnight of Championship athletics by every member of SKAAC competing in weekend 2 of the Victorian Championships.
Quite rightly we laud our medalists, personal best performers and National qualifiers, but this is a sport of toughness, courage and picking yourself up when things haven’t gone your way.
How proud I was, and how proud we all are of Matthew Kim.
Matthew had to deal with a spectrum of emotion within about an hour of his 200m Hurdles Final & 200m Final. Dealing with the pain of a fall in the hurdles when leading and then showing the courage to get up and face the starter in his 200m final when we all know the hurt he would have been feeling. IT was a courageous performance to finish his hurdles race and then redoubled to step up into his 200m final – SKAAC legend stuff.
One thing that can’t be taken away from Matthew is the fact that he was the club’s only athlete to make two finals on the same day in these championships, so we know what kind of fabric he is made of. All power to you Matthew
GOLD
I wrote last week of the 100m performance of Joel Bee being our first ever win in that event. Well Michael Romanin certainly upped that ante to sensationally take out the Open Mens 200m in 21.54 holding off a strong field for his first ever Open State Title and SKAAC’s first ever 200m win. It is a great story of courage, with injury ruining many of Michael’s last 3 seasons, when a result such as this seemed a possibility. A great story for Michael and his coach John Nicolosi. One gets the feeling that with Michael’s talent, this story has only begun to be written.
Thomas Scroggie last week showed us what was possible with a blistering finish in the 1500m final. As previewed last week, I put the competition on notice about Thomas’ class and the chance he had set himself up for in the 800m. Well executed from the start and running on pace (58 sec first lap) and then running them off their feet with a blistering turn of pace, Thomas won his first AV State Final in the Under 16 800m (2:00.41). Trained to the minute by Steve Fabris & the SKC team, working on technique and speed primarily has paid off in spades. Thomas is humble and similar to Michael, laden with talent. He will wear the laurel wreath as a State Champion in 2017/2018 after plenty of hard work and application. We all look forward to where this breakthrough of sorts leads not only for Nationals in a few weeks but over the next few years.
It has been a real weakness of the club for many seasons, the lack of female membership, and it still is an area of immense focus for the Committee and season 2016/17 has seen some excellent female members join SKAAC. But a VERY historic moment occurred on 5 March 2017 at about 12:20pm. SKAAC’s first ever female Victorian Championship Gold Medalist was confirmed, with Lauren McGarry winning the Under 14 Hammer throw with a new PB & Club Record of 34.23m. Expertly coached by Steve Cain, and only introducing a second spin on Wednesday, Lauren went into the history books of our great club as the first, and we all know most definitely not the last, SKAAC Female State Champion.
SILVER
Lauren McGarry, on Saturday, also took a silver medal in the Under 14 Shot Put with an effort of 9.46m, fractionally off her PB and a mere 8cm from the Gold Medal. As a bottom age Under 14 athlete, she has the chance to compete in this same age group next season.
Conor Fry was simply sensational in the first track event of the day on Sunday with a super controlled race to secure a silver medal. Executing his race plan perfectly, no-one was going as well as 18 year-old Conor over the last 3 hurdles. We’ve known Conor’s class before and were reminded about it with his effort in the 400m flat final last weekend. Conor now heads to Nationals with legitimate finals claims.
Daniel Doyle secured silver in the Under 15 200m with a run of 24.38. Again another example of a gutsy effort after a false start ruined his 100m the week before.
BRONZE
Tristan Day has put together a slashing season and one that has delivered a silver medal. In a crack Under 17 3000m field, running with the lead pack all the way Tristan secured the bronze medal in 9:01.35
Will Lewis also secured Bronze in the Under 18 800m with a run of 1:57.41, that similarly set him up for a strong 2017.
PB EFFORTS
Isabelle Collins 5th place in the Under 16 3000m 10:51.47 (Both a National Qualifier and a club record for every age from Under 15 to Open). Note also that Isabelle backed up in the 800m later in the day to run 2:32.43, as if 3000m in the morning wasn’t enough.
Josh Collins 6th place in the Under 17 3000m 9:11.84 (a 19 sec PB, and National qualifier), also not to be outdone, backed up into an afternoon 800m heat (2:14.49)
Jonathan Taylor, only narrowly missing the Open 200m final with a fantastic 22.58sec effort in his semi. JT has finished the season off so well in these champs and looks set for bright things over the hurdles in season 2017/2018.
Jason Kozica in the 5000m Walk, a new PB of 22:19.99, taking 3 sec off his previous best in coming 4th in the Final.
Other notable efforts
Massimo Acquaro also finished 6th in the Under 17 200m (23.17), finishing the race off as strongly as any of this VERY strong field.
Callum Day ran 2:04.8 in his heat of the Under 20 800m
Phil Borg narrowly missed a medal, finishing 4th, in the Under 18 200m missing by a mere 0.02sec from Bronze in 22.88
Steve Knuckey finished 7th in the 800m final (1:50.57)
Luca DiConza 8th in the Under 15 800m Final (2:18.76)
Chris Milne 2:05.12 in his heat of the Open 800m
DEBUTS
SKAAC were also pleased to see the following athletes have their first ever go at the State Championships
Eleanor Brown Under 18 800m (2:33.48 5th fastest All time)
Ellie Ansett Under 17 800m (2:34.62 6th fastest All time)
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