In a stunning race for SKAAC Luke Mathews has been crowned the 2015/2016 800m National Champion running 1:46.20. In doing so, he becomes the 5th SKC student to have achieved this feat, joining John Higham, Peter Bourke, Simon Lewin and Alex Rowe as National 800m champions. In a brutal race, typical of middle distance running, Luke was able to secure the win after sitting in second spot before pouncing at the 150m mark. Luke is now a certain selection for the Rio Olympics in August.
Alex Rowe finished a strong second after employing some excellent race tactics by staying close to the rail, getting up on the inside to complete the SKAAC quinella in 1:47.31. Alex now has until early July to seek a qualifying time under 1:46.00.
Peter Bol has been sensational all season and in coming 5th won plenty of admirers, nearly getting checked only 250m into the race, he was at the head of the chasing pack all the way and could have so easily been part of a Trifecta running 1:47.76.
Joel Bee finished 5th in his 100m semi-final running a seasons best 10.65s for 3rd fastest SKAAC athlete all time. His next goal is a race in Canberra in 2 weeks.
Dylan Johnson finished with 9th place in the Triple Jump final with 15.13m. Not many would know of the challenges Dylan has faced in the past 4-5 weeks with a foot injury severly hampering his preparation for Nationals – so to make the final was a brilliant effort.
These Nationals have been nothing short of a triumph for SKAAC.
- 11 athletes qualified and made the trip to compete in Sydney;
- 2 gold medals were won;
- 1 athlete has qualified for Rio;
- 1 silver medal was was won;
- 2 athletes can be selected pending qualifying performances being achieved before early July 2016;
- Two 5th places were achieved; and
- 11 athletes did themselves, their families and their club proud with what has happened this weekend.
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