Michael Romanin has provided a huge highlight, and the club’s first State title in winning the Victorian 100 yards title in 9.89 (-0.8) at the Zatopek meet at Lakeside Stadium overcoming a strong field to win by about 1 metre. Michael has been in great early season form and is showing the benefits of the hard work put in with coach John Nicolosi. This backs up Joel Bee’s win in same event in 2016.

Also on the program was the final of the Mens 4x400m Relay where a battle in 3 was anticipated with Doncaster, Old Melburnians and SKAAC, and so it would prove with Doncaster and SKAAC waging a tight battle across all 4 legs. In a team that contained a completely new squad from last years gold medal winning team it was a titanic battle that came down to Alex Rowe v’s Doncaster’s Kevin Rassool. Doncaster held on for a famous win, but the SKAAC quartet was our fastest ever, stopping the clock in 3:13.63. The splits were:

Conor Fry 48.51; Joseph Deng 48.12; Steve Knuckey 49.21; Alex Rowe 47.53

SKAAC is building a great group of 400m runners, with the Zatopek a great chance each season for us to showcase this.

A great meet for all at SKAAC!!

After a spectacularly successful period in SKC Athletics driven by Brosie McCann, all at SKAAC congratulate and extend our support to the new Teacher-in-Charge (TIC) of SKC Athletics Shaun Hargreaves. Shaun is an SKC/SKAAC Legend in his own right having being a MAJOR part of both APS and AV Premierships, famously completing 10 events in 1 day to secure the Under 18 Shield Final just over 10 years ago.

We pay our thanks to Brosie for his unbridled enthusiasm and energy that he bought to SKC Athletics and for the positive difference he made to so many SKC students both on and off the track. I’m sure his wife Alice and daughters Lottie and Ruby will very much appreciate having him home around the house more than they have in the last 3 years.

Brosie will still be very much involved in SKAAC, as he is maintaining his SKAAC Committee seat and still remaining in the driving seat of our strategy and growth now that Tooronga is fully functioning.

Well Done to both Brosie and Shaun

Adelaide produced some amazing conditions for many events over the Friday-Sunday carnival, despite some blustery winds at times. Our SKC representatives did the college proud and all performed to their best on the day.

 

Will Lewis:

A gutsy run to stick with the leaders for 2-3 laps and then had a solo chase leading the rest of a large field to finish with 4:03.22 for a respectable 5th behind a few very talented and experienced NSW athletes.

Charlie O’Connell:

Opened in the first round with a new PB of 14.41m in his u14 Shot Put, followed by a consistent series of 14.11m, 13.49m and 13.63m to place 6th.

Gus Simpfendorfer:

A big program of 2x 200m, 2x 400m and a 4x100m

23.89sec in his 200m heat was followed by 23.93 in the final to place 2nd on Friday.

Saturday saw the 400m heat which was strategically ran in a comfortable 53.19sec to qualify fastest for the final on Sunday. A very impressive run on Sunday, executing the perfect tactical and gutsy race to take the win. 50.44sec was a new meet record and new u14 Victorian record, not to mention the SKC u14 AND u15 400m record (formally held by Alex Rowe). Finally, Gus ran the 2nd leg of the u14 4x100m where team Vic came 3rd, to give Gus a full set of medals in his first national championships.

Phil Borg:

A very big program for Phil also, starting off on Friday with the u18 400m heats. A very impressive and well executed race plan saw him achieve a new PB of 48.92sec to qualify fastest for the final. In a strong field, Phil was trailing for the first 300m when his fitness and composure saw him work in to 3rd position, taking out the bronze medal in another sub 49sec run, clocking 48.98sec.

Following the 400m final, a few hours later Phil ran the 400m leg of the swedish relay, where the Victorian team were victorious.

The final day was another double effort for Phil, starting with the 200m heat. A solid run, not reflected in his time of 22.75, which placed him 9th overall (the 3rd time at national level that Phil has missed out on the final by 1 place). Finally, Phil ran the 3rd leg of the u18 4x100m where team Vic came 2nd, which saw Phil collect a full set of medals also.

Final SKC wrap:

2 Gold

2 Silver

2 Bronze

1x 5th

1x 6th

2x school records

Gus Simpfendorfer has claimed the Under 14 400m Victorian record, slashing 1.15 seconds off the record in stopping the clock and taking a commanding win at the National All Schools Final in Adelaide in 50.44sec.

Gus is relatively new to athletics and has had a most memorable start to his career, with him being crowned SKC’s first ever Year 7 recipient of the Outstanding Performance Trophy after his first APS Sports on 21 October and under the expert guidance of coach Steve Cain.

Gus joins the great Matthew Burmeister as a SKAAC Victorian State record holder over 400m.

Well Done Gus!!

In a first for SKAAC and a massive run by Michael Romanin, the Mens Open 200m Club Record (already owned by Michael) has been lowered to 20.96 following Michael’s slashing run on Sunday in the Joanna Stone Shield meet in Brisbane on Sunday. The run represents a 0.24 sec PB for Michael and is the first time a SKAAC athlete has broken 21 sec for 200m.

Michael’s next run will be in the Victorian 100 yards Championship to be held at the Zatopek meet on 14 December 2017.

Well Done Michael !!

A wonderful day was had by a record number of SKAAC athletes at the 2017 Victorian Relay Championships on 11 November at Lakeside Stadium. With the event bought forward two weeks due to the 2018 GoldM Coast Commonwealth Games, one would have thought numbers would be down, but for SKAAC it was records everywhere. Nearly 50 athletes took to the track to take on the best, with stellar performances everywhere. SKAAC won 5 medals and also qualified for the Open Mens 4×400. Arguably, the most famous performance was by the Women’s Open Medley Relay who teamed brilliantly to claim the Silver medal, SKAAC’s first ever female Women’s State Relays medal. With all the highlights, the best way to summarise the day is by numbers, see below:-

 

1… as in Silver Medals to our Open Women’s Medley Relay team (4:16.64) comprising of Amanda Pang, Ali Hynes, Sarah Minahan & Kayla DeBondt

1… as in spikes ripped by Steve Knuckey to shreds in pursuit of the ultimate success.

1… as in Bronze medals secured by the Open mens 4×100 team (41.95) consisting of Jackson Bennett, Michael Romanin, Phil Borg & Joel Bee.

2… as in tents required to cater for the huge SKAAC contingent that converged on Lakeside for the day

3… as in Gold Medals secured by SKAAC. The winning teams were the Mens 40+ 4×1500 (19:15.91) relay team consisting of Joe Lynch, Luke Goodman, Lincoln Mah & Aaron Little. Mens Open 4×1500 (15:31.51) consisting of Adam Pyke, Alex Rowe, Peter Bol & Luke Mathews. The Mens Open 4x800m (7:41.09) consisting of Steve Fabris, Brad Mathas, Joseph Deng & Peter Bol.

5… as in Women’s teams entered by SKAAC, clearly the most ever in our history.

7… as in the number of debutants that wore the famous colours for the first time. Welcome to Zoe Wong, Tess Graham, Sophie Dole, Sam Cantwell, Finn Davern, Lulu Goodman & Ali Hynes.

12…as in hours the day went for

16… as in the club records broken by our 5 female teams on the day.

17…as in total SKAAC teams entered on the day, surpassing our previous record of 11 set last year.

23… as in club records broken on the day…

Open Womens Medley, 4:16 64 (Amanda Pang, Ali Hynes, Sarah Minahan & Kayla de Bondt)

Open Womens 4×400, 4:18.22 (Amanda Pang, Sarah Minahan, Ali Hynes, Kayla de Bondt)

Under 14-20 Womens’s 4×100, 57.26 (Tess Graham, Zoe Wong, Lauren McGarry & Alessia Acquaro)

Under 14-20 Womens’s 4×400, 5:06.94 (Alessia Acquaro, Lulu Goodman, Sophie Dole & Lauren McGarry)

Open Mens 4×100, 41.95 (Joel Bee, Michael Romanin, Phil Borg & Jackson Bennett) and again in the final (Jackson Bennett, Michael Romanin, Phil Borg & Joel Bee)

Open Mens 4×1500, 15:31.51 (Adam Pyke, Alex Rowe, Peter Bol & Luke Mathews)

Under 17 Mens 4×800, 8:34.57 (Luca DiConza, Josh Collins, Tristan Day, Thomas Scroggie)

Under 18, 19 & 20  Mens Medley Relay (Marcus Osman, Phil Borg, Thomas Scroggie & Josh Collins)

 

25… as in years the Mens Open 4×1500 Club Record had stood for, dating back to 12/12/1992

41.95… as in the new Mens Open 4x100m Relay club record that was the time run twice to the hundreth of a second in the heat and again in the final.

30,400…as in metres raced by SKAAC athletes on the day in the various races and finals that we contested.

 

Thanks to all athletes, parents, coaches for your input on this sensational day for the club. A special thanks to those athletes that went above and beyond to assist me and the various teams.

To the Under 16 boys who each ran 3 races (Adam McGarry & Matt Dinan)

To the Under 16 girls medley who did the club proud (Eva Williams, Charli Williams, Lulu Goodman & Isabelle Collins)

To the Under 14 mens relay team finishing strongly against the odds (Sam Cantwell, Aidan Leiner, Jett-Paris Bedelis & Michael Dinan)

To Jackson Jacotine who came to be a part of the day and then raced off to a basketball game

To Andrew Mathieson who ran two sensational legs in the Under 16 4×100 and a particularly impressive leg of the Under 16 4×400.

To Angus Down who ran two 400m races in a day.

 

A great day, and a pleasure to witness such a strong performance by everyone wearing our famous colours.

In a nice piece of SKAAC symmetry, SKAAC Olympian Peter Bol has presented Lauren McGarry her Gold Medal after her win in the SSV State Championships today at Lakeside Stadium. Trailling after Round 2 by 40cm and in 4th place, Lauren smashed her previous PB by 1.10m in Round 3 to record the winning throw of 11.25m, a huge throw with the 3kg Shot.

Kane Emery who is part of the very successful CMLAC & SKAAC alliance (coached by John Nicolosi) has won the 11 year old boys 100m and grabbed silver in the 200m to similarly book himself a spot in Adelaide for the Pacific Schools Games.

Well done Lauren & Kane

See below for Award ceremony picture for Peter & Lauren. Go SKAAC!!

 

Firstly, a big welcome to SKAAC for our Round 5 debutants: Amanda Pang, Aidan Leiner, Harry Bowen, Hamish Neilson & Jackson Jacotine.

Werribee Venue

Michael Romanin has taken 0.17 off his PB to record a 10.48 sec run over 100m at the AV Shield Round 4 meet at Werribee. This is the second fastest ever run by a SKAAC athlete and o.02 away from the SKAAC Club record. Michael’s next hit out is planned to be at the AV State Relays on 11 November at Lakeside.

Tristan Day ran the 1500m in 4:23.1

Dylan Johnson jumped 6.97m in the Long Jump into a 1.5m/s headwind, a great first up competition

Angus Down tackled the 2k Steeple in 7:35.2

Amanda Pang scored our first points in Open Women’s for quite a few years, by running the 100m in 13.30 (+3.2) and the 400m in 64.96.

Harvey Connor ran the 100m in 11.76 (+2.9), the 400m in 56.68 a rounded out the day 6.32m Long Jump

Great also to see Matt Dinan in his first competition for the season in the Under 16 400m in 65.41

Knox Venue

There were some fantastic performances at Knox, headlined by the performance of our debutants. Harry Bowen ran a great 3000m to stop the clock in 9:57.2, his first ever track 3k. Hamish Neilson (30.29s over 200m) and Aidan Leiner both were similarly impressive in the Under 14 200m, with Aidan also fitting in a Triple Jump (9.08m).

Equally impressive were the SKAAC version of the Williams sisters. Charli breaking the Under 15 Triple Jump record (8.37m) followed closely by Eva (8.29m). Eva a 1.30m High Jump and a 200m (29.18). Charli also for the first time ever, a Shot Put (6.38m).

Jackson Jacotine smashed his Triple Jump PB, breaking through the 11m barrier (11.06m) for the first time, in his first competition for SKAAC. Adam McGarry also had a pair of PB’s in the High (1.35m) & Triple Jump events (8.74m).

Isabelle Collins ran a strong 3000m (11:43.1) in quite humid conditions.

Lauren McGarry broke her own Under 13-18 3kg Shot Put Club Record with 10.11m and Alessia Acquaro jumped an Under 14 Club record in the High Jump (1.20m) and also broke the Under 14 200m record with (30.86 -3.1m/s).

Aaron Little also produced brilliantly in the 3000m with a slashing PB run of 9:56.3. Lincoln Mah also chimed in with a 3000m PB of 11:10.8

Marcus Osman also faced off in the 200m (25.30) for his first run of the AV season, after last week’s heroics at the APS Sports.

Geelong Venue

It was the Imbriano’s at Geelong flying the SKAAC colours with Joel with 7 events. Joel was the fastest athlete on the day in the 1500m Walk (8:52.73)

AV Shield goes into a 2 week break, with the Victorian All Schools Championships next weekend, followed by the AV State Relay Championships on 11th November where a strong presence is assured.

Please see below for details regarding the magnificent win by the SKC Athletics Team on Saturday 21st October at the APS Sports.

Congratulations to SKC Athletics Captain (and SKAAC member) Phil Borg, TIC, Brosie McCann and SKAAC Club members Steve Fabris, Steve Cain and Shaun Hargreaves who have guided the team so magnificently in their senior coaching roles.

APS Boys Heats Results 2017

APS Boys Athletics Results, Records & Points 2017

APS Boys Age Group Points 2017

APS Boys Placings Summary 2017

2017 Aths SKC APS Premiership Team

As a special treat, please also see the link below to the handiwork of Steve Fabris who has captured much of the day on film. Have a look at the Under 15 4x400m Relay – you won’t be disappointed!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/Raptorlawyer/featured?view_as=subscriber

Please see the link below for the 2017 APS Boys Program of Events for those that are able to make it down to Lakeside Stadium on Saturday 21st October 2017 from 1:00pm.

See program here –>> 2017 Aths APS Athletics – Boys Programme