It was one of the club’s most mythical records. Created during imperial measurement and well before electronic timing was even thought of.

Rob McGuiness has stood atop the list of SKAAC 400m Hurdlers, many have tried and come agonisingly close. Conor gave it a huge crack last year and an even huger crack in his heat of the Under 20 400m Hurdles yesterday.

Well at about 3:31pm today…the record was laid to rest after 55 years, in sensational fashion by Conor Fry in securing the National Under 20 title in a slashing time of 52.91.

It was a super effort by Conor and his team (Dan Bailey, Steve Fabris & Justin Rinaldi) to get Conor into the shape he now finds himself in.

What was also fantastic to see was the number of SKAAC members on hand to witness such a grand run, and the excitement everyone shared with Conor’s win.

 

Showing that age cannot deter them, and that not all elite SKAAC athletes are in Sydney this weekend, these 40+ legends will be tackling the Victorian Masters Championships. In action will be:-

• Aaron Little (40-45 800m)
• Dino Imbriano (40-45 1500m)
• Andrew Thomas (40-45 1500m
• Jack Howard (55-59 Hammer, Shot, Disc)

Good luck gentlemen, fly the SKAAC flag!!

Go SKAAC

 

With 13 SKAAC Open and 13 Juniors, the Nationals in Sydney shape as the biggest ever contingent of SKAAC athletes to represent us in many, many years. With numerous medal chances amongst the athletes listed below, the SKAAC Committee wishes each and every athlete listed below, safe travels and all the best in their respective events.

I cannot let it pass, but the Men’s Open 800m looms as a very special race for SKAAC. With 3 finalists last year and a quinella to Luke & Alex, this years 800m shapes as just as intriguing with any of our 4 athletes capable and deserving of the race win. Dare I say, it the National 800m has fast become the SKAAC Club Championship over 800m

 

Alex Rowe…Open 800m Australian record holder ready to go. Calf complaint now sorted, ready to go. Amazing record in this race with nothing worse than 2nd in the last 5 years

Peter Bol… Open 800m .training the house down and slinging training partners all over the track. Speed to burn, watch this guy go

Steve Knuckey… Open 800m. 3 PB’s over the journey this season and trained to the minute, well in this.

Luke Mathews…Open 800m & 1500m. Nitro series star and reigning National Championship over 800m defending his crown. First race over 800m in Australia this season and super fit and primed to go

Adam Pyke…Open 1500m. Massive win at the Canberra Grand Prix and going a touch better than last season when a medallist. Primed to take this race by the throat.

Joel Bee…Open 100m. Been nothing short of sensational this season starting way back the State Relays. Getting over a hamstring injury, but certainly at his best amongst the quickest in Australia.

Michael Romanin…Open 100m & 200m. Slashing win over 200m at the Vics and a 21.20 to his name already this year, you’d think the club record (that is already his) is under huge pressure. Will run well.

Jason Kozica…Open 10,000m Walk. Finished 5th in this event last year and in PB shape at the Vic Champs over 5,000m. This race shapes as a great chance for Jase to extend his own club record and strut his stuff in a world class field.

Conor Fry…Open & Under 20 400m Hurdles. Super tough program for this merging star, but running into some super form, and National Open Final is certainly well within the possibilities, let alone the longest standing SKAAC Open sprint record, the 53.1

Dylan Johnson…Open Triple Jump. Been on an upward trajectory for over 5 years now and is primed to take the reins on the National Open Triple Jump stage. Big PB above 15.50 looms large.

Kayla deBondt…Open 800m & 1500m. Kayla has been under the guidance of Simon Lewin for 7 weeks and the results of hard training were on display at Milers Meet #5, with a season’s best of 4:27 over 1500m. Hitting her straps at the right time – will run super well.

Deluca Lawson-Matthew…Open 400m. Super quick young man and in a hurry. interrupted preparation leading in and will be a “home” meet for him iafter moving to Sydney recently – can he take advantage – me thinks yes.

Jackson Bennett…Open 100m. Been getting in some tough training with coach Tamma, and looking forward to getting the business done on the National stage.

 

Massimo Acquaro …Under 17 100m & 200m Amazing talent and steadily working his way up the rankings in junior sprinting at the national level. Medallist at the Vics in the 100m and with loads of upside. One to watch.

Josh Collins…Under 17 3000m. HUGE PB at Vics puts him right in the mix for this race. Taking 19sec off a PB in a Champs race is stuff of legend, a title that sets pretty well with this young man

Tristan Day…Under 17 3000m. Gave himself every chance at the Vics running on pace the whole way. PB says he’s in this, training form says he’s in this and desire, well that leaves him most definitely in this – certainly one to watch.

Thomas Scroggie…Under 16 800m, 1500m & 2000m Steeplechase. Made huge strides this year and is spoilt for choice with so many qualifiers. Sensationally won the state 800m title and nobody has the speed that this young man has. Dare to dream!!

Jett-Paris Bedelis…Under 14 Pole Vault. Silver medallist from Vics and has a love for Pole vault unlike few others, in PB shape and is a HUGE medal chance

Isabelle Collins….Under 16 3000m. Secured her nationals place with a 9sec PB at the Vics. Has dominated for SKAAC across all distances from 800m to 3000m this season and ready to fire in her first Nationals

Matthew Kim…Under 15 200m Hurdles. Desperately unlucky at the Vics and we all know how tough this guy is. Be scared, for redemption looms large.

Luca Di Conza…Under 15 3000m. VERY hard worker and meticulous preparation has Luca set with a race right in his sweet spot. Look for him to run them off their feet

Daniel Doyle…Under 15 100m & 200m. Speed machine. Very highly ranked in both events, and sure to make his presence felt at the pointy end when the whips are cracking.

Phil Borg…Under 18 100m, 200m & 400m. State Champion over 400m and a leading SKAAC junior sprinter for many seasons. The bif program won’t daunt this cool customer one bit. Watch for a strong showing in the 400m, where Phil’s talent is beginning to blossom.

Will Lewis…Under 18 800m & 1500m. Put simply, been “flying”. Registered a big PB at Milers over 800m and a recent 4:05PB over 1500m, has Will set for a big Nationals with a near perfectly timed build-up.

Adam McGarry…Under 15 Pole Vault. Coach Steve Cain posed, “is this the first time that SKAAC has had two individual Pole Vaulters go to Nationals?” Well quite probably “yes” and almost certain is the likelihood that Adam will jump well if his recent training form is anything to go by.

Lauren McGarry…Under 14 Hammer & Shot. The club’s youngest National representative, and not without medal claims in the Hammer. Amazingly still eligible for this age group next year.

More Club Records broken at the Milers Club last night:

Alex Rowe sensationally set a new 600m club record in a blistering time of 77.38.  Alex was closely followed by Peter Bol in 77.46.  Both Alex and Peter surpassed Luke Matthews’ 78.05 which he set last year in the Diamond League.  Alex and Peter look set to be right in the mix for the 800m at the Nationals.  You can view the race by clicking here.

Kayla de Bondt improved her own 1500m club record by 4.56 seconds, stopping the clock at 4:27.41.  Kayla now shifts her focus to the Nationals in a couple of weeks where she looks to set to improve her club record once again.

Alex and Kayla’s club records take the total club records broken this season up to 158.

Other highlights were:

Steve Fabris doing the pace making for the first 300m of the Men’s 600m race taking them through in 36 seconds

PB’s to Will Lewis running a very strong 1:55.21 in the Men’s A 800m Race and soon to be club member Joseph Deng running 78.17 in the Men’s 600m

Season bests by Dino Imbriano (800m – 2:13.22) and Lincoln Mah (1500m – 5:12.55)

Others to compete were Aaron Little (800m – 2:03.51), Josh Collins  (1500m – 4:17.18), Thomas Scroggie (1500m – 4:22.30), Callum Day (1500m – 4:26.24), Luca Di Conza (1500m – 4:32.37), Andrew Thomas (1500m – 4:39.83) and Luke Goodman (1500m – 4:43.84)

All at SKAAC wish Brad Mathas all the best as he attempts to capture his 6th NZ National title over 800m this weekend.

Brad has been in slashing form recently with his PB run of 1:46.97 at the ACT State Championships in February followed by a strong showing at the ACT Grand Prix last weekend, finishing in 2nd spot in a race marred by really tough conditions.

 

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 4^th in the Final.

Other notable efforts

Massimo Acquaro also finished 6^th 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 7^th in the 800m final (1:50.57)

Luca DiConza 8^th 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)

Good luck to the 25 Athletes competing across 29 events, in weekend 2 of the Victorian Championships this weekend at Lakeside Stadium.

Those competing this weekend are:-

200m…Massimo Acquaro; Phil Borg; Daniel Doyle; Steve Fabris; Matthew Kim; Deluca Lawson-Matthew; Michael Romanin & Jonathan Taylor

800m…Ellie Ansett; Peter Bol; Eleanor Brown; Isabelle Collins; Josh Collins; Callum Day; Luca DiConza; Steve Knuckey; Will Lewis; Chris Milne; Alex Rowe & Thomas Scroggie

3000m…Isabelle Collins; Josh Collins & Tristan Day

Shot Put…Lauren McGarry

Hammer Throw…Lauren McGarry

Long Jump…Dylan Johnson

200m Hurdles…Matthew Kim

400m Hurdles…Conor Fry

5000m Walk…Jason Kozica

A stunning weekend of athletics at Lakeside Stadium has seen St. Kevin’s Athletes scoop 3 Gold Medals, 3 Silver Medals and 2 bronze medals, with the championships only half over.

GOLD

For the first time SKAAC has provided the winner of the blue ribband 100m, with Joel Bee leaving it late to snatch a dead heat in 10.62s. This follows Joel’s win earlier in the season in the 100 yards Championships.

Dylan Johnson claimed his first Victorian Senior Triple Jump title, on his last jump with a PB of 15.51, eclipsing his own club record by 8cm. Dylan will tackle the Long Jump next weekend and then the Canberra Track Classic prior to the Nationals in Sydney.

Phil Borg ran a most controlled race to win the Under 18 400m title in a new PB of 49.92. This is the first time that Phil has dipped under 50sec for 400m and one thinks this will be the first of many times this is achieved by Phil.

SILVER

Adam Pyke has finished agonisingly close to go back-to-back in the Open Men’s 1500m, finishing with Silver in a time of 3:46, just outside the time posted in the ACT the weekend before. Adam heads to Nationals knowing that he is in superior shape to this time last season when he finished 3rd in Australia.

Thomas Scroggie…Well what can be said about Thomas’ run in the 1500m. Aggressive, yes, commanding, yes and a coming of age of sorts, another big yes. Prior to the weekend Thomas’ PB for 1500m was in the 4:20’s. What it is now is a staggering 4:11.04 and good enough to take silver. In grabbing this medal, Thomas has announced his class. He is well set for a similar assault on his 800m PB next weekend.

Jett-Paris Bedelis in winning the silver medal added 30cm to his PB (which now stands at 2.20m) and broke a club record that has stood since 1972. Jett now gets the opportunity to wear the blue colours of the mighty Victoria at the Nationals in Sydney.

BRONZE

Massimo Acquaro is a super talent and keeps getting better with every race. On Sunday he added a State Bronze medal to his collection with a strong 11.50 in the Under 17 100m race.

Thomas Scroggie secured a Bronze medal in the Under 16 2000m Steeplechase running a PB of 6:28.42 and in doing so took out the Under 15 and Under 16 SKAAC Club Records previously held by Anthony McKay.

In total, there were 12 club records broken over the weekend. In addition to the 4 described above, Isabelle Collins created a new mark in the 1500m of 5:01.92 for every age group from Under 15 to Under 20 inclusive. Kayla De Bondt also broke the Open Women’s 1500m record in her heat (4:35.57) and again in the final (4:31.97)

PB efforts were also recorded by:-

Matthew Kim Under 15 Triple Jump 5th 11.43m

Tristan Day Under 17 1500m 4:13.09

Josh Collins Under 17 1500m 4:16.95

Will Lewis Under 18 1500m 4:04.58

Callum Day Under 20 1500m 4:15.96

Luca DiConza Under 15 1500m 4:30.33

It was also great to see Conor Fry & Brad Mathas make the 400m final running 49.01 (6th) & 49.56 (7th) respectively.

DEBUTS

SKAAC were also pleased to see the following athletes have their first ever go at the State Championships

Ava Bennett Under 17 1500m 5:29.00, an over 12sec improvement from Ava’s last run at the GSV Div 1 carnival in 2016

Marcus Osman Under 17 100m 12.17s, an electric timed PB and a narrow miss to go through to the final

Adam McGarry Under 15 Pole Vault 6th in 2.20m, which is a National qualifier

 

Good luck to the 28 Athletes competing across 30 events, in weekend 1 of the Victorian Championships this weekend at Lakeside Stadium.

Those competiting this weekend are:-

100m…Massimo Acquaro; Joel Bee; Jackson Bennett; Phil Borg; Daniel Doyle; Marcus Osman; Michael Romanin & Jonathan Taylor

400m…Phil Borg; Steve Fabris; Conor Fry; Deluca Lawson-Matthew & Alex Rowe

1500m…Ava Bennett; Isabelle Collins; Josh Collins; Callum Day; Tristan Day; Kayla De Bondt; Luca DiConza; Jack Holden; Dino Imbriano; Will Lewis; Adam Pyke & Thomas Scroggie

2000m Steeplechase…Thomas Scroggie

Pole Vault…Jett-Paris Bedelis & Adam McGarry

Triple Jump…Dylan Johnson & Matthew Kim

 

We love our stats here at SKAAC. But what we love more is fast running. And aren’t we getting plenty of that at the moment. The ACT State Champs just completed saw a SKAAC Trifecta in the 800m with Brad, Peter & Steve running the proverbial house down. Brad and Steve securing PB’s in the process. What are few may not realise is that following these runs SKAAC athletes now occupy the Top 4 World rankings for 2017…not bad by anyone’s measure…

Also on display in Canberra were Michael Romanin who ran a PB in the 100m (10.65), Jackson Bennett (10.79 100m) Conor Fry (55.04 400m Hurdles), Steve Fabris (big PB in the 400m 49.72) and Deluca Lawson-Matthew (400m 48.60)