There are plenty of SKAAC athletes in action at the Zatopek Meet on 26 January 2021 at Box Hill. So show your patriotism to club and country and get out to Box Hill to support your clubmates in the following events:-

4:55pm 400m Hurdles – Conor Fry

5:10pm 400m Hurdles – Marli Wilkinson (one of the SKAAC Tooronga coaches)

5:25pm 800m – Steve Knuckey & Jack Lunn

5:50pm Long Jump – Darcy Roper

6:10pm 3000m – Josh Collins, Luca DiConza

7:25pm 1500m – Peter Bol, Brad Mathas (with Joseph Deng to run as pacemaker)

7:40pm 10000m – Jack Holden, Sam McEntee

SKAAC lost one of its all-time greats last week with the sad passing of Alan Lodge. Along with his brother, Keith, Alan was one of the inaugural runners for the St Kevin’s old boy’s cross-country team that until Alan’s period, was primarily a track club. He was the instigator of St Kevin’s old boys joining the APS Old Boy’s association in 1958.  Alan was the first Cross-Country captain of the club to compete in the APSOC competition, and also went on to become Secretary of the APS in 1961.

Alan was a State level 2 mile and 3-mile cross country runner. It has been quoted that Alan was a pioneer in distance running at St Kevin’s. It was through Alan that St Kevin’s began to build a successful running distance culture, that very quickly became a force with the APS old boys’ competition and still is to this day.

In 1961 though Alan’s initiative, St Kevin’s hosted a cross country race for the first time, a 16 km handicap race at Heyington.  This race was later renamed in the honour of Alan and Keith “The Lodge Handicap.” Alan has been regular attendee at this event to present the awards.  Even last year, whilst batting some health issues, Alan attended to watch and present the trophies. This always gave Alan a tremendous thrill and sense of pride on how far the club has come. We are all very grateful for the vision, hard work, and culture that Alan installed in this successful and proud club.

RIP

On Tuesday 13th October 2020, SKAAC Club member Charlotte Imer who has a unique perspective as both a US College Athlete and Coach, gave a fantastic presentation on the intricacies of the US College Track & Field recruitment, competition and life experiences offered by this unique opportunity.

If you’ve ever wanted to gain an insight into the US College Athletics programs on offer, Charlotte’s information definitely provided lots of relevant information for prospective applicants. I think all that were on the call were stunned to hear that you needed to provide your school reports and performances from Year 9 onwards and applications are often taken from the middle of Year 11.

If you weren’t able to join the session, you are in luck, as the session was recorded and can be referenced via the following:-

Link –>> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_I_2_4ZKBzT7xMrasYwZn-xg_29aiuUp/view?usp=sharing

SKAAC athletes have had the second most successful Victorian Championships in SKAAC’s history with 10 athletes claiming 12 Victorian State Titles. Significantly, the split of non-SKC athletes to win gold was over 50%, a true sign of our growth as a club in recent seasons.

Sam McEntee Open 1500m 3:44.99, for his first ever Victorian Open State Title Jack Lunn U20 800m (1:52.75) & 1500m (3:52.35) becoming only the second SKAAC athlete to win two Under 20 State Titles in the same year, following Steve Landers in 2001/2002. Sam Cantwell U17 110m Hurdles (15.06) & 400m Hurdles 58.55 which were both PB’s and the 400m Hurdles a Club Record for U17 & U18 Jack Bowen U15 1500m (4:21.10) Paul Haasbroek U20 Javelin 800g (52.20m) (4th All-time for SKAAC) Tom Coghlan U16 Pole Vault 3.70m (PB & SKAAC Under 15 & 16 Club Record & 11th All-time for SKAAC) Jude Georgievski U16 Triple Jump 13.00m (+0.5) (PB & SKAAC Under 15 Club Record & 10th All-time for SKAAC) Patrick Retschko U15 800m 2:14.33 Seb Reyneke U20 Decathlon 7110 points

Of equal merit were the 13 Silver Medalists Nellie Mitchell (T13) 1500m 5:11.09 (SKAAC’s first ever Multi-class medal, & 7th All-time for SKAAC) Jack Bowen U15 3000m (9:29.59) Ben Forster U14 800m (2:18.17) Jude Georgievski U15 Long Jump 6.34m Sam Cantwell U17 Long Jump 6.29m Andrew Mathieson U18 800m 1:59.88 Luca DiConza U18 1500m 4:02.66 Luca DiConza U18 3000m 8:39.04 Seb Reyneke U20 Long Jump 6.88m Sasha Feldmann U16 High Jump 1.45m Josh Collins U20 1500m 3:55.33 Seb Reyneke U20 Pole Vault 4.50m Seb Reyneke U20 Shot Put (6kg) 14.70m

let alone the 8 Bronze medalists Cleo Richardson U15 1500m 4:52.35 (PB & SKAAC Club Record, & 4th All-time for SKAAC) Joel Bee Open 200m 21.88 Tom Forster U15 3000m 9:33.85 Jacob McGirr U16 800m 2:01.35 Thomas Scroggie U20 800m 1:56.05 Patrick Retschko U15 1500m 4:22.32 Conor Lynch U17 1500m 4:05.84 Seb Reyneke 110m Hurdles (99cm) 15.35sec

Other notable performances were Bridie Hill U16 800m 4th 2:17.53 (PB & SKAAC Club Record U15 – U20, & 3rd All-time for SKAAC) Mattea Demetriou U15 3000m 11:43.80 (Under 14 Club Record & 3rd All-time for SKAAC) Amanda Pang Open Pole Vault 3.00m (2nd All-time for SKAAC) Lulu Burney U14 & U15 90m Hurdles 15.64 (+0.9) (PB & SKAAC Club Record U14 – U15)

Promising signs for many SKAAC athletes leading up to the National Championships in late March.

SKAAC had a strong presence on Thursday night at the newly laid track and Lakeside stadium. Conditions in the early evening were a little bit windy and warm, but as the night progressed the wind and temperature dropped providing the chance to see some fast and honest racing.

Bridie Hill began the proceedings for SKAAC running in the Women’s Junior 1500m. Bridie (who arguably does NOT have fresh legs after running multiple events at AVSL last Saturday and then placing second in her age group on SUNDAY at the triathlon in Elwood) ran superbly. Her time of 4:45.67 was good enough for a podium bronze, a 0.90 sec PB and SKAAC Club Record from Under 15 to Under 20.

In the Men’s Open 800m SKAAC had 3 athletes competing along with new clubman Felix Lonergan who was pace setting the A final. It is fantastic to see Alex Rowe returning to competitive racing, and as previous joint national record holder, SKAAC is confident he will continue his progression back to the top of Australian 800m running. Alex ran 1:53.58. Steve Knuckey showed good speed in the Men’s A 800m and ran a 1:49.75, however probably just missed his opportunity to latch onto the pace of the 3 front runners. Young gun, and all round nice guy, Jack Lunn, had his debut run in domestic open elite company. Jack displayed confidence and determination, taking the lead with 250m to go and making sure of his terrific 1:48.81, a World Under 20 qualifying time. Jack was strong enough to hold down the closing straight to earn himself a Bronze medal in the event.

In the 5000m, which is held as the Nation Championships, SKAAC had two representatives in Sam McEntee and Ben Moynihan. The race unfolded as a relatively easy first 3km (although many of us probably could not hold their pace) and then Stewart McSweyn lit the race up. Sam McEntee was the only athlete bold enough to make the move with him and ran in tandem with Stewart until two laps to go. Stewarts amazing form was on show as he went onto win solo with a 100plus meter gap to second. After a very gutsy run, Sam was able to hold on for 3rd place and a time of 13:49.28. Jack Holden has put in a fantastic season thus far “with probably his best run ever” in the zatopek in December, followed up with a 15sec PB tonight finishing 15th in 14:19.37, stepping up to 8th on the SKAAC All-time listings, with Ben Moynihan crossing the line in 14:38.54.

All records and rankings have been updated and cen be seen at www.skaac.com Can’t wait to see what all these athletes can do in SKAAC colours over the balance of the 2019/2020 track season and into the 2020 AV XCR and APSOC winter seasons Tristan Mioni

Darcy Roper has leap to 8.20m (+1.4) to take out the win at the ACT State Championships over the Australia Day weekend.

On the same weekend, but at the Victorian Country Championhips in Geelong, Jackson Bennett was the equal winner of the Open Mens 100m in a time of 10.79 (+1.4) This was a great effort by Jackson as he was severely delayed by an accident on the Princes Freeway heading to Geelong. AV were very kind in letting him run given his arrival at the track was only 15 minutes before race start. Nicholas Jackson had his 3rd PB run inside 3 races with a 2:08.80 for 4th place in the Under 20 Men’s 800m

SKAAC had huge representation at the Vic Milers on the 23rd of January 2020 with 24 starters across the two middle distance events. Earlier in the night the 800m runners faced some gusty wind conditions that made racing exciting and unpredictable, as the night progress the wind died down and some quick 1500m times were recorded.

Aaron Little got the night going for SKAAC and recorded a 2:09.33 in a relatively quick field. Jacob McGirr had the chance to race for $100 in the randomly selected ‘Dash for Cash’ heat. Jacob lead through the bell and looked strong, however suffered into the back straight headwind and was passed by 4 other athletes to finish middle of the pack and in a time of 2:04.76. Tom Sellwood blitzed his field to finish first in a sub 2-minute run. Andrew Mathieson and Conor Lynch were to do battle in the Men’s C event. A few cheeky side bets were taking place in the lead up to this heat. Andrew proved to get the better of Conor and took the win, however credit must go to both athletes who ran sub 2 minutes in a very competitive race. Tom Scroggie showed good form and seems to be well on track with his recovery post injury. His time of 1:55.41 was good for a podium un the Men’s B Heat. In Men’s A we had both Jack Lunn and Felix Lonergan racing for SKAAC. Felix ran a quick 1:54.06 and Jack ran a huge PB time of 1:49.53 on his chase for a national qualifier.

SKAAC had 5 athletes in a field of 15 runners in the Men’s 1500m A Heat. An impressive feat in itself. Peter Bol took the win with a comfortable run of 3:46.91 and showed his is right on track for his assault on the Tokyo Olympics. Both Sam McEntee and Steve Knuckey crossed the line in 3rd and 4th in low 3:48s. Steve (arguably) had one of the quickest finishes on the night and stormed home from about 8th to 4th. Both Ben Moynihan (leading up to the Melbourne Track Classic) and Joseph Deng rounded out the SKAAC contingent. Josh Collins ran 3:53.62 and is starting to show some real consistency in his running at the top end of the game. Luca Di Conza managed to break the 4-minute mark, as did Jonathon Gusman. Tristan Day came agonizingly close in a time of 4:00.02, however these are all promising signs heading into the back end of the track season and the upcoming Cross Country Season.

Our two female performances of the night were by young guns Bridie Hill (4:52.55) and Cleo Richardson (4:55.7) who arguable ran the best race of any SKAAC athlete on the night. Her pacing was excellent and her final kick proved far too strong for her competitors as she broke away from 2nd and 3rd to finish 1st in the Women’s 1500m D Heat.

By Tristan MioniHarry Bowen ran 4:08.17, Callum Day 4:14.77, Jack Bowen 4:35.93 and Sam Scroggie 4:44.51. In all this was a fantastic effort by all SKAAC athletes and shows the depth in talent that we have over the middle distances. Hopefully everyone can go one better this weekend at the SKAAC AVSL DOUBLE POINTS round.

SKAAC Athletes have won 1 Gold Medal and 2 Silver Medals in a sensational Victorian Multi-event Championships in Bendigo over the weekend of 4 & 5 January 2020.

Seb Reyneke dominated the Under 20 Mens Decathlon, winning the Gold Medal with 7,110 points, Seb also produced a SKAAC Club record for U19, U20 & Open High Jump with a massive 2.05m leap. To round out a massive Day 1 for Seb he was also able break Dan Bailey’s U19 & U20 Long Jump record of 7.08m with his 7.13m leap was also the first time for Seb over the magical 7 metre mark. It is hoped that AA will consider Seb’s efforts as a World Junior Qualifier, with some of his events being impacted adversely by wind. 🙁 SKAAC’s Paul Haasbroek took silver with 5.417 points, continuing his long and frustrating battle with a back injury. Paul was able to secure a PB in the Long Jump and also passed his first time over 99cm Hurdles. This was Paul’s first full load athletic effort for nearly 18 months and it was great to hear from his coach Steve Cain that he has pulled up well from his Bendigo efforts. Harvey Connor took silver in the Open Men’s Decathlon event, producing a PB effort of 5,845 points. This was a 23 point increase on his combined effort at the Multus event in November 2019. Harvey had a great sequence of events finishing with a big decathlon PB in the 1500m at the end of a gruelling two days. This silver medal confirms his National Championships Qualification. Georgia Bertrand however had no luck in the Open Women’s Heptathlon falling in the first event, the 100m Hurdles and being unable to continue. And finally a big thanks to Shane Bertrand and Ivan Reyneke for being the SKAAC Volunteers for the weekend!!

The Zatopek 10 meet at Box Hill on 14 December 2019 had a decidly SKAAC flavour to it.

Headlining the SKAAC performances was Sam McEntee in the feature 10,000m race that is the National Championship Final, where Sam finished in 5th place in a new Open Mens Club Record time of 28.17.13, taking over a minute from Julian Dwyer’s Zatopek time from 2001.

Joel Bee showed that he is in great shape at the minute, with a silver medal

in the Victorian State 100 yards championship in 9.96, one of only 2 runners under “even” time on the night. Julian Oakley and Steve Knuckey had prominent performances in the 1500m, with Julian 5th in 3:44.38 (X All-time for SKAAC) and Steve 6th in 3:45.32 (a 7 second PB!!) Will Lewis and Tom Sellwood were also featured in the growingly prestigious de Castella Under 20 3000m, Will finished in 6th place in 8:26.34 with Tom taking in on early finishing with 8:58.88. As has become tradition, the State Relay Finals for 4×400 for Open Women & Men and the recently added, Under 18 Mixed 4×400 contribute plenty to the night. The mixed team of Matt Dinan, MaddieHume, Bridie Hill & Luca DiConza finished 6th in 3:53.03. The Mens Open 4×400 team of Joel Bee (split of 47.9), Steve Knuckey (Split 49.2, after that 3:45 1500m!!), Felix Lonergan (split 49.5) and Conor Fry (split 47.5) finished 4th in 3:14.17 (5th All-time) A great night of SKAAC running and hopefully a pointer to what is in store for the balance of the season.

SKAAC athletes have performed remarkably well in the National All Schools Championships in Perth, securing 6 medals (2 x gold, 3 x silver and 1 x bronze).

Sam Cantwell won a thrilling Under 16 Mens 100m Hurdles, getting a great start and leading the pre-race favourite from the gun, Sam looked the man to beat until disaster nearly struck on the 7th barrier, with Sam forced to regather himself and quickly regain his rhythm and produce 2 excellent clearances of 9 & 10 to take out his first National All Schools title in a club record 13.19 (+1.6).

Sam also secured a Silver medal in a Victorian Trifecta in the Under 16 Mens 200m Hurdles in yet another club record effort of 26.09 (-1.5) winning Heat 2 of the timed final.

Gus Simpfendorfer had the run of his life in one of the races of the meet in taking out the Silver medal in the Under 16 Mens 400m. Gus’a PB effort of 48.51 took out the SKAAC Under 16 & 17 records (48.88) of club legend Matt Burmiester.

Patrick Retschko captured a Silver medal in the Mens Under 14 800, on arguably the worst day weather wise of the whole meet, where start times were split to avoid the 40 degree daytime temperatures.

Jacob McGirr secured a silver medal as a member of the Victorian Swedish Medley (100m, 200m, 300m, 400m) running the 400m leg to bring the Vics home in 2:02.03

Other athletes in action were Maddie Hume in the 400m hurdles, who tragically hit the 3rd hurdle, fell badly, but yet was brave enough to pick herself up, grazes and cut hand included to finish her first ever race at National All Schools level. Maddie backed up bravely in the 400m flat the next day finished 5th in her heat in 60.14.

Noah Sewak finished 19th in the Under 16 Men Triple Jump jumping 11.54m, at his first National All Schools

Under 16 rising talent Jacob McGirr took on a strong field in the 400m, as a bottom age athlete, finishing in 52.74 (4h1)