If that wasn’t the best night ever of SKAAC athletics, then consider yourself challenged to find a better night for the club!
3rd, 5th & 7th for Luke Mathews, Brad Mathas and Joseph Deng has stamped SKAAC as a leading club in the Commonwealth for middle distance running.
Luke Mathews in securing a famous Bronze medal, becomes SKAAC’s first ever international Track & Field medalist in a race that is sure to transcend the generations. Running on pace from the gun with Botswana’s Nijel Amos, Luke was set to launch with 250 to go, however the Kenyans had other ideas, quickly breaking the race open with a burst that would prove pivotal. Luke, 6th with 75m to run, found something that so few athletes have been able to find when all seems lost. Was it the home crowd, was it the expert coaching of Luke’s mum Liz, was it the entire St. Kevin’s community willing him home, was it Luke’s family and mates in the crowd or was it Luke’s super competitive race sense? In this scribes view, I think in 1:45.60 we saw all of these traits in spades as Luke stormed home, when all looked lost for a famous Bronze medal.

Brad Mathas ran out of his skin at these Commonwealth Games. Running two PB’s in 3 days at an International meet of the Commonwealth games 800m standard is a huge achievement and a great testament to the sacrifices that Brad has made in the last 18 months in moving to Australia from Christchurch, to join SKAAC’s legendary coach Justin Rinaldi paying huge dividends that the athletics world now knows about. A 1:46.32 Heat run and a 5th place in a major International Final in a PB time of 1:46.07 are just reward for Brad, his family and partner Kelsey Berryman, also an elite athlete in her own right.

What more can be said of 19 year-old Joseph Deng? Well plenty. Making similar sacrifices to Brad, in moving from Brisbane nearly straight out of finishing Year 12 at Ipswich Grammar, Joseph announced himself at the 2018 National Championships winning the B-Final in a leading time of 1:45.71 and not without controversey, was selected to run for his country. Justifying selectors faith, he produced a huge effort in his Heat to be a mere 0.01 seconds outside his PB to make the final. He’s made of stern stuff, Joseph. With an quad injury sustained in late March very far from the ideal preparation for your Games debut, we heard no excuses, we just saw action on the track, just the way we like it at SKAAC. To hear during the Channel 7 coverage, Lord Sebastian Coe laud Joseph as a most exciting prospect was quite remarkable to hear from the IAAF President.

What a night of Australian athletics we had the priviledge to witness, especially when the night contained such a large contingent of SKAAC Legends. A huge congratulations to Luke, Brad & Joseph for all the joy they have provided us this week. Well Done lads.

Mark 10 April 2018 as a most famous day in the annuals of our great club. For today we celebrate and salute the three fine young men representing themselves, their families, their country and their club, SKAAC, for making the Commonwealth Games 800m Final after stellar Heat runs this morning.

Joseph Deng 3rd in Heat 1 with 1:45.72 and Brad Mathas a few steps away in 4th with a PB of 1:46.32 had an agonising 10 minute wait to find out that they would advance to the 800m as the only 2 non-automatic fastest qualifers. Joseph ran on pace for the entire race holding second position for all bar the last 20 metres when just overtaken by a English competitor, this was a fantastic run for 19 y.o. Joseph after some recent challenges that tested his immense courage. Brad Mathas was arguably the fastest athlete over the last 200m in Heat 1, jumping 3 spots and flashing home for 4th place and a PB by 0.12 of-a-second. What these two young men have sacrificed in the last 2 years is an amazing story in itself, moving from Brisbane and Christchurch (NZ) to train under master coach Justin Rinaldi.

JR is a wonderful servant of SKAAC and this result from Heat 1 is testament to his knowledge and commitment to each of his athletes. Well Done JR – what your athletes achieved today is stuff of Legend.

Luke Mathews faced a stacked Heat 2, with Nigel Amos and friends for company, a daunting prospect by anyone’s standards. Luke was challenged strongly when the paced quickened in the last 300m and held his position with great strength and conviction. Pulling away strongly in the last 50 metres to qualify easily in 1:46.53. Luke’s coach and mum, Liz has done a fantastic job to get Luke into this position after a dominant Australian season.

Mention must also be made of Kasique Oliver of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who in running 1:51.55 season best performance, is definitely owed a debt of gratitude by SKAAC for heeding our race instructions for the 3rd Heat to the letter… “Go out hard and put the handbrake on, with a first lap in about 54 sec.” Kasique, the SKAAC President owes you big time!

So there it is, SKAAC with 3 out of 8 of the finalists in the Mens 800m at a Commonwealth Games. We all now anxiously await the final, due to be run on Thursday night at 10:13pm.

Is it too cheeky to call the final on Thursday night the SKAAC 800m Club Championship? 🙂

It is with great pride that we announce and wish well to the 3 SKAAC members that will take on the Commonwealths’ best at the Gold Coast Games in April.

Brad Mathas will represent his native New Zealand in the Mens 800m following his 7th New Zealand National 800m title in a row and his qualifying run in Canberra in early February (1:46.44).

Luke Mathews underlined his class with a commanding performance to win his 3rd National 800m title in a row in 1:45.90. Luke will also contest the 1500m at the Games having logged an A-standard qualifier and getting the nod from the selectors. In a program tailor made for Luke, the 800m is scheduled first in Gold Coast.

Joseph Deng, at 19 years-of-age, stunned the athletics community with his imperious run in the B-Final at Nationals, catapulting himself into an A-Qualifier in running 1:45.71. This was a run that would have secured Bronze in Glasgow and ranks Joseph into the Top 10 in the Commonwealth. The selection path wasn’t an easy one for Joseph, having to withstand a protest on his selection, which was dismissed by Athletics Australia on Tuesday evening in Melbourne.

It would be remiss not to acknowledge the coaching that has taken these 3 athletes to the Commonwealth Games. To Liz Mathews to get Luke to the position he finds himself in after a tumultuous year in 2017 is nothing short of sensational and a testament to her skills and knowledge of athletes to peak at exactly the right time.

Justin Rinaldi has contributed so much to 800m running in this country and has developed a squad that is gathering international attention. Justin deserves every accolade for having provided Brad and Joseph their first National senior team selection.

It is surely a great time to be a part of SKAAC and there will be plenty of SKAAC interest in the Gold Coast Games that is for sure!!

Go SKAAC

SKAAC had it’s equal best ever AV State Junior Track & Field Championships on record, with 4 Gold Medals, 3 Silver Medals and 1 Bronze Medal. These performances were also underlined for their quality with a Club record to Gus Simpfendorfer in the Under 15 200m…23.36 and 5 PB performances. Across the whole group an amazing 10 performances were good enough to better the National qualifying standard.

Arguably the athlete of the meet was Gus Simpfendorfer with 2 Gold Medals Under 15 100m…11.64 (+0.3) and 400m…51.92, with still more energy to back up on Sunday with a Silver in the 200m, missing the Gold by a mere 0.05sec. What Gus has achieved in his very short time in the sport is stuff of legend.

Also in the Under 15 Age group Harry Bowen secured a magnificent Silver medal, and a MASSIVE PB in the 3000m, running 9:33.32. This run was good enough to be a National Qualifier for Harry!!

 

There is something special about a bottom age athlete winning a State title and Joel Imbriano has made the Walk event his own. Dominating the field he took Gold in 17:04.11 to cement his nationals spot and his first state medal in the Under 14 walk, an event for which he is also eligible in 2018/2019.

Massimo Acquaro made the final of the Mens Under 18 100m running 11.65.

Luca Di Conza, who missed a crucial fortnight of training in the lead up to the Championships and was to play a game of 9A cricket the next day ran 4:23.4 in his heat of the Under 16 1500m.

Thomas Scroggie finished strongly (no one was quicker in the last 120m) in the Under 17 800m, to claim a Silver medal and new PB performance of 1:57.70 to showcase his class and the speed to mix it with the best over the 2 laps at the Under 17 age group.

Lauren McGarry backed up her win in the Under 14 Hammer throw in 2016/2017 to again take Gold in 35.27m, winning the event by over 8 metres.

Will Lewis pocked a Bronze medal in the Under 20 1500m in 3:56.90, running as a bottom age athlete in a stacked field, also a massive achievement alongside that of Joel Imbriano.

How often has SKAAC has two Steeplchasers, let alone two female Steeplechasers? Georgia Durham coming back from a long injury lay-off finished 5th (8:00.52) in the Under 17 age group and Ava Bennett recorded a MASSIVE personal best to run 8:07.98 in the Under 18 age group.

 

Andrew Mathieson also another Year 9 student juggling APS Summer Sport commitments ran 56.72 in the Under 16 400m.

Aidan Leiner who has been battling an ankle issue that hampered his AV Shield Final has his first ever taste of AV Victorian Championship competition in the Under 15 Triple Jump finishing with a best jump of 9.94m.

Phil Borg, who only turned 18 in early January competed as a “bottom ager” in the Under 20 400m and 200m. His 400m run was super finishing in 4th place behind a VERY strong Geelong trio in 49.21. Phil finished 6th in the 200m (23.19) is a similarly strong field.

Tristan Day, in the Under 17 3000m also finds himself in a VERY strong age group and showing the consistency and quality of training that he has been completing recently finished in 4th place in 8:55.39 to qualify for Nationals.

Callum Day too has been working very hard under the tutelage of coach Steve Cain and tackled the Under 20 5000m with great confidence coming away with a 9th place finish in 16:32.20.

All results..

Women

Women Under 17 2000m Steeplechase Final, 5th # 208 Durham, Georgia St Kevin’s A 8:00.52

Women Under 18 2000m Steeplechase Final, 7th # 5052 Bennett, Ava St Kevin’s A 8:07.98 (PB)

Women Under 14 Hammer Throw Final, 1st # 277 McGarry, Lauren St Kevin’s A 35.27mN

 

Men

Men Under 15 1500m Heat 3, 3rd # 5038 Bowen, Harry St Kevin’s A 4:42.34Q

Men Under 16 1500m Final, 5th # 4178 Di Conza, Luca St Kevin’s A 4:23.40

Men Under 20 1500m Heat 1, 2nd # 4910 Lewis, William St Kevin’s A 4:09.62Q

Men Under 15 400m Heat 1, 1st # 4540 Simpfendorfer, Gu St Kevin’s A 57.53Q

Men Under 16 400m Heat 1, 7th # 4741 Mathieson, Andrew St Kevin’s A 56.72

Men Under 20 400m Heat 3, 1st # 162 Borg, Phil St Kevin’s A 50.07Q

Men Under 15 Triple Jump, 7th # 4358 Leiner, Aidan St Kevin’s A 9.94m -0.7

Men Under 14 3000m Walk Final, 1st # 5081 Imbriano, Joel St Kevin’s A 17:04.14N

Men Under 18 100m Heat 2, 3rd # 3939 Acquaro, Massimo St Kevin’s A 11.59q

Men Under 15 100m Heat 2, 1st # 4540 Simpfendorfer, Gu St Kevin’s A N 11.83Q

Men Under 17 800m Heat 2, 2 # 227 Scroggie, Thomas St Kevin’s A N 2:00.73Q

Men Under 15 100m Final, 1st # 4540 Simpfendorfer, Gus St Kevin’s A 11.64N (+0.3) (PB)

Men Under 18 100m Final, 8th # 3939 Acquaro, Massimo St Kevin’s A 11.65

Men Under 15 400m Final, 1st # 4540 Simpfendorfer, Gus St Kevin’s A 51.92N

Men Under 20 400m Final, 4th # 162 Borg, Phil St Kevin’s A 49.21N

Men Under 15 1500m Final, 6th # 5038 Bowen, Harry St Kevin’s A 4:32.85

Men Under 20 1500m Final, 3rd # 4910 Lewis, William St Kevin’s A 3:56.90N

Men Under 20 5000m Final, 9th # 3188 Day, Callum St Kevin’s A 16:32.20

Men Under 18 3000m Final, 4th # 3187 Day, Tristan St Kevin’s A 8:55.39N

Men Under 15 3000m Final, 2nd # 5038 Bowen, Harry St Kevin’s A 9:33.32N (PB)

Men Under 20 200m Heat 3, 2nd # 162 Borg, Phil St Kevin’s A 23.18Q

Men Under 15 200m Final, 2nd # 4540 Simpfendorfer, Gus St Kevin’s A 23.36N (Club Record)

Men Under 17 800m Final, 2nd # 227 Scroggie, Thomas St Kevin’s A 1:57.70N (PB)

Men Under 20 200m Final, 6th # 162 Borg, Phil St Kevin’s A 23.19 (+0.2)

A huge day for SKAAC at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast with 10 SKAAC Athletes in action.

Starting the day was Dylan Johnson in the Qualifying for the Mens Triple Jump easily qualifying with 15.32m for the Final to be held on Friday 16/2/2018 at 7:00pm Melbourne time. With two Australians holding the B-standard hopes are that Dylan can jump over 16.25m and finish in the Top 3 to give the selectors a VERY good reason to pick him for the Games.

Michael Romanin stepped out in the 100m as was safely through his heat in 10.71sec, with the semi-final to be held Friday 16/2/2018 at 8:00pm Melbourne time.

Kayla De Bondt tackled the Women’s 1500m clocking 4:24.72 to finish 10th in her heat, but lowering the SKAAC Club record by nearly 3 seconds.

The Mens 800m contained no less than 6 SKAAC Athletes with only the heat winners and next 4 fastest getting through to the final to be held on Saturday 17/2/2018 at 9:13pm Melbourne time. In Heat 1 Brad Mathas finished 2nd in his heat (1:49.61) but didn’t progress on times. Brad has already been selected for New Zealand in the 800m for The Games. Steve Knuckey having his 16th 800m race for the very long season from early 2017 finished 5th in 1:51.23.

In heat 2 it was a SKAAC quinella with Luke Mathews taking it out in 1:47.01, closely followed by Joseph Deng in 1:47.52. Unfortunately for Joseph this was only the 9th fastest time of the day, and he missed the final.

Heat 3 saw National record holder Alex Rowe finish in second place in his fastest time for the season of 1:47.03 and qualify for the final. Alex has an amazing record in this race, having not missed a medal for 5 consecutive seasons.

Heat 4 was won by Peter Bol in 1:46.94, a slashing run given his recent recovery from injury.

So 3 SKAAC athletes into the final on Saturday night, could a Trifecta be coming SKAAC’s way? Let’s hope so.

Sam McEntee braved the humidity in the Mens 5000m in a brutal race with genuine pace at the front. Running on the pace with the lead group to 3.5km Sam finished in 6th place in 14:04.86.

Plenty of action on Day 2 with Finals for Dylan Johnson and Michael Romanin, 1500m Heat runs for Luke Mathews and Sam McEntee and an 800m Heat run for Kayla DeBondt.

Go SKAAC !!

It is with great excitement that we wish the following SKAAC athletes all the best as they chase glory and Australian selection for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games at the Australian National Athletics Championships at Carrara Stadium beginning on Thursday 15 February 2018.

The following athletes will represent themselves, their families and our great club beginning tomorrow…

Mens Open Triple Jump Qualifying…Thursday 15/02/2018 – 4:00 PM (Dylan Johnson)

Mens Open 800m Heats…Thursday 15/02/2018 – 4:10 PM (Peter Bol, Joseph Deng, Luke Mathews, Steve Knuckey, Brad Mathas, Alex Rowe)

Womens Open 1500m Heats… Thursday 15/02/2018 – 4:55 PM (Kayla De Bondt)

Mens Open 100m Heats… Thursday 15/02/2018 – 7:25 PM (Jackson Bennett, Michael Romanin)

Mens 5000m Open… Thursday 15/02/2018 – 8:15 PM (Sam McEntee)

Mens 1500m Open… Friday 16/02/2018 – 12:30 PM (Luke Mathews, Sam McEntee)

Womens Open 800m… Friday 16/02/2018 – 1:05 PM (Kayla De Bondt)

Mens 200m Heats… Saturday 17/02/2018 – 1:30 PM (Michael Romanin)

All at SKAAC wish each and every one of these athletes every success and hope that they are able to achieve their goals over the next few days.

Go SKAAC

History was created on 10 February 2018 at about 5:35pm with SKAAC winning our first ever Mens Under 14 AV Shield Final by 432 points from Essendon. Whilst it took nearly another 2 hours to receive the Shield and for the boys to stand atop the dias, the photo, memories and the history that has been written by these fine young men, it was a little price to pay given that we have been waiting 74 years to stand alone in Victoria in this grade, after narrow misses in the early 2000’s and last season.

These AV Shield Finals are HARD to win. Firstly, it is a very long day for young athletes to maintain energy levels and concentration and secondly things always need to change due to unforseen events on the day. SKAAC were in front, or very close to the front all day with the challenges coming consistently from Essendon and Doncaster. Final scores were:

St. Kevin’s 4863
Essendon 4431
Doncaster 4423
KSB 4281
Frankston 3290
Bendigo 2415
Box Hill 2126
Geelong 2045
Collingwood 1809
Glenhuntly 1479
Ballarat 1080

The day got off to the perfect start with Sam Cantwell and Anthony Zanatta tackling the 200m Hurdles. Sam starting in heat 1 was fantastic in securing the win in Under 15 Club Record time of 28.69 and a huge 353 points. Anthony, in Grade 6, with a further 2 years at this age group was scarcely less impressive stopping the clock at 41.67.

The walk, nearly always a battle for SKAAC a any Shield Final, is at this age group a strength with Joel Imbriano streeting the field taking the win in 10:38.4 with Glen Imbriano showing great courage in heat 2.

The Hammer  was totally foreign to John & Gabe Cornwell 2 months ago, but each broke the club record at the same time at the same track but in different circles with John 19.49m and Gabe  23.01m securing 335 valuable points between them.
Jett-Paris Bedelis has been hampered with injury this season, however he has been a mainstay of this Under 14 team for 3 seasons, and it was fitting that he threw a personal best 7.39m in the Shot Put.

The 200m was, on paper one of the teams strongest events and so it would prove to be. Gus Simpfendorfer brilliant in Heat 9 creating a new club record of 23.55 (-0.5) and winning the Under 14 grade by a whopping 1.62 seconds!! Sam Cantwell ran a PB 25.74, and Hamish Neilson also ran a PB of 28.87, also with another year left in this age group.

Harry Bowen finished 2nd in the 3000m in 9:59.6 for 351 points, John Cornwell 11:35.4 and Joel Imbriano, for the first time under 12 minutes, stopping the clock at 11:58.1, with Gabe Cornwell running 12:51.9.

With the 800m scheduled after the 3000m and in a period during the day where the humidity was high and the sun was at it’s brightest, Harry Bowen 2:33.7 the fastest for SKAAC on the day, but not far off were John Cornwell 2:40.5, Samuel Scroggie 2:46.0 and the very brave Gabe Cornwell 3:01.8.

Sam Cantwell won the Triple Jump (11.04m) by nearly a metre, with John Cornwell stepping up at late notice jumping 9.01m.

Gabe Cornwell and Samuel Scroggie both jumped 1.25m in a very strong High Jump competition, with the winner from Essendon jumping 1.70m

The final event of the day, the only event of the meet that was head-to-head was the 4×200 Relay with the Under 14 Men scheduled to run first, creating a minor panic in the SKAAC Team management, believing that Mens Open would be first. So before the race it was a heart-stopper and for the 1:46.76 it took for the team of John Cornwell, Sam Cantwell, Hamish Neilson and Gus Simpfendorfer it was also a heart-stopper. After 3 strong legs, SKAAC were 35 metres from the lead safely in 3rd place, but with a barnstorming finish reminiscent of the great Steve Landers, Gus Simpfendorfer bought the crowd and particularly the SKAAC supporters to their feet grabbing the lead 15 metres from the finish to record a famous last win for the 2017/2018 SKAAC Under 14 Mens Team.

It has been 5 years since a SKAAC team has been crowned victors on this day and 10 years since the last SKAAC junior team to salute at this level, so the synergy and parallels fit neatly into what was a famous day for these Under 14 warriors.

Well Done gentlemen, you are only the 3rd ever junior SKAAC team to have won at this level and the first at Under 14 level.

You have bought great pride to all that wear our famous colours both past and present.

 

Brad Mathas has been named in the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team for the 800m at Gold Coast in April. It caps a sensational week for Brad, after his slashing PB run in Canberra last week (1:46.44) which now sits as 4th All-time for SKAAC.

Brad has been working really hard under coach Justin Rinaldi, who it must be said has become one of the leading 800m coaches in the world in this scribe’s view!!

All at SKAAC are rapt for Brad and look forward to seeing him take ’em on in Gold Coast.

Well Done Brad!!

The Under 14 Mens Team has secured the clubs’ 4th Region Premiership in a row in this grade. The result showed the dominance of the team through the season, with second placed Box Hill, a distance away.

For the first time in the 4 years where the Premiership has been secured, the team will enter the Shield Final on 10 February 2018 at Lakeside with a qualified athlete for EVERY event. It has been this willingness to work toward team success that has enabled this rare feat to be achieved.

During the last round of competition some significant results were achieved by our athletes:-

1) Kayla De Bondt broke her own Open Womens’ 800m Club Record on Thursday night at Vic Milers Club running 2:11.16.

2) Joel Imbriano broke the Under 13-15 3000m Walk Club Records (16:20.28) and in doing so obtained a National Qualifier;

3) John Cornwell broke the Under 13 Hammer Throw record with 19.81m on his first ever competitive attempt at the event.

4) Hamish Neilson ran a personal best in the 200m 29.19sec

5) Aidan Leiner continued his strong season with a great 100m & Long Jump at Casey Fields in Cranbourne

6) SKAAC had two female Steeplechasers for the first time with Georgia Durham (8:02) and Ava Bennett (9:02) covering the 2km course at Casey

7) Dylan Johnson jumped 15.49m at Aberfeldie to underline what has been a consistent block of high performance competition from the reigning State Triple Jump Champion.

8) Great to see Nick O’Halloran back competiting again, doing an 800m at Casey

9) Has there been a bigger improver in 2017-2018 than Lincoln Mah? The universally popular official, is more than a handy athlete. Backing up his brilliant 18:06 5km at Nunawading last weekend, he stopped the clock at 10:30 over 3km at Aberfeldie.

10) Tristan Day ran a PB (8:52.1) in the 3km at Aberfeldie, showing the results of a lot of hard work. Amzingly, this was Tristan’s third PB in a week, after an 800m PB the week before at Nunawading (2:04.0) and a 1500m PB at Milers on Tuesday 4:07.91