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

A great night of athletics on Friday night at Lakeside Stadium, where finally the program allowed for anyone that wanted to have a good at an event, had the chance to actually do so. Despite numbers being low across the board there were some great SKAAC performances.

Thomas Scroggie going under 2 minutes in the 800m was the highlight of the night stopping the clock with a well deserved PB of 1:58.9

Aidan Leiner had a massive 80cm PB in the Triple Jump with 10.28m.

The Cornwell brothers were EVERYWHERE, Gabe tackling the hammer for the first time and throwing 19.43, missing the Under 13 Club record by 1cm, clearing 1.30m in the High Jump, running a 33.07sec 200m and finishing with a 7.09m Shot Put. John a 29.49 200m, a 7.33m Shot Put and a 9.11m Triple Jump.

Lauren McGarry extended her own Under13-18 Hammer throw Club Record to 37.34m. She later threw 10.66m in the Shot Put.

Amanda Pang ran the 200m in 28.25

Rounding out the Women’s performances was Alessia Acquaro in the 200m stopping the clock in 30.91

Marcus Osman is a fantastically consistent performer in the Under 20 age group, and ran the 200m in 25.00, cleared 8.67 in the Triple and he was joined in the 200m by Massimo Acquaro 22.95

Harvey Connor had a big night (Pole (3.25m) , High Jump (1.75m), Shot Put (9.51m) and finished with an 800m (2:12.2) at coach Cain’s behest.

Adam McGarry helped himself to a Pole Vault PB of 2.30m

Dylan Johnson provided the top end performance that indicates a big season with 15.55 in the Triple Jump and Jackson Jacotine with 10.84m9.32

SKC star thrower Charlie O’Connell had an invitational throw in the Shot achieving 13.61m

At Geelong the results for the juniors were similarly stunning.

Joel Imbriano breaking the 2000m walk club record in every age group from Under 13-20 inclusive, stopping the clock at 10.24.49 (a 57 second PB)

The Imbriano family all did 1500m’s Dino 5:07.07, Joel 5:44.30 and Glen 7:42.32. The trio also backed up into the 100m with a father-son dead heat Dino & Joel both equal at 17.24 with Glen not far behind in 18.14. The 400m was next Dino 65.42, Joel 83.46 and Glen 1:42.86. Javelin Dino 22.75m and Joel 14.02m. Shot Put Dino 5.19m, Joel 5.09m and Glen 3.24 Long jump rounded out a big day Dino 4.09m, and not much between Joel 3.02m and Glen 2.96m.

At Meadowglen

Lincoln Mah a 1500m in 5:02.4
Amanda Pang 13.69m for the 100m.
Conor Fry a PB for the flat 400m in 48.65sec
Harvey Conor a 29.84m Discus

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!!