By Jamie Strudley
Yarra Ranges Athletics had 18 teams compete at the 2023 Little Athletics Victoria State Relay Championships, held at Lakeside Stadium on Saturday. After qualifying through region championships one of our largest ever teams to a state championship showed the Yarra Ranges competitive spirit and sportsmanship over a long day of relay action.
No less than seven teams finished in the top ten for their event with the standout performance coming from our U14 Girls Medley relay team winning their final and taking out the state Championship in a new record time. The team of Tanaya, Kayla, Emily and Zoe dominated the race and were deserving winners. Full club results from the State championships are:
15 Girls 4x200m: 2:06.06 (13th);
14 Girls Medley Relay: 2:29.36 (1st); 4x100m: 55.71 (7th);
13 Girls 4x100m: 57.16 (11th);
12 Girls 4x100m: 61.43 (22nd);
10 Girls Medley Relay: 3:15.67 (14th); 4x100m: 65.56 (13th); 4x200m: 2:22.25 (11th);
9 Girls Medley Relay: 3:24.40 (9th); 4x100m: 71.77 (16th);
14 Boys 4x200m: 2:02.19 (14th);
10 Boys 4x100m: 62.26 (8th); 4x200m: 2:14.06 (8th);
14 Mixed 4x200m: 1:55.00 (10th);
9 Mixed 4x100m: 68.84 (16th);
10 Mixed 4x100m: 65.32 (18th); 4x200m: 2:14.61 (6th);
11 Mixed 4x100m: 61.49 (20th)
Saturday afternoon saw over 400 athletes from throughout Victoria compete at Morrison Reserve in round 9 of the AVSL competition., which included sprint hurdles, 100m, 400m, 1500m 1500 and 3000m walk, Shot Put, Discus, triple Jump and Pole Vault. A fantastic turnout of Yarra Ranges Athletics athletes resulted in a comfortable team win in our division cementing a spot in the finals in a few weeks time.
Standout performances were from Mitch Mullens again breaking the club 100m record, this time into a reasonable head wind and Open Men and Open Women 4 x 100m relay records. We also had a venue record for Pole Vault with Joel Pocklington (Box Hill) jumping 5.00m to win his event. We also welcomed two new members to their first competition for Yarra Ranges. Welcome to Briggette Rice and Hamish De Wit. Club AVSL Results are:
Women
100m: Ashleigh Rooke 13.71 (-0.1); Sarah Rollo 14.47 (-1.2); Sasha Carroll 14.84 (-1.1); Ciara Willey 14.76 (-0.8); Rori Jones 15.09 (-1.2); Kathi Hewitson 17.81 (-4.1);
400m: Rori Jones 65.74; Katrina Winger 66.99; Ciara Willey 68.22; Bonnie Morris 70.43; Ashleigh Rooke 70.56;
800m: Kristina Nackovski 2:36.33;
1500m: Katrina Winger 5:01.7h; Brigitte Rice 5:05.0h; Bonnie Morris 5:17.7h; Ciara Willey 6:02.6h; Sarah Rollo 6:36.9h; Emilie Garside 8:04.5h;
100m Hurdles: Sasha Carroll 21.38 (+0.0);
80m Hurdles: Kathi Hewitson 20.00 (+0.0);
1500m Walk: Emilie Garside 9:10.9h;
4x100m: (Sasha Carroll, Rori Jones, Ashleigh Rooke, Ciara Willey) 56.68; DNS;
Discus: Ashleigh Rooke 27.71m; Meg Sparkes 27.06m; Hayley Wilkins 25.95m; Anne-Marie Ebbels 14.84m; Emilie Garside 13.94m; Sharon Cook 13.91m; Kathi Hewitson 11.73m; Ciara Willey 10.80m;
Shot Put: Ashleigh Rooke 8.62m; Hayley Wilkins 8.52m; Sasha Carroll 8.37m; Sharon Cook 7.05m; Sarah Ebbels 7.05m; Meg Sparkes 6.67m; Anne-Marie Ebbels 6.33m; Kathi Hewitson 5.54m; Emilie Garside 5.35m;
Javelin: Hayley Wilkins 30.92m;
Hammer: Sarah Ebbels 30.36m; Anne-Marie Ebbels 22.59m;
Triple Jump: Kathi Hewitson 6.18m;
Men
100m: Mitchell Mullens 11.58 (-0.5); Oliver Duncan 12.73 (-1.1); Liam Russell 12.83 (-1.1); Bailey Van Bert 12.96 (-1.7); Hamish De Wit 13.63 (0.3); Joseph Johnston 13.95 (-4.0); 100m: Craig Hewitson 14.30 (-1.1); Michael Willey 14.31 (-1.1); Oscar Payne 14.53 (-1.0); Mitchell Pointon 14.84; Bradley McMeeken 18.28 (-1.0);
400m: Mitchell Mullens 52.28; Liam Russell 56.81; Bailey Van Bert 57.84; James Laven 60.46; Max Savill-Bentley 62.09; Joseph Johnston 63.90; Mitchell Pointon 65.41; Michael Willey 70.96; Bradley McMeeken 86.89;
800m: Noah Wright 2:01.4h;
1500m: Harry Norman 4:05.0h; James Laven 4:09.6h; Max Savill-Bentley 4:10.0h; Angus Norman 4:13.3h; Mitchell Pointon 4:55.2h; Craig Hewitson 5:37.3h; Michael Willey 5:38.0h; Bryan Ackerly 6:37.3h;
4x100m: (Craig Hewitson, Mitchell Mullens, Liam Russell, Bailey Van Bert) 48.92; (Ash Almond, James Laven, Mitchell Pointon, Michael Willey) 54.02;
Discus: Ash Almond 25.65m; Lucas Taylor 25.08m; Mitchell Pointon 20.22m; Craig Hewitson 19.80m; Michael Willey 13.53m;
Shot Put: Lucas Taylor 9.69m; Ash Almond 8.80m; Craig Hewitson 6.98m;
Triple Jump: Ash Almond 10.41m; Liam Russell 10.88m; Craig Hewitson 7.24m; Mitchell Pointon 8.65m;;
Pole Vault: Lucas Taylor 2.15m; Liam Russell 1.55m;
Mid week we had several athletes competing at the Box Hill Burn, results below:
1000m: Mia Strudley 3:17.09;
5000m: Harry Norman 14:37.67 Olivia Twining 17:54.27; Katrina Winger 18:47.20;
The wet and very cold conditions forced us to cancel the round of Little Athletics on Saturday morning. We get to do it all again this weekend from 8.00am
Training is available to all club members on Tuesday & Thursday evenings from 5.30pm. Yarra Ranges Athletics welcomes and encourages all athletes of any age or ability. If you, or someone you know, wants to join in the Little Athletics fun registration is at www.lavic.com.au. For information on training, how to join or trial, photos, results and updated news, visit the website at yarrarangesathletics.org.au or check us out on Facebook. Run, Jump, Throw…too easy!
