Day 1 wrap from the UTAS Australian All Schools and Youth Athletics Championships
05 Dec 2009
Michael Taylor of NSW took gold in the boy's under 15 hammer throw to open the 2009 UTAS Australian All Schools and Youth Athletics Championships being held at Hobart's Domain Athletics Centre today and across the weekend.
Opening what will be a fantastic four days of competition, Taylor threw 50.31m and first place ahead of Patrick Ryan (48.63m) of Victoria and Curtis Sutton (46.39m) of Queensland.
Continuing at the hammer throw, it was host state Tasmania that thrived. Danni McConnell threw 52.92m to post a new national record in the girl's under 16 event whilst in the girl's under 15 event Mikayla Genge set a new meet record with a throw of 47.19m.
Joining McConnell and Genge as a new meet record holder was Chloe Jamieson of NSW with a time of 27:50 in her girl's under 16 200m hurdles heat, qualifying her fastest for the final to be held tomorrow.
In a blistering qualifying performance, Nicholas Hough of NSW qualified fastest for the boy's under 17 110m hurdles final with his time of 13:78, following in the footsteps of his athlete parents, Hough was the only competitor to break 14:00 in his age group.
Demii Maher Smith started her busy weekend with a victory in the girl's under 16 high jump. Leaping 1.73m, the Queenslander will go on to compete in the long and triple jump.
Fellow Queenslander Dane Bird Smith asserted his dominance in the boy's under 18 5000m walk taking the title in a time of 21:08 and setting a new meet record in the process.
A battle between three Victorians, the girl's under 17 pole vault saw Paris McCathrion, Alexandra Pocklington and Rebecca Marchant go head to head for supremacy.
McCathrion, who was victorious in her own age for the event (girl's under 15), eventually took second behind Marchant. The pair equalled the meet record height of 3.80m before a count back awarded Marchant the championship.
In what could be the good news story of the meet, visiting Australian Flame Tristan Thomas gave up his seat on a flight to the Tasmanian capital this morning for Sam Thompson of NSW.
Scheduled to compete in the boy's under 16 high jump at 3.30pm, Thompson unfortunately missed his early morning flight before Thomas surrendered his seat on the following plane south allowing for the aspiring athlete to compete.
Although Thompson didn't secure a medal in the event, Thomas must be commended for his continuing encouragement of up and coming Australian Flame hopefuls.
Competition continues tomorrow (Saturday 5th December) with highlights including multiple Pacific School Games gold medallist Brooke Stratton in the girl's under 17 long jump and World Youth Championships representative Kane Grimster in the boy's under 18 3000m.
Complete coverage of today's results as well those across the weekend can be found by CLICKING HERE.