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Past and Present Little Athletes shine for Victoria
Following the incredible standard set by our open teams at the 2013 Australian Cross Country Championships in Launceston, the Victorian juniors proved that their future is just as bright.
Of the eight junior races on the program, Victoria won three gold, two silver and two bronze in the teams events and three gold, three silver and three bronze in the individual races.
Combining with the teams from Schools Sport Victoria, our junior medal haul was most impressive. The Victorian individual gold medallists from the junior races however, were all proudly representing Athletics Victoria. Zak Patterson (Yarra Ranges) took victory in the Under 20 boy’s race, whilst Corrin Demeo (Geelong) led a clean sweep in the Under 16 girls. The surprise gold medallist was undoubtedly Laura Stacey in the Under 18 girls.
Stacey, silver medallist at the Victorian Championships at Bundoora in June, led from the get-go. Somewhat surprised after lap one of her 50m lead, the Loreto Mandeville Hall student powered away on the second 2km loop to take a 30 second victory (14:37). A well performed competitor in the Girls Sport Victoria cross country season, Stacey was the highlight of an exceptional Victorian team.
Demeo, having already seen her younger sister Heidi (Geelong) take bronze in the Under 14 race, decided to make it two places better with a dominant Victorian display in the Under 16 girls race. Breaking away from the pack on lap one of the muddy Symmons Plains course, Demeo (14:45) led home fellow Victorian’s Laura Powell(14:50) (Box Hill) and Amelia Mazza-Downie (15:00) (Williamstown), making Victoria the only state to have a clean sweep of the medal dais for the Championships.
In the most competitive race of the Championships, Patterson sat amongst a large pack of nine early in the 8km Under 20 boy’s race. With five Victorians and four Australian representatives in the group, the battle was always going to be a close one. On the final lap however, it was a New Zealand visitor that would break away to be first across the line. Patterson, as first Australian across the line, took the national title (26:04.64) and was closely followed by fellow Victorian Jack Rayner (26:10.22) (Altona). Impressively, Victoria had six boys in the Australian top 10.
Other individual medallists from the Championships were Mitch Dyer (Bronze, 19:48, U18) (Box Hill) who was fearless competing against six time winner Morgan MacDonald (NSW, 19:24), and 2013 Australian junior representative Samantha Prime (Silver, 21:52, U20) (Casey) who did all the hard work but was just outpaced in a sprint finish.
The winning Victorian teams were the Under 20 boys, Under 18 boys, and Under 16 girls.
Congratulations to all competing athletes!
View Full results HERE
*With Thanks to Nick Wall
