Only 24 athletes from across NSW are invited to compete in each age event at the NSW Little Athletics State Track and Field Championships.
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Ten of these athletes are from Young and District Little Athletics, competing in a total of 24 events.
What a remarkable achievement for a small country centre, and what a wonderful reflection of the talent, dedication, and passion of our athletes.
Our athletes will be pushed to their absolute limits against some well-trained and disciplined city athletes who compete weekly on synthetic tracks and with a vast array of resources at their fingertips.
If our athletes keep their cool, stay focussed and aim high, we expect them to achieve some major personal bests and a number of our centre records to be broken by the end of the weekend.
Our greatest chance of a medal will be in the junior boys relay team. While most events compete in three heats of eight athletes making their way to the finals, the boys relay team have progressed directly to the finals by winning at regionals.
The boys go into the final with the seventh best time of 59.32, with Randwick top-ranked, winning their final with 55.44. The boys can easily take an extra four seconds off their time, and, considering that six of the eight teams to make the final graduated on synthetic tracks, our boys are in with a real chance.
The boys have been training consistently and have all the attributes to pull off a major upset on the day.
Our little bullet, Kai Langfield, has clearly been improving and increasing his speedy starts and passes off to Brad Carroll in second leg. Brad’s acceleration is breathtaking, and he enjoys nothing more than flying past his opposition and attempting to pass it to Archie Bolger at third leg, in the lead.
Archie is an outstanding competitor who loves to be challenged and continually rises to the top. Archie’s pass to Harry Fitzpatrick is always fast and well executed. Harry is the perfect anchor runner - a fierce competitor who refuses to allow the opposition any opportunity to get ahead of him.
Another big chance at a medal is Jack Stephenson in the U13 boy’s field events. Jack’s distance in the discus places him firmly within the top eight in the field, and he is consistently improving on his distances.
Although being focussed on his field events, Jack enters the 1500mW event with an extremely good time, and is a real chance to be on the podium for the walk.
Hayley McFadyen will be backing up a 4km school cross country event on Thursday with a state final in the 3000m event on Friday. A hard task, but Hayley is an athlete who enjoys a challenge. She has been training well and is expected to pull out a big personal best. If she stays focussed and on task, Hayley is in with a big chance to bring home a medal.
Jordan Douglass has been our most successful competitor at State for the past two years, however, this year she will face some very hard competition, skipping from the U15s to the U17s and competing against an older age group as well.
If Jordan is able to pull out her 168cm best in the high jump she will be placed well in the mix, and appears to be hitting her peak at the right time of the season.
One of our youngest athletes, Archie Bolger, is expected to fare very well at state. Archie will be pushed extremely hard, however, he thrives in those conditions. It is expected that Archie will make the finals in his track events and most definitely lower the 70m and 200m club records that he broke at regionals.
Ashleigh and Brad Carroll achieved some outstanding personal bests at the regional carnival with Brad breaking a number of records on the day. Ashleigh was .07 of a second off the centre record in the 100m at regionals, and the synthetic track should see her break the centre record on Saturday, and have the 200m record in her sights on Sunday.
Brad won’t allow his twin sister to break records without him, so it is expected that he will also rise to the occasion and lower both his records over the weekend.
Anna Dowling has a real chance to break the 25-year-old record of Melanie Bradley in the 200m at state. Although not Anna’s ‘pet’ event, she has been working hard at the lower distance, and the synthetic track should see her rise to the occasion.
Harry Fitzpatrick surprised himself when he qualified for zone as fourth furthest in long jump, and then finished second at regionals to qualify for state. Not only this, but he then qualified for his favourite event, the 100m, for his exceptional time of 14.30 seconds in the U11 boys.
Harry loves the 100m race and will pull off a big personal best on the day that will have him inching ever closer to our club record of 13.90 seconds.
Jonty Langfield put in one of the most courageous performances at regionals when he finished second in the 200m.
Although qualifying third fastest and carrying a heel injury, Jonty recovered from a stumble 10m from the end to throw himself over the finish in second position.
This determination will see him pull out some amazing performances at state and some big personal bests.
We wish our local athletes the best of luck over the weekend. Stay strong, stay healthy, and stay focussed.
Events:
Archie Bolger (U10): Shot, 70m, 200m, relay.
Ashleigh Carroll (U12): 100m, 200m.
Brad Carroll (U12): 100m, 200m, relay.
Jordan Douglass (U17): LJ, HJ.
Anna Dowling (U10): 200m.
Harry Fitzpatrick (U11): LJ, 100m, relay.
Jonty Langfield (U13): LJ, 100m, 200m.
Kai Langfield: Jnr Boys Relay.
Hayley McFadyen (U17): 3000m.
Jack Stephenson (U13): Discus, javelin, shot, 1500mW.