All Roads Lead to Tullamore for 123.ie All Ireland Schools Championships next Weekend
Tullamore is the venue for next weekend’s All Ireland schools championships. The cream of juvenile athletics will compete in over 130 events over two days on Friday and Saturday. All the athletes competing had a tough road to get there having had to qualify first at regional championships and then at Provincial championships in order to make it to what is considered Irelands premier juvenile athletic championships. West Waterford will have 8 athletes in action representing CBS Dungarvan, Meanscoil san Nioclas and St Augustine’s College.
Championship Record for Sophie Beresford
One of the first in action in the Junior girls walk will be Sophie Beresford. Last weekend at the 123.ie Munster Schools Championships Sophie successfully defended the junior girl’s title she won the previous year crossing the line to take gold in 5.29.22 to set a new championship record. This was 4 secs better than the previous record held by Kate Veale. Ava Kiely will compete in the junior girls discus. Ava improved her personal best by to qualify for the Munster championships and last Saturday added another 3mts to her best to throw 27m10 to finish third and qualify for her first All Ireland Schools Championships. William Mc Nally is growing in confidence with each race and last Saturday he had a great run to finish 2nd in the Munster Championships and advance to his first All Ireland Championships. He will carry the flag for Dungarvan CBS at this event. The third of the St Augustine’s juniors is Adi Panicker. Adi is new to the sport this year trying several different events and his sprinting and jumping had improved with every outing. Next weekend he will compete in the triple jump in what we hope will be the first of many trips to Tullamore.
Noah Commins Breaks 2minute Barrier for 800m
Noah Commins has been making great strides over 800m this season and last Saturday he finally cracked the two minute barrier over 800m to finish third in the intermediate boys 800m 1.58.49. Later in the day he also finished 3rd in the 1500m with a new personal best of 4.18.33. Noah will compete in both events at next Saturdays All Ireland Championships. The intermediate category is a particularly difficult group in the schools events as it takes athletes from across three age groups. Competing in the girls 800m will be Isabelle Gaffney who is growing in confidence with each race and came with a strong finish to take second in the girls 800m in 2.15.58. Michalina Coclik is the third of the St Augustine’s athletes competing in the Intermediate events and she had to be at her best when throwing 27.56 for third place in Munster and a chance to compete at the All Ireland championships.
Naoise to Represent Meanscoil san Nioclas
Naois Mac Murchadha will wear the colours of Meanscoil san Nioclas when he competes in the senior boys 5000m. Naoise finished a very strong second at the Munster Championships in a time of 16.07.72. If the early pace next Saturday is steady we could see him break the 16 min barrier next weekend.
Kacey Connors was unlucky to finish just outside the medals finishing 4th in the 300m hurdles in 48.63 and Saoirse Quinn finished her school’s career with 4th in the hammer and 5th in the discus as she now heads off to the leaving Cert exams.
Well done to all our athletes who competed in the Munster Championships and best wishes to all those competing in the 123.ie Munster Schools Championships next weekend.
Best of luck also to all our athletes who will be sitting the Junior and Leaving Cert Exams.
