Medals galore for IAS at NSW All Schools Athletics

The best young track and field talent in NSW combined at Sydney Olympic Park from 9-12 December 2021 for the NSW All Schools Athletics Championships. Amongst this was over 25 Illawarra Academy of Sport athletes from the BluescopeWIN Lonestar, Athletes with a Disability (AWD) and Triathlon squads.

Despite the weather conditions being challenging at times, the IAS athletes put on stellar performances to bring home 4 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze medals. In addition, Team IAS had 37 top-10 results, numerous national qualifying times, a huge amount of individual PBs and six athletes named in the NSW Merit team.

2021 AWD Athlete of the Year, Telaya Blacksmith continued her sensation form to win gold in the 12-14 Girls Para AMB Long Jump, 100m and 200m. Telaya’s results were strong enough to smash her own T20 Australian U15 and U17 records in both the 100m and Long Jump.

Fellow competitor and AWD teammate, Charlize Colwell rang a strong 800m to take home the gold, backing it up with bronze in the 100m and narrowly finishing 4^th in the 200m.

Kynan Miller (AWD) finished 2^nd in the 12-14 Boys Para AMB Shot Put, 3^rd in discus and 5^th in the 100m. Kynan’s results broke his own National Shot Put and 100m T44 records.

The BluescopeWIN Lonestars didn’t miss a beat with their performances. Reilly Caswell ran superbly in the 14 Boys to get silver in the 400m, bronze in the 800m and 5^th in the 200m. Caswell’s 800m final featured fellow Lonestars Noah Towill and Josh Benefiel, making the race one third IAS athletes!

Tayissa Buchanan ran a gutsy race after just returning from injury to finish in the silver medal position in the 15 Years Girls 800m.

William Willis claimed silver in the U14 Boys Discus and finished 5^th in the Hammer Throw.

Emily Benefiel proved her talent on both the track and field when she won silver in the 12 Years High Jump and made the 12 Years 80m Hurdles final.

Grace Costabile ran a fantastic 200m to gain bronze in the U13 Girls 200m and backed up with a strong finish in the 400m to finish 5^th.

Siblings Celeste Carolan (U14 Girls) and Patrick Carolan (U15 Boys) both won a bronze medal in their 2000m Steeplechase events.

Well done to the athletes that were finalists – Elias Oldfield (6^th 200m Hurdles, 8^th Triple Jump, 6^th 200m), Grace Pomery (5^th 800m), Liam Halloran (8^th 400m, 9^th High Jump), Joshua Benefiel (9^th 800m), Lucas Campbell (6^th 200m, 8^th 100m), Milton Stepanovski (8^th 1500m, 10^th 800m), Noah Towill (4^th 1500m, 5^th 800m), Ashlyn Adams (9^th 100m) and Skye Bell (8^th 3000m).

Congratulations to Telaya Blacksmith, Charlize Colwell, Kynan Miller, Reilly Caswell, Tayissa Buchanan and William Willis on their selection in the NSW Merit Team.