Illawarra Academy of Sport athletes pushed through the challenging weather conditions from heat, to thunderstorms and heavy rain, at the 2021 Athletics NSW Junior Championships to produce high-quality performances, personal bests, finals appearances and a haul of medals.
BluescopeWIN Lonestar, Tayissa Buchanan showed her strength in the middle-distance events by claiming convincing wins in the U16 Women’s 800m and 1500m. Tayissa won the 1500m in hot conditions in 4:41.56, and backed up on Sunday to win the 800m by over 6 seconds in a time of 2:15.19 in wet, cold conditions.
14-year-old AWD athletes, Telaya Blacksmith and Charlize Colwell dominated the U15 Women’s Ambulant events.
Telaya won gold in the 100m and long jump, and bronze in the 200m. Charlize won gold in the 800m, silver in the 400m and 200m, and bronze in the 100m.
Elias Oldfield reached the finals in the hotly contested U15 Men’s 100m, 200m and 400m, finishing in 9th, 6th and 6th placings respectively.
After qualifying for Nationals earlier in the year, Jordyn Martin raced a commendable 7th in the U17 2000m Steeplechase. Celeste Carolan came 16th U15 1500m.
In addition to also participating in the Netball NSW Academy Camp over the weekend, netballers Genevieve Bosker and Imogen Harrison showed their talent in athletics. Genevieve won bronze in the U17 High Jump, and Imogen finished 6th in the U17 Triple Jump and 13th in the U17 100m.
AWD athletes, Rosie Boyland and Patrick Mitchell also competed the previous weekend at the Athletics NSW Para Championships from 12-14 March. Rosie was crowned State Champion in shot put, and Patrick claimed the silver medal in the 1500m.
Congratulations to all athletes on a successful State Championships!
Good luck to our athletes preparing for the Australian Championships in mid-April!
