TRACK AND FIELD –
With the 2021 Australian Track and Field Championships in full swing at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre, a number of athletes from Mingara Athletics Club have come away with exceptional results for the NSW state team.
Starting on Monday, April 12, and moving on through to Monday, April 19, the first two days alone saw eleven Mingara athletes compete, with four podium placements being achieved, as well as two Mingara club records.
On Monday, the greatest result for Mingara came from George Wells in the Men U16’s Shot Put, who came second with an 18.49m shot that set a new club record.
As well as Wells, Taj Hamilton came sixth in the Men U14’s 100m Final, Liam Coles and Taj Garner came 11th and 17th in the Men U16’s 100m preliminary round, Alyssa Haremaker came 15th in the Women U14’s 400m preliminary round and Jessie Blackwell came 13th in the Women U15’s 400m preliminary round.
Day Two saw Hamilton, Coles and Garner all perform to an even higher standard, each earning a medal for their events.
Hamilton took part in the winning NSW Men U14’s 4x100m relay team, finishing with a time of 48.36 ahead of second place ACT by 0.44 seconds.
Garner was a part of the NSW Men U16’s 4x100m relay team, who came second with a time of 43.73 seconds, only 0.09 seconds behind the winning SA team.
Coles competed in the Men U16’s 100m Hurdles and came away with a winning run time of 13.04 seconds, setting a new club record for Mingara.
After finishing second overall in the preliminary race round, Coles dropped 0.47 seconds of his initial time, and in the end beat second place Victorian, William Wong by just 0.01 seconds.
Also on day two, Liam Bennett came 11th in the Men U20’s High Jump with a top jump of 1.85m, with Riley Grant behind him in 14th place with a high jump of 1.80m.
With the athletics looking to continue over the weekend and through to Monday, there will be many more chances for Mingara club members to represent the state whilst bringing pride for their local club.
Tascott High Jumper, Nikola McDermott will be competing on Sunday in the Opens division.
Haakon Barry