CoLAC successes at Ulster Schools inc record for Megan
Sun 20 May 2012--admin
It was a successful day for the many City of Lisburn AC athletes in action on Saturday at the 2012 Aviva Ulster Schools Championships. Conditions were very cool early in the day as the first field events began but it stayed dry and the sun was out by lunchtime. There were very few records broken on the day but one went to Lisburn hurdler Megan Marrs. The Junior Girls 75m hurdles record belonged to current Lisburn coach Michelle Rea (Knowles) with an 11.8s run in 1984. However with an amazing surge of speed from Megan over the last few hurdles she blasted to new figures of 11.49s, without any wind assistance as there was a cross-wind in the home straight.
Many of the experienced Lisburn squad qualified safely for another trip to the Irish Schools in Tullamore in two weeks time while it was great to see several young athletes break through and secure their first Ulster Schools medal or title.
Lisburn medallists across the age groups included:-
Mini Boys
Josh Armstrong was a silver medallist in the high jump after his super PB here of 1.39m.
Mini Girls
Rachel Barnes had a good day, placing 3rd in the 100m in 13.98s before taking silver in the shot with 7.50m.
Junior Boys
It was touch and go whether Ben Fisher would make the start line for his 80m hurdles after some hamstring problems in the week of the event, however he had a great run in the 80m hurdles to win in a time of 12.3s in a blanket finish. The track judges’ decision was a difficult one but Cameron Kelly was awarded third place although could consider himself unlucky as he appeared to hold a narrow advantage throughout the race before clipping the final barrier. Josh Jordan was another gold medallist in the Lisburn squad, with a throw of 39.74m to win the hammer while later adding discus silver with an excellent 36.67m.
After wining the Mini title last year Matthew Dalton moved up to the Junior age group and won the shot with 11.67m to win by a metre exactly. On the track, Tom Baird qualified for the Irish Schools with a fine 3rd place in the 1500m.
Junior Girls
The two outstanding athletes in this age-group were both members of the City of Lisburn AC junior squad. Megan Marrs collected her second gold with a 1.58m high jump, while Roseanna McGuckian completed a classy sprint double in 12.4s / 25.7s. Hearts were briefly in mouths as she got left in the blocks in the 100m as background noise over the PA meant she failed to react to the gun. However, she recovered to ease away in the second half of the race and looks set to go faster in the Irish Schools with stiffer competition.
As a 2nd former it is arguably the most difficult year to win an Ulster Schools title but Sarah Woods won javelin gold on her first visit to the event. Sarah’s competition was the stuff of dreams as she added over 5 metres to her previous best in the first round, handling a difficult cross-wind well. Her best of 26.44m saw her win ahead of club-mate Lara Creighton who threw 26.13m. Robyn Kelly was another champion after winning pole vault gold on the Friday night with 2.10m while Lara picked up a bronze here as well. Also on the Friday night Natalja Ritchie qualified for her first Irish Schools with a great throw of 26.98m in the hammer.
Jessica McMaster picked up a pair of silvers in the long and triple jumps with two PB performances of 5.14m and 9.85m. In the 75m hurdles despite a thigh injury Caitlin Rose was 3rd in a PB of 12.27s in what was a very fast race.
Inter Boys
Aaron Dalzell had a good day at the office, running a big PB of 23.02s to win the 200m while earlier placing 2nd in the 100m in 11.69s. Jonathan Hill improved his PB by a huge margin to claim triple jump bronze in 12.22m while Michael Logan thew a big PB of 37.66s for discus silver. Ronan Jenkinson had a PB of his own in the javelin where 45.50m was only good enough for bronze.
Inter Girls
Everyone in the club was delighted to see long jumper Aoibhin McManus pick up her first Ulster Schools long jump title with a leap of 5.11m after coming close in the past. Anna McIlmolye was looking like her old self as she confidently cleared 1.60m to take silver in the high jump and qualify for the Irish Schools. Erin Quinn placed 2nd in the 300m to qualify safely for Tullamore in a time of 42.9s which equalled her PB, while there was a bronze for Jane Anderson in the 80m hurdles in 12.53s..
Senior Boys
Adam Hill had a fantastic day, producing two PBs and winning his first Ulster Schools title. The gold came in high jump where he improved to 1.86m while he ran an excellent 15.8s for bronze in the 110m hurdles. In the discus Josh Atkinson became Ulster Schools champion with a throw of 41.62m before later placing 2nd in the shot in 12.06m just ahead of James Megarity in 3rd with 11.50m.
Senior Girls
Libby Rose added another couple of Ulster Schools titles to her collection with a double in the sprint hurdles and 400m hurdles. She dipped below 16s for the first time with 15.99s in the shorter event and was timed at 67.76m for the one-lap hurdles. Kathryn Wallace was a little disappointed with her hammer bronze in 31.20m on the Friday evening but this was balanced out somewhat by an unexpected shot bronze on the Saturday with 7.78m. Caris Greenwood won the discus with a great effort of 38.12m while Amanda Mitchell is another who’ll be making the trip to Tullamore on Saturday week after a throw of 26.34m.
Well done to all the City of Lisburn medallists and also those not mentioned above who ran PBs and made finals.