The 10th and final round of regular athletics competition for the season was hosted at the Tom Kelly Athletics Track over the week, which was the last opportunity for teams to score highly and qualify for the State Shield Final to be held in a fortnight’s time at Lakeside Stadium. With the top 2 teams in each division qualifying for the premiership finals, competition was extra competitive.
Doncaster performed well on the track with Conrad Coumaros leading the way in the Open men’s 200m event, but it was junior Chris Tetaz bettering his training partner’s time in the U/18 age group with 22.37sec. Kayla Bunevicius and Courtney Yates paired up well to finish within 0.05sec of each other to take out 2nd and 3rd positions in the Open woman’s 200m event. Junior girls, Abbey Caldwell and Nicole Reynolds ran home strongly to finish 1st and 2nd respectively in their age groups, with Abbey sneaking under 30seconds.
Distance stars: Chow Lui, Connor Gist, Charlotte Bassett and Abbey Caldwell all were on top of their game with each athlete winning their respective age group in the 800m event. Charlotte backed up alongside club comrade Claire Walpole in the 3000m event, with both girls running home strongly to receive podium finishes for their efforts.
Competition was tight over the 400m Hurdles, with team mates Tom Robertson, Wesley Spargo and Alex DeMedio going toe to toe until the very end of the race. Tom ended up the victor with 0.09sec separating the trio.
Declan Carman and Zach Nunis topped the U/14 and U/16 age groups in the Triple Jump with Zach doubling up in the High Jump with an amazing 1.75m leap. Vanessa Jackson easily cleared 1.50m in the girls U/16 age group to finish well ahead of her nearest rival.
Doncaster throwers; Nick Finch, David Firth, Peter Coumaros, James Joycey, Natasha Coumaros and Stephanie Ratcliffe all partook in the Shotput/ Hammer Throw double and each featured on top of their respective age groups with top performances coming from David Firth throwing 40.26m in the Open Men’s Hammer Throw and Stephanie Ratcliffe throwing 37.16m in the U/18 girls Hammer Throw.
At the completion of the regular season, Doncaster Athletic Club has 4 teams progressing to the Premiership Final with the Open Woman Division 1 team finishing on top position in the Eastern Region rankings. The Open Mens Division 1, U/16 boys and U/18 girls teams all finished in second position and will also progress.