A weekend of junior athletics which stolen by a blistering 10.13 seconds wind assisted 100 metres by 16-year-old from Tasmania, Jack Hale. The Doncaster Athletic Club was well represented with a eight athletes making the trip across to Adelaide for the All Schools Athletics Championships.
Nicole Reynolds managed to claim two podium finishes, claiming the gold medal in the under 16 200 meter hurdles in a time of 28.37 seconds and further adding a silver medal to her collection in the 90 meter hurdles with a time of 13.35 seconds into a strong headwind. One of the clubs most promising throwers, 15-yeard-old James Joycey having great success in his pet event, hammer throw, heaving it a staggering 60.19m to claim the silver medal in the under 16 event. Joycey also was a finalist in the Shot Put.
A further five Doncaster athletes secured finals berths at the All Schools Championships. Abbey Caldwell was agonisingly close to the medals crossing the line in the under 14 800 metres in fourth place in a time of 4:45.48 seconds. High hurdler Damon Zethoven achieved fifth position which turned out to be a very tight race for the under 18 110 metre hurdles with less than one seconded separating the entire field. Stephanie Ratcliffe competed in both the Hammer and Discus Throw, placing sixth and thirteenth respectively. Samantha O’Connell was competing alongside club mate Nicole Reynolds in both the sprint hurdles was a finalist in the 90 metres hurdles and placed eleventh in the 200 metres hurdles.
In his first national championships, Chris Tetaz competed alongside the well-known Jack Hale in the under 18 200 metres where he finished in eight position in 22.60 seconds. Horizontal jumps specialist Zachary Nunis had troubles landing the perfect jump on the long jump runway but placed a respectable eleventh in the under 16 event with 6.00 metres.
Many great performances across the board from the eight Doncaster Athletics Club athletes, they will now look to the Australian Junior Championships held in Sydney next year.