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2018 NCAA Cross Country in Full Swing

After a 2 year absence from the Cross scene, Damian was back in action for the Cowboys of late having already completed two early season meets. Yet another injury plagued summer season seems to have been quickly forgotten this time around, by the 21 year old, after some early performances seeing Damian post vital points to the scoreboard for McNeese on both occasions despite only being back to fitness for little more than 4 weeks!

As is customary the Cowboys opened their season at home over 4,000m on a Friday evening back on August 31st. Having completed a tempo workout early that morning the new and rejuvenated young team, (having graduated all 4 scoring Seniors from the previous season) showed themselves respectably, if maybe a bit out of breath from the days heavy workload. Bunching closely and finishing together in 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 18.  Damian finished 13th on the day in a time of 13:08 after one of the smartest races of the day, coming right from the back over the first kilometre and moving up consistently throughout the race to finish strongly. McNeese finished 3rd in the team event behind Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana-Lafayette.

Last Saturday, September 15, saw the team, somewhat weakened and altered due to a combination of illness, injuries and returners, travel to LSU (Louisiana State University), in the State Capital of Baton Rouge. with a ’short’ pitstop on the side of the interstate highway no less ……….just what we need a blow out on the way!!!!

With many of the same teams from the previous meet and the addition of the remaining in State Conference rivals, this was to make for a good test for the young squad at this stage of the season. A step up from the previous outing to 4 miles (6,400m), proved showing with a change-up in the finishing order from the Cowboys despite being fresh for this run. Damian rounded out the team scoring on this occasion in 17th, as the number 5 McNeese man, in a time of 21:35 with a similar performance to his last run out, coming through from the back of the field to finish strongly. The team still bunched quite well even considering the addition of other competitive teams. Finishing individually in 3, 11, 14, 15, 17 and 23 this time around to place Second(60) overall team behind again Louisiana-Lafayette(54) in poll position but ahead of Southeastern Louisiana(76) in Third.

The Coming Weeks will see the young squad trade off competing both at home in Lake Charles and in College Station at The University of Texas A&M

Remaining Meet Schedule

The Cowboy Stampede, September 29 (Home)

Arturo Barrios Invitational, October 13 (Texas A&M)

Southland Conference Championships, October 26 (Home)

NCAA South Central Regional Championships, November 9 (Texas A&M)

Resumption of juvenile athletics training

Juvenile athletics training resumes this week for all age groups. Training times are as follows. Click on picture for larger image. An updated fixtures list is also included below.

Fixtures:

Super Performances at Nat.League and CG Finals

Galway County team on the podium in the National Premier League Final !

Huge congratulations to several local athletes who featured prominently on the County Galway women’s team who took historic silver medals in the National League Premier Division final held on Sunday in Tullamore.

Team manager and captain Sarah Finnegan led the way with 5th place in the triple jump with 9.87, 6th place in the 100m hurdles in 18.03 and 8th place in the javelin with 11.94; Maeve Curley took victory in the 1500m race walk with a splendid 7.03.28; Chloe Casey took 2nd place in the shot putt with 10.58; Sinead Treacy raced to 2nd place in the 200m in 25.50; Arlene Earls took a fine 3rd place in the 800m with 2.23.89; Katie O’Donoghue took 4th place in the high jump with 1.50 while Sinead Treacy and Arlene Earls helped Galway to victory in the 4x400m with Sinead also prominent on the 4x100m team that took second place. Well done also to members of the squad who had helped the team qualify for the final from the earlier rounds including Sinead Gaffney, Ciana Reidy, Lorraine Delaney, Laura Cunningham, Aisling Keady and Dearbhaile Walsh.

In Division 1 where the County Galway men’s team had qualified for the final for the first time under the management of Castlegar AC’s Sean McDermott, there were some further fine performance from Craughwell AC athletes including Luke Evans who took 3rd place in the 3000m steeplechase in 11:28.36, John Cormican who placed 5th in the 1500m in 4.29.65 and helped the 4x100m to 6th place; and Jack Miskella who placed 6th in the 800m in 2.09.06 and featured prominently along with Luke Evans on the 4x400m team that took 2nd place in 3:37.18. The team placed 7th overall. Well done also to Gavin Cooney, Damien O'Boyle, Ryan Gallagher, Jerry Keary and Daniel Callanan-Forde who had helped the team qualify for the final from the earlier rounds.

Craughwell's U14 Girls representing Galway in the 4x100m
at the National Community Games finals in University of Limerick

Meanwhile at the Community Games National finals held at the University of Limerick there were some strong performances from local athletes. Kyle Moorhead qualified comfortably for the U16 Boys 1500m final when placing 2nd in the semi-finals on Saturday and in the final on Sunday was holding a top 3 position as the race entered the home straight but had to settle for 6th place in a sprint finish over the last 100m. Alisha Larkin sailed through the heats of the U16 100m and just missed out on making the final when placing 5th in the semis.

James Furey had a super performance in the U16 Boys high jump, clearing 1.55m and taking 5th place overall just outside the medals. Tara Morgan and Ella Lyons competed strongly in the U14 Girls javelin and long jump, great to be competed there as Galway Champions.

The U15 Mixed Relay team of Lughaigh Morgan, Ava Finn, Rebecca Lynch and Robert Urquhart just missed out on making the final of their relay when placing 5th in the semi-finals. A similar fate was in store for the U14 Girls 4x100m team of Fauve Aylmer, Jade Moorhead, Erin Kelly and Siofra Davis who raced to a brilliant 3rd place in their heats but had to settle for 5th place in the semi-finals – but great achievements nonetheless to be the Galway champions at the National finals.

Craughwell AC On Tour - Glasgow 2019 !!

Some of the group on the first trip many years ago in 2008
Back row: Sue Joyce,Mike Tobin,Padraic Tobin,Cormac Dillon,Ruairi Finnegan,Niall Rooney,Cathal Coppinger,Triona Coppinger
Middle row: Julie Gallagher,PJ Kelly,Peter Treacy,Benny Gallagher,Ashley McDonnell,Orla McDaid,Laura Porter,Orla Ryan,Claire Ryder
Front row: Shaun Gallagher,Linda Porter,Debbie Kenny,Caoimhe Quill,Katie O'Donoghue

Over the last 10 years, the club have travelled to Glasgow most years for the Scottish Indoor Championships, having first gone there in 2008 with a group of around 50 athletes plus parents. Every year it has been a super trip with lots of enjoyment and camaraderie and plenty of success too with many Scottish national medals coming the way of our athletes.

The trip is mostly targeted at our older athletes, i.e. those in secondary school or older as it’s something for primary school athletes to look forwards to in the years ahead when they reach secondary school. The age groups are U13, U15, U17, U20 and Senior. The cut-off date is different to what we are used to in Ireland – it goes by the age you are under on 1 September next year, so if for example you turn 16 before 1 Sept you are an U17, but if you turn 16 on or after 1 Sept you are an U15.

The events available in each age group are:-

• All ages: 60m, 60mH, 200m, 800m, 1500m, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt
• Plus the following for U15, U17, U20, Senior: 300/400m, Triple Jump, Pole Vault
  
  

The dates of next year’s event are not confirmed yet, but it’s likely to be the last weekend of January (senior and U17) and the first weekend of February (U20, U15 and U13). Often times it has clashed with mock JC/LC exams making it difficult for those students to travel – this looks like it will happen next year too with the mocks on from 4-15 February. The dates are usually confirmed around the end of September at which stage we can book flights and make accommodation arrangements.

We have usually stayed in Jury’s Inn which is near the city centre. Accommodation has worked out around £170 sterling for a twin room for 2 nights and £190 for a triple room. We will look at other hotels also. Flights have varied between €40 and €100 for the return trip depending on how quickly we book them. So it’s important we move fast once the event dates are confirmed (but not too fast as some years they have changed the provisional dates). And transport to/from the airport and the athletics arena might add another €20 per person.

I am starting to compile a list of those interested in going so can parents email or text me if interested (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 087 6591879). A parent normally travels with the athlete but we can accommodate a small number of the older juveniles travelling without parents. Plus this time we hope to have a small senior group travelling too. People can email me if they have any questions.

Club Yearbook 2019 !!

Plans are afoot to produce a new Club Yearbook to mark the 50th anniversary of the club in February this year. The club produced its first yearbook in 2005 and followed it up with its second yearbook in 2007 covering the years 2006-07. At the time, it was the intention to repeat the publication every few years but unfortunately this did not happen. But its never too late so to help mark the 50th anniversary of the club, work is now underway on a new yearbook.

Members are encouraged to send articles and photographs to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. between now and the end of February and an editorial committee will work over the following few months to try to put it all together into a new bumper yearbook covering the last 11 years and hopefully it won't be as long again before the next one.

We want to get everyone's photo into the yearbook so don't be shy in sending them in. And all articles small or large are weclome and from all ages. See small sample from the 2007 yearbook below. If anyone is interested in copies of the old yearbooks, they can still be purchased at a cost of €15 each.

Maeve race-walks to National bronze!

Maeve Curley, bronze medallist in the National Senior 5000m Race Walk in Santry

Maeve Curley raced to the bronze medal in the 5000m race walk at the National Senior Track & Field Championships yesterday in Santry. Maeve completed the grueling 12.5 laps of the track in an excellent 26.11.30 despite being penalised with a 30 second time penalty due to an infringement on the final lap. In new rules for race walking, some rule violations that used to result in yellow cards now result in time penalties. It meant Maeve had an anxious wait at the end of the race to get the official results and confirmation of her placing.

This is Maeve's fourth time on the podium at the National senior championships having won silver in 2015 and bronze in 2012 as well as indoor bronze in 2017. It brings to 28 the number of National medals won by athletes from the club in the outdoor track and field chammpionships this year, the clubs most successful year by a distance with the previous bests being 2015 and 2014 where the club won 20 and 22 National medals.

Also in action in Santry, Sinead Treacy raced to a splendid PB and new club record of 57.99, knocking over a second off her own previous club record of 59.31 and just missing out on making the final. Gavin Cooney completed the action from the club with a fine 2.00.40 in the heats of the men's 800m. With sub-2 being the target, Gavin went though 200m in 28 seconds pacing his own race very well as the race leaders went off at a crazy 1.48 pace. The sub-2 looked to be on but a strong head-win blowing down the home straight made it very difficult and Gavin finished strongly in 2.00.40 and a new PB which would certainly have been a sub-2 in better weather conditions. His time placed him 19th out of the 30 competitors in action across the 3 heats, a very strong performance in difficult weather conditions.

European U20 Club Track & Field

A nice write-up in today’s Connacht Tribune on the club and it’s qualification for the European U20 Club Track & Field. Get your copy today!!

The event takes place in September 2019 so we have a year to prepare our athletes for it. The venue is most likely Leiria in Portugal where it has been held for the last number of years. You can read about this year’s Europeans at www.leiria2018.com and previous championships at www.european-athletics.org.

It was a massive achievement for our squad of Aisling Keady, Caron Ryan, Laura Cunningham, Ciana Reidy, Lorraine Delaney, Shauna Tobin, Arlene Earls, Chloe Casey, Freya Bohan and Ailbhe Miskella to qualify. The squad will be greatly bolstered by a number of athletes who were unavailable for the Irish finals due to exams, injuries and holidays and also by the fantastic group of U16 athletes who will be old enough to take part in the U20 grade next year.

I will be emailing out more details to parents and athletes in the U16 to U20 age groups shortly as we will be trying to get athletes minds focussed on this event as their main target next year and try to revolve your year around it. It will be a huge honour for all of our athletes to represent club and country in a major European championships. We have approximately 25 eligible athletes in these age groups and we hope to bring everyone who wants to target the event to Portugal!

Grand Finale to Juvenile T&F Season

The final day of the National Juvenile Track & Field took place yesterday in Tullamore where again athletes from the club performed with distinction.

Highlight of the day was the U19 Girls Triple Jump where both Laura Cunningham and Lorraine Delaney both excelled to place 1st and 3rd in the competition with a marvellous string of jumps. For 2 athletes from the club to medal at National level in the same competition is a fantastic achievement. Both girls achieved this in the U17 triple jump 2 years ago and the only other times the club achieved it was many years ago when Tomas Keehan and Niall Rooney both medalled in the U16 boys high jump in 2008 and Cillian Doyle and Jerry Keary did likewise in the U12 boys high jump in 2011.

Read more: Grand Finale to Juvenile T&F Season

Medals Galore at National Juvenile Finals!

The first 2 weekends of the National Juvenile Track & Field Championships took place in Tullamore recently where some outstanding performances saw athletes from the club take home 1 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze in the 'A' Championships and 1 silver in the 'B' Championships as well as a string of 4th place finishes and top-8 performances.

Read more: Medals Galore at National Juvenile Finals!

Craughwell Athletes Star on County Teams

Craughwell AC's Katie O'Donoghue, Maeve Curley and Sarah Finnegan (team captain)
who were part of the County Galway women's team who qualified for the final
of the National League's Premier Division at the weekend in Tullamore

Several athletes from the club proudly represented the County at Round 2 of the National League recently which was held in Athlone IT, with the women’s team qualifying the National final of the Premier Division and the men’s team qualifying for the National final of Division 1. 

Read more: Craughwell Athletes Star on County Teams

AAI Confirm Club’s Selection for Euro Championships!

Athletics Ireland have this week confirmed that the club’s girls team has been selected to represent Ireland in the 2019 European U20 Track & Field Championships. The club were selected based on the fantastic performances from our U17 to U20 athletes at the recent National Junior Championships in Tullamore.

It’s a major achievement for the club to get a squad of athletes to this level and to have the honour of representing Ireland in a major European event.

You can check out the European website for more information on this year’s event which will be held in Leiria, Portugal in September. There is quite a lot of useful information there, particularly in the regulations link.The event has been held in the same location the last few years so most likely that is where we will be heading in September next year.

All of next year’s U17 to U20 athletes will be eligible for selection and we can bring a squad of 20 athletes and 6 officials. The officials will include as joint team captains this year’s U20s who unfortunately will be overage next year for the European event (Aisling, Caron, Dearbhaile) – but we have super strength in the current years U16s too who will be part of the squad going to the Europeans next year.

And its an event that the club could realistically qualify for each year in both girls and boys teams with such strength coming through each year in each age group. The athletes who led the club to this level at the recent Irish Junior Championships include the following. A few of the squad were missing on the day due to holidays and work commitments but hopefully all will be available for the European Championships in 2019 as well as this year’s U16s.

• U20s
  
  
  • Aisling Keady (shot putt, high jump, weight for distance, 4x100m)
  • Caron Ryan (5000m)
    
    
• U19s
  
  
  • Laura Cunningham (shot putt, high jump, long jump, javelin, triple jump, 4x100m)
  • Ciana Reidy (pole vault, high jump, discus, 4x400m)
  • Lorraine Delaney (triple jump, 400m hurdles, 4x400m)
  • Shauna Tobin (javelin, discus, 4x400m)
  • Arlene Earls (800m, 4x400m)
    
    
• U17s
  
  • Chloe Casey (shot putt, discus, 4x100m)
  • Freya Bohan (javelin, 4x100m)
  • Ailbhe Miskella (3000m s/c)
    
    

I will set up a meeting very shortly to provide more information to the squad and so that athletes and parents can ask questions and in the meantime any parents with questions should contact me at 087 6591879.

Brilliant Weekend at National U20/23s and U9-13s

Craughwell AC's Medallists at the National U20 and U23 Championships in Tullamore
Caron Ryan - U20 National 5000m Champion, Chloe Casey - bronze medallist in the U20 Shot Putt,
Conor Duggan - bronze medallist in the U23 200m and Sinead Treacy - silver medallist in the U23 200m & 400m

Craughwell AC’s U20 and U23 athletes were in flying form at Saturday’s National Championships in Tullamore taking home 5 individual medals, 2 sets of relay medals as well as 3 fourth place finishes during a busy day of athletics. The club also contested the U20 women’s team event for the first time and our unofficial calculations of the team scores put us at the top of the leader board with 111 points and hopefully winning selection as Ireland’s club team to contest the European U20 Clubs Championships in Portugal this September!

In the U23 events, Sinead Treacy raced to double silver in the 200m final in a time of 25.60 and in the 400m final in a time of 59.31. Sinead’s 400m time was a new club record, one of 5 club records set on the day by a splendid series of performances by our U20s and U23s. Conor Duggan came within 1 hundredth of a second of his own club record when racing 10.96 in the heats of the U23 Men's 100m and won a hard-earned bronze medal in the final in a time of 10.99. Conor later following this up with 22.55 in the semi-finals of the 200m and a 6th place finish in the final in 22.73. Jack Miskella placed 9th in a high quality U23 Men’s 800m final in a time of 2.05.68.

Craughwell AC's Medal Winning 4x100m Team
Aisling Keady, Laura Cunningham, Chloe Casey and Freya Bohan

The club fielded a squad of 10 athletes in the U20 Women’s events in an attempt to win the team event and qualify for the European finals in Portugal later this year. Caron Ryan led the way for the club with a splendid victory and club record in the 5000m in a time of 19:01.54 – making light of the intense Tullamore heat in the process. Chloe Casey stepped up 3 ages groups from U17 to U20 to record a brilliant bronze in the shot putt with a throw of 10.64 and later placed 4th in the discus, just outside the medals with a throw of 31.70. Chloe’s performances followed on from a fine bronze medal a week ago at the Taillteann Games when throwing the discus out to 32.26.

The strength in depth of the club was shown in the relays where we fielded 8 different athletes on our 4x100m and 4x400m teams with both teams making the podium within minutes of each other at the end of a long day. The 4x100m team raced to bronze in a time of 52.45 with Freya Bohan, Chloe Casey, Aisling Keady and Laura Cunningham while the 4x400m team did likewise in a time of 4:24.06 with Arlene Earls, Lorraine Delaney, Shauna Tobin and Ciana Reidy.

Craughwell AC's Medal Winning 4x400m Team
Arlene Earls, Shauna Tobin, Ciana Reidy and Lorraine Delaney

Laura Cunningham was the team’s highest scorer with points in the relay and in 5 individual events, placing 4th in the high jump with a 1.55m leap, 4th in the javelin with an incredible 26.07m which is a new club record, 7th in the shot putt with 7.12m, 9th in the triple jump with 9.81m and 10th in the long jump with 4.66m. Laura was clearly suffering from heat fatigue in the latter 2 events having been on her feet for 2 hours in the shot putt and high jump immediately prior to the long jump, and again later for an hour at the javelin immediately before the triple jump.

Aisling Keady made a little bit of history by competing in the first ever Weight For Distance event for junior women where she flung the 28lbs weight out to 3.89m to take 5th place, having earlier scored valuable points with a 7th place in the high jump with 1.40m and 8th place in the shot putt with 5.57m. Ciana Reidy leaped a brilliant 2.20m to take 7th place in the pole vault and followed it up almost immediately with 1.50m to take 6th place in the high jump and later took 11th place in the discus with 14.38m. Shauna Tobin also scored valuable points with 10th place in the discus with 16.33 and 6th place in the javelin with 14.64m. Freya Bohan had a strong javelin throw with 19.16 to take 5th place.

On the track, Lorraine Delaney put in a trojan effort in the 400m Hurdles when finishing 7th in a time of 75.90 and followed it up later with some great triple jumping to take 8th place with a best of 9.90m. Arlene Earls raced to a brilliant 2.25.56 to take 9th place in the U20 200m, a race in which Sophie O’Sullivan daughter of the legendary Sonia took 2nd place. And epitomising what was exceptional team spirit from the full squad of 10 athletes throughout the day, Ailbhe Miskella showed guts and talent to take 5th place in the 3000m steeplechase. Showing lots of raw courage on such a hot day, Ailbhe fell twice during the race due to fatigue – once in the water jump and once on the straight but each time picked herself up and battled on to a brilliant time of 13.31.78 which I need to doublecheck against our club records but think it’s a new club record for the 3k distance.

Craughwell AC's Table Topping U20 Squad!
Arlene Earls, Freya Bohan, Shauna Tobin, Chloe Casey, Ciana Reidy, Aisling Keady, Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney and Ailbhe Miskella (missing from photo Caron Ryan)

To say the club is proud of the girls’ achievements would be a gross understatement. They jumped in and out of different events outside their comfort zone all day, gave heart and soul for the team and hopefully will have the sweet reward of representing Ireland in Portugal in September!

And on Sunday also in Tullamore, it was the turn of the youngest members of the club to shine in the U9-11s paired events and relays and U12/13s individual events. 

Darragh Kelly leaped to a brilliant National title in the U12 Boys with an exceptional leap of 1.45m. It was a lovely way to end the track and field year for Darragh as he had some bad luck in the National indoor finals earlier in the year when he exited the high jump competition at the early heights but there was no stopping him today when he took the National crown in style. Ella Farrelly was unlucky to place just 1cm outside the medals in the U12 Girls long jump with a brilliant leap of 4.30m.

Emma O'Donovan and Lauren Kilduff took brilliant gold medals in the U11 Girls paired long jump events with big leaps of 3.86 and 3.68. Ben Moran and Dara Zimmerer took silver in the U11 Boys long jump with excellent jumps of 4.22 and 3.64. Lauren Morgan and Mia Hollingworth did likewise in the U10 Girls long jump with leaps of 3.56 and 3.41. Calum McMahon and Alan Hallinan took bronze in the U9 Boys 60m paired event in times of 10.00 and 10.29. They later added a silver medal in the 300m in times of 53.84 and 53.16 – brilliant performances in their first time competing at National level.

There were many more fine performances from the younger members of the club including Tara Keane 6th in the U12 Girls shot putt with 7.56m and 7th in the turbo javelin with 23.23m; Oisin O'Donovan and Daithi Lawless 7th in the U9 Boys long jump with leaps of 3.30 and 2.78; Ben Moran and Dara Zimmerer 8th in the U11 Boys 60m in times of 9.46 and 9.86; Lauren Kilduff and Keevagh Barry 9th in the U11 Girls 60m in times of 9.66 and 9.94; Keelan Moorhead and Riley Stenson 9th in the U11 Boys 600m in times of 1.59.60 and 2.00.57; Dean McNally and Harry Lynam 10th in the U11 Boys turbo javelin with throws of 18.64 and 11.55; Evan Moran 11th in the U13 Boys long jump with 4.22m; Saoirse Mullins and Gemma Cloonan 12th in the U11 Girls 600m in times of 1.39.06 and 1.54.62; Gavin Keenan 13th in the U13 shot putt with 5.87m; Chloe Hallinan 15th in the U13 Girls long jump with 3.79m; and Shannon Quinn 17th in the U12 Girls shot putt with 5.74m.

The club is immensely proud of all of our athletes achievements across all of the ages from U9 upwards. Its testamont to the hard work of the coaches that we enjoyed such a successful weekend at the top level of junior and U23 athletics and in the youngest age groups all on the same weekend. Well done everyone!