Craughwell AC’s U19 Girls Relay Team, National 4x200m silver medallists
Shauna Tobin, Siona Lawless, Arlene Earl, Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney

The final day of the National Juvenile Indoor Track & Field took place in Athlone IT last Saturday where Craughwell AC rounded off its most successful year ever of indoor competition with 5 more medals coming its way. Laura Cunningham and Lorraine Delaney got the day off to a wonderful start when taking the silver and bronze medals in the U19 Girls High Jump, both with leaps of 1.55m. And both girls combined with Arlene Earls and Siona Lawless to race to the silver medals in an exhilarating performance in the U19 Girls 4x200m and an excellent time of 1.47.85. The medals continued to flow in the U19 Boys High Jump where Jerry Keary leaped to the silver medal with a best of 1.89m. Chloe Casey wrapped up the medal-winning performances with an excellent 12.77m to take the silver in the U17 Girls Shot Putt.

It rounded off an incredible championships for Laura who won 4 National medals over the 3 weekends with bronze in the long jump, silver in the triple jump, silver in the relay and silver in the high jump – coming very close to the gold medal. And it was also very special for Lorraine with 2 National medals last Saturday having placed 4th on numerous occasions in the past in the 3 jumping events.

Chloe Casey, National silver medallist in the U17 Girls Shot Putt
and Jerry Keary, National silver medallist in the U19 Boys High Jump

The U16 Boys team of Shaun Gilligan, Pascal Walsh, Conor Trehy and Robert Urquhart put in a strong performance in their 4x200m, qualifying for the final in a time of 1.43.96 and placing an excellent 4th in the final in a time of 1.44.05, a feat almost repeated by the U16 Girls who qualified out of the heats in a time of 1.51.51 and placed 6th in the final in a time of 1.52.09 with their team of Chloe Farragher, Aleisha Larkin, Ava Finn and Ellie Cronin. A strong U16 squad saw the club’s second team place 4th in the heats of the U16 Girls in a time of 1.56.73. The U14 boys and girls teams also battled hard in their heats with the boys placing 4th in a time of 1.54.53 and the girls unfortunately disqualified due to a zone fault.

Ellie Cronin came close to the individual medals in the U16 Girls High Jump when placing 5th and leaping 1.55m which was the same height as the bronze medalist but losing out on countback of knocked bars. Aine Kelly placed 8th in the same event with a leap of 1.45m. James Furey placed 8th in the U16 Boys High Jump with 1.40m, as did Pascal Walsh in the U16 Long Jump with a best of 4.98m. Conor Trehy placed 11th in the same event with a best of 4.83m, a position shared by Jade Moorhead in the U14 Girls Long Jump with a best of 3.88m. Lukas Schukat was 12th in the U15 Boys Long Jump with 4.82m while Aleisha Larkin was 18th in the U16 Girls Long Jump with 4.09m.

That wrapped up the club’s best ever season of indoor competition with 19 medals at National level, the previous best being 2013 when the club won 15 medals.

Laura Cunningham and Lorraine Delaney
National silver and bronze medallists in the U19 Girls High Jump