Chloe Casey (St Raphael’s Loughrea), pictured across put in an outstanding performance at yesterday’s Irish Schools Combined Events to take 4th place in the Junior Girls category with a points total of 2977 and in the process claim her first international vest with the international due to take place in Athlone on December 11th.

Chloe’s elite event of shot putt put her right up in contention after 4 events with a heave of 13.31m earning her 748 points. Qualification went down to the wire with the 800m deciding it in a shake-up between four athletes for the 4th spot on the team leaving them separated by just 33 points – a little under 3 seconds in an 800m! Chloe did just enough in the 800m to hold onto 4th place and becomes the 5th athlete from the club to make this team over the years joining Cathriona Farrell, Maria McNamara, Aidan Conneely and Sineád Treacy.

And it was hard luck for Laura Cunningham (Pres Athenry) who put in a magnificent performance in the Intermediate Girls grade to record a points total of 2760 which included PBs of 9.22 in the shot putt and 2.46.87 in the 800m. As with Aisling Keady’s points total last year, Laura’s total would have made the Irish team on many occasions in the past 10 years but not so this year where there was an incredible standard in the intermediate grade with 1st and 2nd both exceeding 3500 points.

Ellie Cronin (Pres Athenry) was also in action in the Minor Girls event where she put in another great performance in a high-standard competition. Having won the Connacht title a few weeks ago, Ellie battled hard in her first time in a National multi-events competition where she placed 11th overall but great experience and a definite contender for international multi-event teams in the years ahead.

In the boys events, Sean Connaghton (St Raphael’s Loughrea) placed 9th in the junior boys grade with 2485 points, a strong performance across all of the events with some exceptional performances despite the lack of recent practise.

In the intermediate grade, Ben Garrard and Oisin Lyons both recorded some fine results in a high standard event. Ben’s long jump of 5.76m was particularly impressive while Oisin’s 2.03.48 in the 800m was the fastest of the day. Ben’s points score of 2883 placed him 7th overall while Oisin’s final score of 2773 placed him 9th overall.

In the Senior Boys grade, Paul Armstrong made his debut at National level where he placed 7th with 2095 points, a good performance in his first time at this level where he produced 4 PBs including a 5.34m leap in the long jump.