Athletes from the club had a fantastic day at the Connacht Schools Multi-Events today in Athlone’s International Arena.

Both Evan Hallinan and Jade Moorhead were in scintillating form in the 60m hurdles early in the day with both athletes breaking or equaling the club’s U20 record for the event. Evan raced to a time of 9.39 over the 3’3” hurdles to take the victory and shave 0.06s off Ben Garrard’s record set in the Irish Schools CE finals back in 2017. Jade did likewise, racing to a splendid 9.92 over the 2’9” hurdles to equal Katie O’Donoghue’s record set back in 2013 in the National U20 CE.

Evan and Jade continued their impressive form throughout the day to take the Connacht Senior titles with point scores of 2739 and 2629 respectively. Evan recorded a long jump of 6.41 (just 8cm shy of his club record), a 6kg shot putt PB of 7.65m and times of 24.12 and 2:25.92 in the 200m and 800m. Jade leaped an exceptional 1.66m in the high jump and recorded a PB of 5.38m with the 4kg shot, a leap of 4.43m in the long jump and victory in the 800m with 2:51.02.

Also in spectacular form, Leonore Church had an outstanding series of performances to take the Connacht title in the Intermediate grade with 2220 points – winning the 3kg shot putt with a throw of 7.55, placing 2^nd in the long jump with 4.31, 2^nd in the high jump with 1.40m and racing to times of 11.67 in the hurdles and 2:44.27 in the 800m. That completed a trio of Connacht titles for the Pres Athenry with Evan, Jade and Leonore all from the Pres.

The success story continued in the Junior Girls grade with Emma O’Donovan (St Brigid’s Loughrea) having an outstanding day with a score of 2656 points to take the silver medal. Emma raced to a brilliant 10.07 in the hurdles and followed it up with 1^st place in the high jump with 1.50m, 2^nd place in the long jump with 4.64m, 2^nd place in the 800m in a time of 2:37.10 and a throw of 5.90m in the shot putt.

Irene O’Brien (Calasancius Oranmore) placed 14^th in the same event with 12.46 in the hurdles, 1.25m in the high jump, 3.91m in the long jump, 5.20m in the shot and 3:27.11 in the 800m. Sean Hoade (Pres Athenry) placed 9^th in the Junior Boys grade with 9.70 in the hurdles, 27.47 in the 200m, 9.69m in the shot and 4.51m in the long jump.

It was a great day also for Toyosi George (Calasancius Oranmore) in the Minor Boys grade and Claudia Coyle (Seamount Kinvara) in the First Year Girls grade. Toyosi came 4^th overall with 1941 points and performances of 10.19 (hurdles), 8.50 (shot), 4.89 (long jump), 25.78 (200m) and 2:48.59 (800m). While Claudia took the silver medal in the First Year Girls grade with 1553 points and performances of 12.09 (hurdles), 5.94 (shot), 3.69 (long jump) and 2:31.37 (800m).

Emily Kinane (Calasancius Oranmore) placed 22^nd in the large group of Minor Girls with a good score of 1313 points and performances of 12.14 (hurdles), 1.20 (high jump), 4.10 (long jump), 5.50 (shot) and 3:44.19 (800m); while Calum McMahon (Pres Athenry) and Christian Geraghty (Calasancius Oranmore) had good performances in the First Year Boys grade with Calum 12^th with 11.86 (hurdles), 3.75 (long jump), 3.37 (shot) and 2:56.49 (800m) and Christian 17^th with 13.31 (hurdles), 2.34 (long jump), 2.78 (shot) and 2:55.92 (800m).