Jerry Keary (U18 High Jump Silver), Chloe Casey (U16 Shot Putt Gold), Evan Hallinan (U13 High Jump Bronze)
at the National Juvenile Indoor Championships in Athlone

An incredibly busy weekend of athletics action at the National Juvenile Indoors in Athlone saw 35 athletes from the club in action in individual events as well as 8 relay teams.

Pride of place went to our 3 medallists with Jerry Keary soaring to silver with a leap of 1.96m in the U18 Boys high jump, Chloe Casey smashing the National indoor record with a massive throw of 14.21m in the U16 Girls shot putt and Evan Hallinan leaping to bronze with a brilliant 1.45m in the U13 Boys high jump.

As well as obliterating the previous Championship Best of 13.60m, Chloe’s shot putt record also surpassed the qualification standard of 13.75m for the European Youth Olympics to be held in Hungary in July. This is a fantastic achievement for Chloe and she becomes the 2nd athlete from the club after international high jumper Cathriona Farrell to reach this level of performance at such a young age.

The club’s current international high jumper Jerry Keary was also in flying form with an imapressive 1.96m to claim the silver medal, only losing out on gold on countback having knocked 1 bar at 1.96m – unlucky for Jerry as one of his attempts at 1.99m was well over it but he clipped it with his heels.

And up and coming high jumper Evan Hallinan added the final medal for the club when winning bronze in the U13 Boys high jump with an impressive 1.45m despite injuring himself on his first attempt at his 1.35m opening height.

There were many more fine performances and close finishes throughout the 2 days none more so than the U15 girls in the final of their 4x200m relay where the team put in a terrific performance to take 4th place in a time of 1.50.89 losing out by the tiny margin of one-tenth of a second on the bronze with their team of Chloe Farragher, Aleisha Larkin, Ava Finn, Ornaith Coen and subs Aine and Aoife Kelly.

Ciana Reidy made her own bit of history becoming the first athlete from the club to contest a National Juvenile Pole Vault competition when competing in the U18 Girls event. With the disadvantage of having run a super leg of the U18 4x200m just moments before her first jump, Ciana put in a string of good jumps clearing 2.15m on her best jump to take 4th place overall.

Lorraine Delaney and Aoife Walsh tied on 1.50m to take joint 5th place in the U18 Girls high jump, both girls jumping very well. It was a height and position also claimed by Lukas Schukat in the U14 Boys high jump, putting together some very nice jumps to seal a new PB at 1.50m. Lorraine added a further 5th place finish in the U18 Girls long jump when leaping to a best of 4.76m. Laura Cunningham leaped the exact same distance in the U18 Girls long jump, placing 6th on countback of other jumps and coincidentally also tied on the same height of 1.50m as that jumped by Lorraine and Aoife in the U18 girls but having to settle for 7th place having knocked the 1.50 on her first attempt.

Ben Garrard took 6th place with a best of 5.39m in the U19 Boys long jump while Ellie Cronin went close to the medals with 6th place in the U15 Girls high jump with a clearance of 1.50m. Anna Molloy had a fine performance in the U14 Girls 1000m walk when racing to 6th place in a time of 6.21.06 while Jack Kinane took 7th place in the U14 Boys 1000m walk in a time of 7.15.48. The U14 Boys placed 6th in a time of 1.54.63 in the final of the U14 4x200m with Conor Hoade, Lukas Schukat, Rian Kearney, Liam Mulveen and sub Oisin Keane. Cian Lavan had a big leap of 1.40m to place 7th in the U13 Boys high jump, while Conor Gilligan and Adam Jordan tied on 1.15m when placing 7th in the U12 Boys high jump.

U18 Girls 4x200m Relay Team who placed 7th at the National Indoor Championships
Aoife Walsh, Ciana Reidy, Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney

The club had 5 relay teams which just missed out on making the top 6 qualifiers for the relay finals when placing 7th fastest overall. These included the U18 Girls who raced to a time of 1.51.89 in their 4x200m with Laura Cunningham, Lorraine Delaney, Ciana Reidy, Aoife Walshe and sub Shauna Tobin; the U15 Boys with a time of 1.48.11 in their 4x200m with Gavin Lee, Shaun Gilligan, Paschal Walsh, Robert Urquhart and subs Oisin Davis and Ludaigh Morgan; the U12 Girls in a time of 59.17 in their 4x100m with Aoibhe Donnellan, Niamh Duffy, Chloe Hallinan, Grace Keaveney and subs Isabella Fitzgerald and Sole Lopez and the U12 Boys with a time of 57.99 in their 4x100m with Evan Moran, Eoin Spellman, Eddie Silke, Conor Gilligan and subs Jamie Collins and Darragh Kearney. There was plenty of drama int he U15 boys race where Shaun Gilligan was taken out of it by another team with an accidental trip on the back straight and the team having to run a second time later with 1 other team in order to attempt qualification.

U15 Boys 4x200m Relay Team who placed 7th at the National Indoor Championships

The U13 Boys wrapped up the relay action with an 8th place in their 4x100m and a time of 57.63 with Cian Lavan, Evan Hallinan, Odhran Gilligan, Ryan McDonnell and sub Luke Flynn. Conor Hoade completed the large number of athletes making the top 8 in their events with a double 8th place finish in the U14 high jump (1.40) and long jump (4.69).

There were some fine performances also in the heats of the 60m and 1500m races with several athletes just missing out on qualification for the sprint finals including U15 sprinters Chloe Farragher (8.40), Aleisha Larkin (8.50), Shaun Gilligan (8.29), Paschal Walsh (8.31) and U12 sprinters Evan Moran (8.80) and Darragh Kearney (8.99) and 1500m runners Ben Ryan (4.33.82) and Ciara Sheppard (5.43.31).

There were many more good performances at this highest standard of juvenile athletics in the country including Garvin Surlis 10th in U16 long jump, Ludaigh Morgan 11th in U15 long jump, Rian Kearney 11th in U14 long jump, Shauna Tobin 12th in U18 long jump, Leanagh Gilligan 12th in U16 long jump, Jade Moorhead 12th in U13 high jump, Rosemary Maduka 13th in U13 shot putt, the U14 Girls relay team 13th in their 4x200m (Molly Sullivan, Rebeckah Flynn, Jade Moorhead, Fauve Aylmer and sub Saoirse Pierce; Calvin Ryan 14th in U13 shot putt; Chloe Hallian and Saoirse Pierce 15th in the U12 and U14 high jump; Chloe Farragher 15th in the U15 long jump; Isabella Fitzgerald 18th in the U12 long jump.

U14 Girls 4x200m Relay Team who placed 13th at the National Indoor Championships

U12 Boys 4x200m Relay Team who placed 7th at the National Indoor Championships