Deniliquin Little Athletic Club was excited to have nine athletes and their families travel to Wollongong to compete in Regional Championships.
Little Athletics president Leanne Mulham said each athlete qualified for the event by finishing in the top three at the Zone carnival in Finley during January.
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‘‘In Wollongong our athletes got to run on a bright blue synthetic track and at times the weather was perfect, and then it would be pouring rain,’’ she said.
‘‘This two day event is a qualifying event for the NSW Little Athletics State Championships which will be held in Homebush Sydney on March 19 and 20.
‘‘The first two place getters automatically qualify, while third results will have to wait until all eight regional carnivals have concluded to work out who has the best results to progress.
‘‘We are proud to say a number of our athletes will be going to state.’’
Isabelle Barnett, who was competing in under 10 girls multi class, took home gold in the 100m, shot put, long jump and discus to qualify for state.
Bede Orr was first in the under 17 boys javelin event with an impressive throw of 40.47m.
He also came third in shot put and discus. He was only marginally behind the other athletes, but will have to wait to see if he gets to compete in all three events at state.
Under 13 boys competitor Connor Wilson was keen to qualify again going to state last year.
He was commended for overcoming a disappointing result in his first event — where the discus just would not stay in the sector — by placing first in the javelin with an impressive throw of 31.11m and easily beating his previous personal best.
Then in pouring rain on day two he putted the shot 10.81m to finish second place with another new PB.
Jessica Dover had a busy schedule in the under 15s and made it through to state with a first in high jump (1.45m) and second in discus (23.35m).
Jess will have to wait to see if her third results in javelin and shot put will be good enough to have another go at the state event.
Under 17s competitor Georgia Barnett was not going to let her sister Isabelle have all the medals, and achieved second position in shot put with a throw of 9.44m.
Their brother James, in the under 14s, tried his best but the competition on the day was just too strong.
James did achieve impressive new personal bests in both javelin and shot put.
Things did not quite work out for Remi Baulch, another athlete who went to state last year, in the under 14s.
Remi made the final of the 200m and threw the javelin 22.10m.
Remi did mention the highlight was catching up with all the people she met in previous years.
First timers Jedidiah Miller (under 8 boys) and Leah Ellis (under 10 girls) also competed in Wollongong.
‘‘For both athletes this was their first time competing on a synthetic running track, and having a full field of athletes to compete against,’’ Mulham said.
‘‘Jed has now got a taste for what is possible.
‘‘He achieved a number of new PBs and we hope to see him back practicing ready for next season.
‘‘Leah’s discus throw of 16.53m gave her second place and the opportunity to attend state championship.
‘‘Our fingers are crossed her third result in scissor kick high jump of 1.07m might be high enough to qualify.’’
Mulham said while the club is extremely proud to have its athletes to compete at such events, she said the club also acknowledges their parents for travelling to Wollongong and then spending a few hours volunteering to run events before heading home again.
Deniliquin Little athletics is back in full swing this Friday night from 5pm.
Bring a drink bottle and hat.
Helpers, as always, are needed to run the night events.
