Atrocious conditions greeted competitors for the first day of the AV All Schools on Saturday. This year due to the redevelopment of Lakeside it was held at Doncaster. The triple jumpers coached by Alwyn Jones didn’t disappoint. A massive PB jump from Angus Wood of 14.56m to win gold in the U20 men’s. An amazing effort considering he is in his final month of school and is still competing. Emily Portaro (11.53m) won gold in the U17W triple while Ruby Pizzo (11.55m) was 2^nd in U18W in a very tight tussle. Zoe Edwards grabbed bronze in the U16W triple with11.03m. Cooper Cavallo was impressive with 12.56 in U16M missing bronze by 8cm and was impressive with 12.19s in the 100m. James Le rounded out a great weekend for the Jone’s squad, with 3^rd place in the U17M triple.

Great results from High Jump master coach Martin Sheppard’s squad. Harry Orr won with 1.74m and Thomas Sims 2^nd with 1.71 in U14M. We are lucky to have the number 1 and 2 ranked under 14 male high jumpers in the country. Maeve Bousie won the U18W high jump with 1.63m and current U16M national champion Jack Walsh won with 1.86m. McKenzie Wood just missed a podium with a jump of 1.50m in the U16W comp.

Kevin Healy was pushed to throw a PB of 53.70m to win the U15M discus. Essendon throws coach Graham Hicks’ squad also had an excellent meet. Hannah Brodie threw 36.19m to win the U16W while Orla McCarthy U15W threw a massive 39.19m to win by about 5 meters. Aagaash Murugathas came 2^nd in U20m with 31.73m while his sister Amisha came 3^rd with 29.14m in U18W.

Jade Guglielmino finished 3^rd in his pole vault with 3.60m.

Archie Noakes (coached by Charlotte Wilson) was exceptional in the U16m steeplechase claiming silver in the time of 6:20.35. Another PB from Ty Davis in the U15M with a time of 7:24.1 down from 7:59.6 in March. Eliza Connors came 3^rd in the U18W 400M with 64.03s. U15W sprint stars Katie Baynes (13.56) and Amanda Wrout (13.12) narrowly missed out on making the 100m final.

Thanks to Sam Healy, Alwyn Jones and other parents for this report.