2024 WORLD UNIVERSITY CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Congratulations to Athletics Essendon’s & reigning Australian U23 Champion, Bianca Puglisi, (Victoria University), proudly coached by Frances Lipscombe, on her 21st place finish in a field of 31 (best placed Aussie) in the women’s 10km event in Muscat, Oman. Bianca finished in a time of 36:26 & the conditions were hot & dry, with 7 laps starting in the stadium at the Military Technical College, before heading out onto a winding gravel course with a water obstacle, hay bales & logs to negotiate! Bianca is ecstatic with her result & so are we – massive congratulations Bianca!!
MAURIE PLANT MEET, LAKESIDE, 15/2/24
Aside from this being one of the most exciting meets on the Summer Track & Field calendar, we actually had a handful of our AE athletes competing on this illustrious world stage! Stunning results from the following athletes:
Women’s 800 – currently holding our Senior Athlete of the Year title, & for very good reason, Linden Hall came 4th in this record-breaking race for a Season’s Best of 2:02.30, where we saw the U20 sensation of Claudia Hollingsworth break the World U20 Record.
Men’s Long Jump – Chris Mitrevski took the big W with a Season’s Best of 7.96m (+2.1) against some very big Aussie & International names so well done to him!
Men’s Triple Jump – Liam Glew (Alwyn Jones) jumped a massive PB of 15.43m (+1.8) to secure 6th.
4 x 400 Mixed Relays – Mikeala Selaidinakos (Steve Gaffney) ran a speedy last leg – 57.07 – to secure a 3rd place for her team who finished on a time of 3:22.24 & Sophia Gregorevic (Steve Gaffney) raced in the only U20 team (56.79) to finish in a time of 3:27.60 & a very credible 4th.
Congratulations to all of you & thanks to all the Essendon members & their friends & families for turning out to cheer & support them.
AVSL ROUND 12
Last round of AVSL for season 23/24 & we had a number of ‘big players’ competing at LAV T&F Regional Carnivals & representing Australia overseas at the Simplot Games, Salt Lake City, USA. We finished 8th on the Premier Division ladder with a total of 27,045 points but will finish 3rd overall after the 12 rounds of AVSL which is not too shabby!
Congratulations on the following notable results –
500+ individual event points –
- Kevin Healy M20, Hammer, 62.64m, 550* a new PB & an AE Record for U20 & Open
- Jonty Neethling M16, 3000m, 8:47.51, 535*PB & another NQ
- Sophia Gregorevic, F20, 400m, 54.30, 528. *PB
- Macca Leith, M18, Discus, 45.66m, 521
- Mel Foster, F45, LJ, 5.26m, 501
1000+ overall total points –
- Kristian Lakusa M50, 1254
- Macca Leith M18, 1218
AE also finished with a massive 20 Age Group Winners – head over to Results Hub for the details on these great finishes to the season. Well done to Sarah Fitzpatrick (Mark Carey) who ran a 4-second PB, for a sub 5 1500m, finishing in 4:59.5, despite timing issues at the Doncaster venue.
SIMPLOT Games, Idaho State University, USA, Feb 17-19, 2024
We mentioned the AE athletes heading over to America in the last newsletter & would like to give them all a huge pat on the back for some excellent results! Every one of them made finals which is an achievement in itself considering the 14-16 year olds were up against American athletes up to 18 years of age & this is acknowledged with special medallions with the top 6 awarded medals on the podium. Podium finishers were Lara Sacaner – 4th (out of 163 athletes) in the mile. Sebastian Weickhardt – 6th in TJ, 8th in LJ. Raveen Alwus – Silver in LJ. Ella Leith – 6th in HJ.
Girls relay consisting of Sasha Jurson, Armani Mauriohooho & Ella Leith came 7th out of 47 teams. Josh Djatschenko – 15th out of 118 in the 60m & 19th out of 128 in the 200m. Armani made the HJ final & Sasha also finished 12th out of 77 in the 60m hurdles & 12th in HJ.
What an incredible experience & great set up for States coming up over the next two weekends. Congratulations & good luck!
AV STATES NEXT TWO WEEKENDS!! Good luck to all those athletes competing & please, if you would like your result/s celebrated or you have a photo you would like to share, please email secretary@athleticsessendon.org.au & we will include it in the next weekly newsletter.
HELPERS required for both weekends of competition as per AV REQUIREMENT – please login to your Helper App on the Athletics Essendon website & fill those spots so we are not calling people at the last minute to fill vacancies!! Remember, many hands make light work.
REMINDERS
SAVE THE DATE – Presentation Day
A REMINDER that our annual Presentation afternoon is on Sunday, 5 May at Buckley Park Bowls Club. Further details & tickets available soon.
MEMBER SURVEY – click here to complete our Club survey to assist in the development & betterment of our Club.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is anything we missed, by sending our secretary Rebecca an email at secretary@athleticsessendon.org.au.
