Leinster Juvenile Indoors 2018 – day 3 (11th March)
Colin McGee & Colin Smith battle it out in the 800m u/16
Awa Fane and Callum Costello excel on the final day of Leinster Indoors
The third and final day of the Leinster Juvenile Indoors took place in Athlone IT on Sunday 11th March where Mullingar had a very big squad of underage talent competing in 200m, 600m, 800m, 60m hurdles, long jump, high jump and shot putt over a very long day of competition.
The day stated with the 200m where Mullingar had three entered in the girls 200m u/18, which needed three heats to whittle the numbers down for the final. Whitney Imafidon gave a good account in her heat, as did Eve Wallace in hers, only missing a place in the final by just one hundredth of a second, but no problem for Awa Fane who won her heat comfortably in the fastest time of all the heats. Running from lane three in the final later in the day, Awa blasted from the blocks quickly making up the stagger on the girls outside her and entered the home straight in the lead, holding off a late challenge to win in 24.98 seconds, her first time under 25 seconds, a massive PB and a new Championship Best Performance by a distance. This was a brilliant result for Awa. Rachel Cornally ran her heart out in the girls 200m u/19 to place 4th in a very fast and competitive race and was very satisfied with her performance.
The number of entries in the 600m races was huge, needing a lot of heats and therefore qualification for the finals was extremely keen. There were five heats in the girls 600m u/12 where despite running well in their heats Orla Manning, Ellen Daly and Muireann Donohue didn’t qualify for the final to join Morgan Corcoran who placed second in her heat to qualify for the final. The final was a very swift race and though Morgan battled well finished out of the medal places but can take great satisfaction from qualifying for her first Leinster indoor final.
It took four heats of the boys 600m u/12 to reduce the numbers down for the final. Jamie Wallace, Conor Liston, Luke O’Leary, James Flynn and Criostoir Ormsby made it safely through their heats, but not so for Hugo Sleator, Alex Lynch or Darragh Weblin though they ran well in their heats, but such was the standard of competition. The final was run at a ferocious pace from the gun and running out victor was Conor Liston, with Jamie Wallace on his heels hurling himself at the line to take silver in a very close finish, followed in by Luke O’Leary, Criostoir Ormsby and James Flynn finishing very strongly. A measure of the class of the Mullingar boys is that they all ran quicker in the final, which is a sign of true Championship performers.
There were four heats too in the girls 600m u/13 where Síofra O’Halloran, Aimee Wallace, Leah Geoghegan and Adele Geoghegan advanced to the final but unfortunately were not joined by Caoimhe Kilmurray, Jessica Cunningham or Anna May Flannery. In the final, the four Mullingar girls competed strongly but only Aimee got in the medals, a bronze, but just missed silver by a mere two hundredths of a second, with Adele, Leah and Síofra finishing strong but out of the medal places.
There continued to be big numbers of heats, four in the boys 600m u/13 where Callum Costello, Philip McCartan and Daire McDonald laid down markers in their heats to qualify comfortably for the final, but unlucky for Darragh Smith and David Burke who didn’t advance from the competitive heats. The final quickly came down to a straight contest between Philip and Callum as they moved clear of the field and opened a sizeable gap on the rest going into the final lap. With 100m to go, Callum demonstrated why he won silver in the 60m some weeks before as he surged past Philip to lead around the final bend and into the home straight, but Philip wasn’t giving up without a fight and pushed Callum all the way to the finish, Callum winning in 1:39.11, a new Championship Best Performance, Philip in 2nd place only hundredths outside the old record, and Daire finishing much faster than in his heat but out of the medal places this time.
Eve Farrell was our sole representative in the girls 800m u/14 and was unlucky not to advance from her heat. The heats of the boys 800m u/14 were just as competitive where John Ryan, Matt O’Leary, Adam Brady and Eoin McGrath gave good accounts but didn’t advance to join Ross Killalea in the final, though Ross was unwell later and was unable to take part in the final.
Phoebe Bate and Amy Geoghegan safely negotiated the heats of the girls 800m u/15 but Aoife McGouran must still have been feeling the effects of a nasty fall and cuts in the Schools cross country the day before and didn’t qualify from her heat. One who should have made the final was Meghan Bates. Meghan took the lead and looked full of running going into the third lap of her heat, looking certain to qualify for the final but was bumped from behind on the bend and she fell, knocking her head and receiving nasty track burns but she got back on her feet and rejoined the race but despite a great effort finished 5th and outside the qualifying places, which is a terrible shame as she has been running so well and deserved a place in the final. Amy and Phoebe battled well in the final but like Aoife, the legs were heavy from their great efforts in the Schools cross country and they finished out of the medal places.
It took a determined performance by Colin McGee, running very close to his personal best, to qualify from his heat of the boys 800m u/16 and join Colin Smith who had qualified from his heat. Running quicker in the final, both Mullingar boys competed strongly but had to settle for places out of the medals. Aoife Darby was unwell and carried the effects of a stomach bug into the final of the girls 800m u/18, which robbed her of her customary kick and though she raced bravely finished out of the medal places.
Darragh Weblin returned to the track for the boys 60m hurdles u/12, safely making it through his heat and though he ran quicker in the final had to settle for a place out of the medals, but has to be happy to have made the final in his first time of asking. No stranger to finals, Shane Ormsby also qualified from his heat of the boys 60m hurdles u/14 and in the final ran very well to finish just out of the medal places in 6th in a very fast and competitive race.
It wasn’t all track of course and Mullingar athletes were very busy competing in the various field events too, including Morgan Corcoran (u/12 long jump), Aoife McGouran (u/15 high jump), Alicia Ripley (u/13 high jump), Shannon Liston and Alanna Costello (u/15 shot), Luke O’Leary and Darragh Weblin (u/12 long jump), Callum Costello, Shane Ormsby and Matt O’Leary (u/14 long jump), all competing well and enjoying their competitions but the best performances came from Criostoir Ormsby who finished 3rd in the u/12 long jump, with James Flynn not far off the medals in 5th place behind him.
Well done to all our underage athletes who competed with great determination and spirit and Mullingar will be very well represented in the upcoming All-Ireland finals.
