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My body clock says that it’s Friday and therefore a State League report must be due. Whilst I know that State League was three days ago, I feel it’s important not to mess with traditions. Remember the uproar when Scott Baio got a new family on Charles in Charge for Series Three, leaving Lila, Douglas and Jason Pembroke in the dark??
Twas a light and balmy night, which can only mean one thing drinks at the Corner Hotel beforehand. Alas, my drinking buddies have decided to avail themselves of other options, leaving much time to ponder all things State League. The net results were pretty good overall. The women won their match for the second week in a row, whilst the men finished a good second behind a very strong APS team. Both teams are now slowly moving their way up through the ranks as we get to finals time.
HOUSEKEEPING TIME: To be eligible for finals, an athlete must have completed in an individual event in at least four different programs at either interclub or state league. Now is a good time to work out just where you stand, keeping in mind (for all you individually minded athletes) that State League finals generally work well as a perfect lead ins to Nationals. Or if you’re team spirited qualification helps us win yay!! In other administerial news, it seems that the vast majority of our Bayside Men’s singlets have been snaffled from the duffle bags by a number of souls who promise to return them after their event on pain of death. Alas, as the night wears on, it seems the process of undoing pins becomes all too arduous and we are left high and dry. The singlets cost $25 and all those who haven’t paid for them by next week will find themselves named in a Derryn Hinch style mucklist, as the new style tops are pretty easy to spot. Don’t let it be you. Monies payable to either Matt or Tim.
And so the fast people ran fast and the jumpin’ people jumped high on a night where the soon to be defunct Nylex clock read 35 degrees.
Don’t really want to list everyone by name, so I’ll stick with the highlights from both teams.
Probably been a while since we had two guys under 11 seconds legally, but congrats to Justin and Carl who did a bumper job. Points also for Toby in the 100, as he strives for finals eligibility, and uses such instances as warm ups for 51 second Grand Prix races. In the girls, Katrina broke 12 seconds with a slight tail, whilst Emma Cochrane ran a legal low 12 second 100. Izelle Lambruschagne from Glenhuntly had the first of three runs for the night and for Bayside in what we hope will be regular appearances.
Tom Farr came back into good form with 57 metres in the Jav, whilst Natahsa De Neise again pushed 40 metres. A big thanks to Karen Lyne who came in to jump Triple Jump with last minute notice, managing 11.50metres. For the mens, Mr Groves was looking to make the most of the conditions and get a Nationals qualifier. He won the event, but was still a little shy of the desired result.
6 (count them) 1500 metres runners in the girls team. This is a far cry from the days only a couple of years ago when we couldn’t find a runner. What was even more impressive was the depth of talent we had out there. Anna Thompson, who is now into serious training for the World Cross Country in Switzerland, ran a strong race Heat 1, always ensuring that she was in a position to win the race. A last minute surge to the line saw her pipped by Haley Mcgregor on the line in a time of 4:26.7. Heat Two saw 800 metre specialist step up to a curved line to run her first 1500 for many years. She drew a good heat with Karen Thorp setting a steady rhythm for the first 3 and half laps. Tamsyn showed her strength in the final straight, crossing over in a tick over 4:30, with Karen a couple of paces behind. Kate Seibold, Helena and Delwyn all ran in the invitation event, with Kate running an excellent solo race to finish in 4:35.6.
Tessa Densley did the team proud by fronting up and scoring points in both the High Jump and the 100 metre hurdles. More importantly, she found a way to improve her Shot Put pb by 70 centimetres, although she still needs to find a couple of metres to rest the position from Bec Neilson, who is finding consistency at the right time of the year with throws over 13 metres.
A pair of victories for the men in the high hurdles gave us valuable points. Tim Ewen is looking to make the next step at the minute, as he again ran a very low 14 second race. In heat two, Carl Moorhouse managed to hit a few hurdles but still managed to power home to a victory in 15.5seconds.
Finally a special mention to Disco Stu, who appears to be improving with each race as the season progresses, running 49.6 behind a fit looking Michael Hazel in Heat 1. Sean Sacher in Heat Two, finished with a 51.2. And also to Zac Ashkanasy who in his second race back for the season, managed to lop another few seconds off his run from a couple of weeks ago. Zac finished hot on the heels of Clinton Mackievicius, who will no doubt be one of the countries’ top 1500 athletes for the year. It looks like Zac will be able to repeat his form of a couple of years ago as we push to the finals.
So, we’ll keep things simple for this week. Back to Thursday nights again at OP this week for Program 2. It would be most helpful to team management if you could drop us a quick e-mail letting Tim and myself know of your availability for this round. Remember, finals are looming, so get yourself qualified.
The ladders....
Women's
1. MUAC 35.5pts
2. Bayside 32pts
3. Ringwood United 32pts
4. Box Hill 31.5pts
5. Ath. Essendon 24pts
6. Western Suburbs 23pts
7. Ath. Eastside 22pts
8. Doncaster 16pts
9. Geelong 15pts
10.Yarra 6pts
Men's
1. APS United 41pts
2. Box Hill 41pts
3. Ringwood United 37pts
4. Ivanhoe/Yarra 34pts
5. Bayside 32pts
6. Ath. Essendon 32pts
7. Geelong 27pts
8. Ath. Eastside 24pts
9. Doncaster 21pts
10.Western Suburbs 16pts
11.Glenhuntly 15pts
12.MUAC 13pts
Results are here.
The last Report was Round 7.