Some fantastic performances from six of our best athletes at the Sunshine Coast Regional Athletics Carnival gained them qualification into the State Athletics Championships coming up next term.
The most talented athletes from all over the coast gathered to compete against each other and gain selection to the State Championships. Natasha Hoeksema was overjoyed to finally qualify after having this as a goal for all her years at GCC. Natasha ran a great race and was delighted to record a personal best time in the 17 girls 400m where she placed third with a time of 63.09s.
Some awesome high jumping was seen by Ebony King, Amy Trevan, Lainey Grieve and Sophie Trevan who all qualified for the State Champs. Ebony King (13 years) and Amy Trevan (12 years) won their events which was a fantastic effort, jumping 1.47m and 1.48m respectively to become Sunshine Coast Champions. Sophie jumped 1.50m to place 2nd in the 14 girls and Lainey jumped 1.42m placing 3rd in 12 girls. Amy also gained third place in the 12 girls discus so will also compete in this event at the State Championships.
Cassidy Ferris, Jaiden Ward and Max Cashin all just missed out on qualifying for States in the 100m and/or 200m sprints finishing just outside the placings but Cassidy did qualify in the javelin.
Max Cashin also competed in the tetrathlon event which meant he competed in the 100m, 800m, shot and long jump. He finished in third place in this event which was a great effort as this is a difficult event in the very hot and windy conditions.
Jaiden Ward progressed to the finals in both his 100m and 200m events and then finished 6th and 5th respectively in the finals. This was a great achievement as the quality of athletes at this carnival is very high. He also jumped a personal best distance of 4.42m in the 11 year old boys long jump placing 5th.
Otto Coulstock ran a great 400m race to win the 18/19 year event and gain automatic qualification to the State event. Aiden McKellar also ran a great 400m race placing 3rd and recording a personal best but unfortunately did not get through to States. 16 year old Christian Jensen also shone in the 400m and 800m races running fast times but finished 7th and 5th respectively. Christian ran 55.48s in the 400m and 2.09m in the 800m but still, his times did not meet the qualifying standard! Competition is tough!
We are very proud of all the students who competed at the Regional Championships and would like to thank all the parents who supported the team over the two days of competition.
Wendy Stott
