A team of 11 children from the Deniliquin area flew the local Riverina Schools Sport Association flag at the recent NSW PSSA athletics championships in Sydney.
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Edward River teacher and Athletics Australia accredited coach Sarah Young says it was a mighty effort by all the youngsters.
“Some of these kids have been training since March which is just fantastic,” Sarah says.
“They have all shown great commitment and I think most of them would have come away with a PB, especially in the track events,” she says.
Sarah adds the experience alone of competing at the state event is huge for country kids.
“There are as many as 30 of ours participating and to complete the event can take up to a couple of hours. Many of our kids have never even competed on a synthetic surface, while for some of the city kids, Homebush is where they train,” Sarah explains.
For Deniliquin North public school student Charlotte Gatacre, the experience was amazing.
And she was pretty happy with her efforts, running the 800m in 2min 45 (just five seconds off making it to the Nationals) and the 1500m in 5min.42.
“It was great fun, but the sprint finish was pretty hard,” Charlotte says.
She has been training once a week in preparation for the sports day, after she competed at state level for the cross country back in July.
“I like athletics, but mainly running, because I can do it with my friends and it is a good way to stay fit and healthy,” she said.
Sarah says unlike their city cousins, who are often solely focused on a particular sport, such as athletics, country kids usually participate in many different types of sports.
She says in the city, they might have better access to facilities and coaches but we certainly did a great job and we even had a couple of the kids finishing within the top 10 with Emma Wettenhall and Isabella Goodear finishing 8th and 9th respectively.”
Emma jumped 1.40m, which was a 5cm personal best from her high point the Riverina Carnival.
Isabella threw 8.03m which was 1m further than she threw at the Riverina Carnival.
Sarah says it was very rewarding to be able to coach the students, and she “was very proud” of the effort they all put in.
Participants were:
Deniliquin North PS
Charlotte Gatacre - Junior girls 800m and 1500m; James Gatacre - Senior Boys 1500m; Emma Wettenhall - Senior Girls High Jump (8th place); Amelia Smith - 11 Years Girl Shot Put; Lotus Gallpen-Brown - Junior Girls Long.
Edward PS
Isabella Goodear - Junior Girls Shot Put (9th place); Carae Barnett - 11 Years Girls High Jump.
Mathoura PS
Katelyn Eddy-11 Years 800m and 1500m; Sophie Eddy-Junior Girls 100m, 800m and 1500m.
Mayrung PS
Oliver Dell wo-Junior Boys Discus.
Deniliquin South PS
Viviene Thomson- 11Years Girls 800m.
Sarah gave the following summary of some of the athletes in her squad:
Oliver Dellwo (Mayrung) competed confidently and was thrilled with his personal best performance. He threw 27.72m which was 8m further than he threw at the Riverina Carnival.
Charlotte Gatacre (North) and Sophie Eddy (Mathoura) competed together in the junior girls 800m and 1500m. Both girls ran very competitive races achieving 4 PB’s between them. Charlotte’s 9 sec improvement in the 800m was exceptionally impressive.
James Gatacre (North) - 1500m, Viviene Thomson (South) - 800m, Katelyn Eddy (Mathoura) - 1500m, Lotus Gallpen-Brown (North) - Long Jump, Carae Barnett (Edward) - High Jump and Amelia Smith (North) - Shot Put.
The students all gave 100 per cent in their events and enjoyed the experience of competing at a state championship.
All events had approximately 30 athletes competing and this year Deniliquin and District have had 24 students represent Riverina in a variety of sports.
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