On Saturday a squad of seventy of Irelands promising young athletes travelled to Carmarthen, Wales to compete in the annual Schools International Track and Field. Despite rain throughout the day the squad there were some fantastic performances and the Irish Schools’ squad and team management were effusive in their praise for their hosts from Welsh Schools. The event took place at the home of Carmarthen Harriers, with this being the first time Wales hosted the SIAB International since 2019 when it took place in Swansea. The Irish team was led by captains Dearbhla Allen (St. Mary College Dundalk) and Liam Morris (Colaiste Chillian).
Sprints
With rain and very competitive fields the Irish sprinters faced a stiff challenge. Four just finished out of the medals in fourth place but all gave a fighting performance in the day.
100m
4th Angela Cielecka 12.17
7th Chidinma 12.66
4th Russell Veinkune 11.15
5th Dubem Amah 11.20
200m
5th Tiffany Nwaedozie 25.62
7th Kate Maher 25.82
4th Joshua Awujoola 22.24
5th Dubem Amah 22.51
300m and 400m
5th Brianna Dwyer Carty 40.66
6th Sophie Mulcahy 40.85
4th Kacper Zmyslong 50.20
6th John Delaney 50.67
4 by 100m Relay
3rd Ireland (Angela Cielecka, Chidinma Adikaibe, Tiffany Nwaedozie, Kate Maher) 47.43
3rd Ireland (Matias Quaglia, Russell Veikune, Joshua Awujoola, Dubem Amah) 42.50
4 by 300m Relay and 4 by 400m Relay
4th Ireland (Cassie Obyrne, Brianna Dwyer Carty, Sophie Mulcahy, Freya Bateman) 2:41.76
3rd Ireland (Ruairi Parks, Kacper Zmyslony, Jack Keating, John Delaney) 3:23.20
Middle Distance
Faye Mannion and Freya Bateman raced with guile on Saturday avoiding the the fast early pace and moving up to medal positions as the second lap of their 800m unfolded. With silver and bronze Ireland really benefited points wise from the girls performance.
800m
2nd Faye Mannion 2:10.41
3rd Freya Bateman 2:10.48
6th Michael Moore 1:55.99
7th Daniel Downey 1:57.64
1500m
4th Eimear Cooney 4:30.23
7th Leia Ryan 4:37.76
5th Liam Morris 4:00.78
7th Odhran McBrearty 4:08.42
3000m
5th Ava Diver 10:18.32
6th Emily Morris 10:22.37
4th Harry McKenzie 8:43.68
6th Leo Murray 8:52.62
Hurdles
Desmond O’Neill raced to a fine win in the 400m hurdles. Much to the delight of Irish supporters the race was fought out between the Irish duo in action with Jack Keating not far behind in second.
Sprint Hurdles
5th Abigail Farrell 11.77m
7th Lucy Hounkponou 11.91m
4th Desmond O’Neill 13.61m
5th Cameron McCracken 13.63m
300m and 400m Hurdles
2nd Lauren Kilduff 43.36m
5th Eilis McHugh 44.47m
1st Desmond O’Neill 54.25m
2nd Jack Keating 54.92m
Steeplechase
2nd Sophie Maher 5:00.15
4th Dearbhla Allen 5:06.68
Jumps
Oscar Naughton at both the 3.93m and 4.03m heights saved the best for last as he cleared the heights on his last vault. Finn Williams-Stein from England had no fouls up the final height so must have been shocked by the tenacity of the Yong Presentation Brothers Cork athlete.
Long Jump
4th Tiffany Nwaedozie 5.48m
5th Katie McMonagle 5.42m
5th Ben Moran 6.30m
8th Daniel Sangodele 5.49m
Triple Jump
3rd Patience Chinda 11.83m
5th Riona Luse 10.89m
5th Max Clover 12.94m
6th Daniel Sangodele 12.87
High Jump
6th Lauryn Healy 1.57m
8th Abigail Farrell 1.52m
2nd Caleb McFadden 1.94m
5th Tomas Fijalkowski 1.79m
Pole Vault
3rd Kara Morrissey 3.43m
4th Meabh Corkery 3.13m
1st Oscar Naughton 4.03m
8th Jamie Hyland N/A
Throws
Across the throwing events Ireland picked up five medals with Bobbie Gleeson in the hammer and Thomas Hanlon in the Shot Putt both having creditable 2nd place finishes. Gleeson had led for the first three rounds of the hammer and while Joshua Reibitt from England took the lead, the Irish athlete maintained his composure and threw his longest distance in the fifth round. Hanlon too showed great consistency being over 17m on five of his six throws having fouled his fourth throw.
Hammer
7th Emily Stapleton 39.40m
8th Lee Bolger 37.32m
2nd Bobbie Gleeson 55.41m
4th Ethan Thompson 45.72m
Javelin
6th Emma Edmundson 34.68m
7th Carys Carlisle 31.15m
3rd Austin Adair 54.86m
6th Donata Jermakovas 41.61m
Discus
3rd Rebecca Walsh 35.21m
6th Marie Shanahan 32.56m
5th Tom McHugh 41.86m
6th Daragh Corcoran 40.20m
Shot Put
4th Meabh O’Connell 12.24m
7th Niamh Madden 11.70m
2nd Thomas Hanlon 18.37m
3rd Kieran Keane 16.00m
Walks
With Ireland dominating both the girls and boys walks there was a valuable points total amassed early in the day for the Irish squad. Robin Óg Murphy looked comfortable from the start and as the race went on she forged ahead without effecting her technique. John Glennon too looked composed from the starting gun and should be delighted with his international gold medal.
1st Robin Óg Murphy 14:51.85
2nd Aoife Martin 15:53.21
1st John Glennon 13:52.98
2nd Evan Walshe 14:14.72
Sophie Maher and Des O’Neill selected as Irish athletes of the meet with their respective performances.
A special thank you to all the Team Managers for their superb work over the weekend.
Link to results https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2024/GBR/siab/event/
