by Chris Wainwright

The Australian All-Schools Championships is always an exciting part of the Australian track and field calendar, with the future stars of Australian athletics on show.

This year we headed down to Hobart for the 24^th edition of the Championships, and with so many talented athletes competing it was always going to be another memorable meeting. Over the five days of competition it is always difficult to single out any one athlete or any one performance, so instead I have chosen my top-5 athletes from the meeting.

1.       Chloe Jamieson – simply put Jamieson was the star athlete of the meeting. At only 15 years of age Jamieson destroyed her opposition and even stunned her coach, Matt Beckenham, with her amazing performances. Firstly she moved into the top-50 on the Australian all-time ranking lists for the 400m hurdles, with a sizzling 59.66sec victory in the U/17 final. The result smashed her training partners’ championship record of 60.85sec, set by Lauren Boden in 2004, and was only a matter of 0.16sec away from being a qualifying time for next year’s World Junior Championships.

Although any athlete would be content with such a performance, Jamieson had earlier set the track on fire with an Australian record in the 200m hurdles. Having already broken the record at the NSW All-Schools Championships, Jamieson was always confident of lowering it even further and she didn’t disappoint. She ran 27.50sec (+0.0) in her heat and then 27.27sec (-2.5) in the final to again dominate her rivals (and again smash the previous meeting record of 27.73sec – held by Brooke Stratton in 2008). To round off the meeting, Jamieson took out the girls 90m hurdles in 12.74 (+1.3). What can you say – an outstanding meeting from an athlete to keep a close eye on over the coming years.

2.       Christie Pearson – some people could be surprised with Pearson being in my top-5, although when you look at her results closely you will certainly see that she had an outstanding championships. The 15 year-old not only smashed her personal bests in both the 400m and 800m, her time of 2.07.52 now has her ranked 45^th on the Australian All-Time Junior ranking list. Not bad considering that she will be a junior for another three years!
Her win in the U/16 400m final was just as impressive, with her time of 55.62sec being the second fastest 400m run over all age groups (only bettered by Caitlin Sargent in the U18 event – 55.40sec). With such quality performances from Pearson the question now has to be asked – will the World Junior Championships in 2010 become a real opportunity considering that she was 0.02sec outside the qualifying mark for the 800m? Even the 400m qualifying time for the World Juniors of 54.80sec is not completely out of the question, although if Pearson was to qualify in both events she would have to choose between the two as a youth athlete (athlete born in 1993 or 1994) can only compete in one event longer than 200m. Either way if Jenny Blundell (2^nd in the U16 final in 2.07.63) can continuously push Pearson over the next six months in the 800m (and vice versa), we could have a very interesting Australian Championships on our hands next year.
After injury concerns earlier this year (due to growth spurts), Pearson is just getting better and better and will push the more experienced junior 800m athletes in Australia over the coming six months.

3.       Jordan Williamsz – it was always going to be the U18 1500m final that would decide whether or not Williamsz had a successful championships, and in the end he was able to get the upper hand of his Victorian counterpart Kane Grimster in one of the best races on the track over the five days of competition. After easily taking out the 800m final in 1.51.85, the 1500m title was never going to be as easy an assignment. In the end it took a championship record of 3.50.16 (bettering the legendary Mike Hillardt’s record of 3.50.7h set way back in 1977) to take the title away from the just as determined Grimster.
It will now be interesting to see whether Williamsz can close in on the World Junior qualifying mark of 3.47.50 in the upcoming Zatopek Classic. For Grimster the silver medal in the 1500m was turned into gold in the 3000m final, with victory in 8.43.03. He will also move onto Melbourne for the U20 3000m at the Zatopek Classic.

4.       Kaitlin Morgan and Paris McCathrion – this is where I cheat a little, with two 14 year-old athletes holding down 4^th spot on my list. Morgan has to be in the list, with one of the biggest upsets in recent history taking place in the girls U17 high jump final. With the home crowd supporting her all the way, Morgan defeated World Youth medalist Amy Pejkovic when she cleared 1.80m. With Pejkovic “only” clearing 1.78m (compared to her recent best of 1.86m), the victory was Morgan’s. In defense of Pejkovic she had competed in both the long jump (3^rd – 5.61m) and triple jump (4^th in 12.12m) and also carried an injury into the final (a spike injury, which occurred in the long jump two days earlier), but you can’t take anything away from an excellent performance from Morgan.
Another junior star of the field is Victorian pole vaulter, Paris McCathrion. After easily taking out the U15 pole vault (3.60m), the pressure was on for her to replicate the gold medal performance in the U17 event. Again she didn’t disappoint, with a new personal best of 3.80m and a second gold medal (albeit a shared gold medal with Rebecca Marchant, with both athletes clearing the same height). Although both athletes will be ineligible for next year’s World Junior Championships (due to their age), watch out for both athletes wearing the green and gold at the 2011 World Youth Championships.

5.       Dane Bird-Smith – to be honest the walk events at any championships aren’t regarded as highly as the many of the other track or field events, although when you see an athlete such as Bird-Smith competing you sit up and take notice. Competing in the U18 5000m walk, Bird-Smith obliterated the old meeting record (22.07.83) with an excellent performance of 21.08.70. The World Youth representative then proceeded to do what most walkers would never dream of doing - compete in both the 200m and 400m. A walker on the running track is always an interesting sight, but for Bird-Smith he looked right at home. An excellent 4^th placing in the 400m final (49.01sec) followed a slightly disappointing 24.51sec run in the heats of the 200m.
Overall it was another example of how talented this Queenslander junior is, in both the walks and sprints. A name to watch next year in Canada at the World Junior Championships (although it will be in the 10000m walk and not the 200m or 400m!)

Well that’s my top-5 performers from the Australian All-Schools Championships. In saying this however there were certainly more than the above athletes who had success in Hobart. Other athletes to shine included:

·         Caitlin Sargent – 200m – 24.35sec /400m – 55.40sec double in the girls U18 age group;

·         Lara Nielsen – a win in the U18 girls hammer throw (54.62m record);

·         Brooke Stratton – triple gold medal haul (100m hurdles – 13.77sec, long jump – 6.02m and triple jump – 12.40m);

·         Danielle McConnell – hammer throw record (52.92m) in the girls U16 event;

·         Wasie Toolis – a record throw of 47.41m in the girls U16 javelin throw;

·         Amy Burren – a new record in the U16 girls 3000m walk (14.18.07);

·         Samantha Prime – 1500m (4.34.86) and 3000m (9.50.37) distance double;

·         Matthew Turk – gold medal in the boys U18 100m (10.69sec – PB);

·         Joel Bee – U18 boys 400m victory (48.14sec);

·         Victoria ‘A’ – recorded an impressive time of 41.12sec in the U18 boys 4x100m final, just outside the Victorian U20 & U19 state records;

·         Liam Speers – shot put (18.75m) and discus throw (57.59m) U18 boys victories;

·         Nicholas Hough – victory in the U17 boys 110m hurdles final (13.72sec);

·         Damien Birkenhead – wins in the U17 boys hammer throw (63.80m) and shot put (19.89m - record) finals and 2^nd in the discus final (49.93m);

With so many impressive performances from our junior athletes in Hobart it is impossible not to get excited over the coming years, especially London 2012 and beyond. It will now be interesting to see just how such athletes as Kane Grimster and Jordan Williamsz perform at the upcoming Zatopek Classic.