Sligo AC News: Medal haul for club's athletes!

Sligo athletes made the trip to Galway to contest the Connaught Track & Field in Dangan. Within an hour of our arrival we had 2 gold and 3 silver medals with Stephen Reynolds throwing beyond 40m for the first time in the senior mens hammer to claim gold, Dylan Carty looked incredible, strolling to victory in the u-15 boys walk, Graham Kerr claimed the first of his 3 medals when claiming silver in the u-13 boys long jump, David Lynch claimed a silver in the u-15 boys hurdles and Ania Bernodz took her first of 4 medals when finishing second in the u-16 girls high jump. Up next were the sprints where Sligo claimed 3 titles. In the u-13 boys 80m Keelan Deering, Niall Gray and Lee Roper all ran fine races but it was their Sligo team mate Graham Kerr who stole the show streaking clear at the 40m and winning well to add his second medal of the day, next was his sister Stacey Kerr who, if keeps progressing the way she is, will be an unstoppable force in sprint races for many years to come. Stacey cruised through her heat in the girls u-14 80m but came up against All Ireland champion Laura Ann Costelloe, who boasts an unbeaten record in all Connaught competitions in her short career, with both girls neck and neck all the way Stacey dipped on the line to record an impressive victory in a hugely impressive time of 10.62 seconds. Sligo had yet another sprint title added to their tally with Ania blitzing the field in the u-16 girls 100m and adding another medal to her total. Keely Greene also ran a fine race in the u-13 girls 60m, just missing the final as did Orla Mulvihill (u-16 100m) & Thomas Delahunt in the boys u-15 100m. Dylan Carty got us off to a great start with a silver in the boys u-15, Aisham Patil ran a fine race in the u-16 boys 1,500m running 4.34 to finish 4th and Orla Mulvihill ran well in the u-16 girls equivilant. Next we moved onto the 200m events where after Staceys impressive display in the 80m went in a warm favourite. There were 2 heats with the fastest time from the heats to determine the winner, Stacey from lane 2 had the stagger made up withing 60m and demolished the field to win her heat in 26.7 in the following heat Costelloe of GCH had her own back by winning her heat in a slightly faster time, a mere .1 of a second. Nicola McGoldrick battled well in the girls u-16 200m to finish 4th in her final as did Thomas Delahunt in his 200m. Next up the middle distance where we got off to a sensational start with Caelinn McGonigle showing her true class by beating her All Ireland conquerer by 5 seconds, Caelinn recording a time of 1min 45seconds, solo and the gold medal. in the boys u-13 600m Lee Roper and Keelan Deering ran fine races and will gain a lot of experience from their days work. Onto the 800m, where Clare Conlon got us off to a flyer by finishing runner up to multiple National Champion Alanna Lally. Clare ran the perfect race, sitting in 4th place and kicking with 150m to go, this surprisingly was Clares first individual medal at a connaught event but no doubt she will claim many more over the years. Philip Hunter ran a great race in his u-14 800m, finishing not far outside his pb. Gavin Foye running in his first outdoor Championships ran a super race to finish 5th and running a superb new pb of 2.18 in the u-16 800m. His training partner Shane Kilcawley was next up in the u-17 800m. Shane sat in 4th spot, lurking and waiting to pounce throughout the race, with 200m to go he unleashed a deadly kick to claim 2nd place behind Westports All Ireland 800m Champion from last year Anthony Chambers. Shane not only claimed a silver medal but a huge pb of 2min 10 seconds. Tommy Casey won the u-19 boys 800m as he liked in a time of 1.58, which will set him up nicely for his up and coming races. Rianne McHugh ran two great races to win gold in the U19 400m and silver in 800m, moving up from her sprint events. Conal Boal also won the u-18 boys Javelin throwing 45m for the first time and other notable medallist was Colm Bourke in the u-17 boys triple and long jump. Sligo AC claimed many more medals in the relays at the end of the day. Well done to every athlete who took part in this excellent day for Sligo athletics. And good luck to all who qualified for the National Championships in July where we have a lot of serious medal contenders.