Lynch stars for Shercock at Athlone
MEDALS Young Shercock relay team claim bronze
Athletes from all over the country descended on Athlone over the last two weekends for the All Ireland Juvenile Indoor Track and Field Championships, where the standard of competition was superb.
Shercock AC’s top performance came from Gearóid Lynch in the Boys U15 800m. Having qualified from the heats, Gearóid took the field in the final and in a tight finish against his old rival Finn O’Neill, City of Derry Spartans, he won the silver medal in a new Personal Best (PB) of 2.09.71secs.
Jamie Shanley ran superbly in his U16 1500m but, despite a sprint to the line, was unlucky to finish just outside the medals in 4th place. However, Jamie came away with a hugely improved PB, slicing eight seconds of his previous PB to finish in 4.24.39 secs. Jamie took to the track again the following day in the U16 800m and despite his best efforts once again finished in 4th place. Seán Harding competed in the U17 200m and having won his heat, finished 5th in the final, but with a new PB of 23.83 secs. Seán also finished 7th in the U17 Long Jump.
Other athletes to make it to the finals were Aine Corcoran 5th in U19 400m and Aideen Drury 7th U15 80m hurdles. Aideen also missed out on a place in her 60m final by just 0.01 sec. Hazel Hughes, Nyle Carolan and Michael McCullagh also competed in their respective 800m races but while they put in strong runs, it wasn’t enough to get them through to the finals.
Relays
On the final day of the Championships Shercock AC had four relay teams competing in the 4x200m relays. The Shercock boys U15 relay team (Shane Mulligan, Gearóid Lynch, Noah O’ Sullivan and Mark Cassidy) had reason to celebrate when their second place in the heat guaranteed them a place in the final where they put in a brilliant effort to win the bronze medals.
The U17 team (Michael McCullagh, Nyle Carolan, Sean Harding and Jamie Shanley) finished 3rd in a very competitive heat and just narrowly missed out on a place in their final. Both the Girls U15 team and the Boys U13 team ran well and while not making it into the finals have gained valuable experience from competing at that level.