Five Records Smashed at the All-Ireland Juvenile Track and Field

by Perri Williams

A day that oscillated between rain of biblical proportions and rising heat straight off the African Monsoons, brought some terrific competitions. While the weather was figuring out what to do, five new national records were set. None were more entertaining than the two pole vault records. Jamie Hyland (St Laurence O’Toole) had a clean jump over 4m in the boys u17 pole vault. He followed this with successive first-time clearances over 4.10, 4.20, 4.30 and 4.40, before grinding to a halt at 4.52. Behind him Michael Kent (DMP) fresh from his European u18 Long Jump competition in Slovakia, attempt the pole vault record at 4.45m, easily clearing the bar on his first attempt. An attempt at a personal best of 4.62, did not go his way however and Kent had to settle on the 4.45 to write his name into the record books.

On the track Freya Renton keeps getting better and better. The fourteen-year-old from Westport strode away from the field in the girls u15 1500m. Producing a lightening final lap, Renton clocked 4.31.81 knocking three seconds off Emily Bolton’s 2022 record. Her sister Holly finished second, making it a 1-2 for team Renton and Westport.

As impressive as Freya Renton’s performance was, so too was that of Darragh Whelan. Son of former Irish Internationals Susan Murnane and Mark Whelan, the talented Limerick u14 athlete, moved from the peloton after the first lap and pushed further and further ahead to record a new record of 4.17 five seconds faster than the 4.22 set by Mustafa Nasir – Tallaght back in 2011.

The u19 1500m record has been threatened for years. Standing at a paltry 3.58 set by Niall Tuohy (Ferrybank) back in 2007, it has stood the test of time, probably due to leaving cert athletes, taking a win rather than going for the record itself. Things were different today, the race ramped up somewhat after the first lap with Finn Diver (Beechmount Harriers) and Darragh Mulrooney (Moy Valley) pushing the pace. On the penultimate bend it was Lorcan Benjicar (Clonliffee) who attacked, passing Diver, with 150m to go and holding both pace and position down the home straight to record a new record of 3.55.25.

Mattias Quiglia (Kilkenny City Harriers) is another athlete whose genetic disposition lends itself to Athletics. With his mother Emily being a former European Junior Silver medalist and his father playing rugby for Argentina, the talented Kilkenny athlete powered home for gold in the boys u16 200m. His time of 22.55 won’t be placed in the record books as the wind reading was above the 2 m/s permittable limit.

Elsewhere on the day, the 1500m races were close and exciting. Noah Harris (Parnell) felt the effect of his fourth place in the 3000m at the recent European Championships in Slovakia and ceded to Caolan McFaddan (Cranford) in the boys u18. The boys u16 was almost a repeat of the 3000m from last week and Charlie O’Neill (Donore) was once again pushed all the way by Luke Merrigan Leevale), with O’Neill once again taking the gold. Eimear Cooney (Ace) completed the double as she added the girls u18 1500m title to the 3000m she won last week. Meave Caffery (St Coca’s) took her first ever All-Ireland title as she crossed the line smiling in the u19 1500m.

Ethan Dewhirt (Tir Conaill) was put to the test by Des O’Neill (Raheny) over the u18 400m hurdles. O’Neill took the gold by a hare’s whisker in a dip for the finish line. In the boys u19 400m hurdles Alex Cullen took the gold despite crashing the final hurdle. There were superb wins for Eve Mooney (Ratoath) and Emily Lawlor in the girls u19 and 18 respectivly.

The girls u19 200m probably had to endure the worst of the elements as monsoon rain tumbled down on the fast-sprinting girls with Fatima Amusan (Leevale) squeezing ahead of Belgooley’s Hannah Falvey – both managing to remain upright. The boys u18 100m champion Lemar Lucciano (West Coast) was not as lucky. Sliding water knocked him off balance, taking him to the ground. This left his clubmate Leon Ewere seizing his golden moment.

Andrew Cooper (Gowran) had a convincing victory in the u19 shot putt, despite three broken fingers on his shot putt hand. In the u18 shot Theo Hanlon (Suncroft) made light work of the rain and secured a victory by almost two meters over Conor Quinn (Crusaders).

Isobel Kearns (Naas) took yet another Javelin gold in the girls u17. Once the river of accumulated water was squelched from the javelin runway, the girls u16 dogged the lingering rain to complete their throws. Emer Purtill (Doneen) is closing that gap on Enya’s Silkena’s juvenile path. Purtill threw over 42m despite the appalling conditions.

Conor Penney (Craughwell) as expected won the boys u17 High Jump. Penney coming into the competition at 1.90 and exiting with a clean jump at 1.95m. Crookstown-Millview AC had a good day at the Triple Jump. Anna Taylor took gold u18 and Georgia Myerscroft retained her title taking the u16 gold. It was another gold for Daniel Downey (Portlaoise) in the boys u16 but not without a scare. John Paul Archbold (Newbridge) moved from third to first on his final jump with a new personal best of 6.32m. Downey retaliated by jumping a personal best of his own at 6.53m. Angela Cielecka (Galway City Harriers) retained her long jump title for last year as she leaped 5.61m to win by 3cm over Caoimhe Daly (Leevale).

This now concludes the domestic juvenile track and field season.