Indoors Recap!
On Friday last a large contingent of UCC athletes made the long journey to Athlone I.T for the national indoor varsities championships. With a mixture of experience and youth on the team it was looking to be one of our most successful championships to date.
First year student Phil Healy took the day off to a flying start winning the 60m in a phenomenal 7.36 which was a national u23 record, IUAA record and UCC record. She was followed by another fresher making her debut; Shona Lowe came 7th in the same final. Shona then went on to better that place in the 200m final coming an excellent 5th scoring some well deserved points for UCC.
Our men’s 60m sprinters Liam Mulcahy and Karl Zhang both made their UCC debuts coming a very 7th in their respective heats. Edmond O’Halloran glided to a bronze in the mens 60m hurdles final.
In the 400m final twins Jessica and Christine Neville ran superbly with Jessica coming 3rd in a new UCC record and Christine just behind in 5th.
In the 800m final Ciara Cronin gave a great display of front running and ran a gutsy race to be part of a blanket finish on the line but eventually came away with 3rd. Andrea Bickerdike was 4th in her 800m heat very unlucky not to make the final. Kieran James ran his first race back after injury to come 4th in his 800m semi-final while Micheal Cassidy came 6th in the other semi-final.
In the 1500m Niamh Moore was 7th and Niamh Walsh 12th in what was a very quick race. The men’s 1500m was split into two races with captain Ben Thistlewood being part of the first race which had a very elite field. Ben battled hard with the fast pace set to come away with 8th place. Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan was part of the 2nd race and came away with a brilliant fourth place.
In the 3000m Sinead O’Connor showed us what a talent she really is running an intelligent race to win in a fantastic time of 9.49. Jacqui Hughes and Siobhain Heylin were 9th and 10th in this race also. The mens 3km was also an exciting battle with James Grufferty coming away with the silver medal and Eric Curran following him home in 9th place.
First year Luke Hickey obliterated the field to win the 2000m walk in a new UCC record.
Our throwers were out in force with Laura Mc Sweeney winning the weight for distance with Clare Fitzgerald in 2nd. Clare then turned around to win the shot putt with Niamh Murphy in 2nd. Patrick Mc Sweeney was 2nd in the weight for distance and 3rd in the shot putt.
Medals were also won in the jumps with Benjamin Guillou coming 3rd in long jump with Eoin Kelly 6th. Eoin Kelly was then victorious in the triple jump with Micheal Godley in 7th. Laura Lynch was 8th in both the long jump and triple jump.
To finish the day off our women’s relay team of Jessica and Christine Neville, Shona Lowe and Phil Healy came 2nd and smashed the UCC record in the process.
Our ladies finished second overall on the medal board with our men finishing fourth. This was definitely our most successful indoors championships to date and things are looking very well for the outdoors track and field in April.
Next up is munster cross country this Thursday in CIT. Training continues Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 at the the Mardyke Pavillion- all new members welcome as always.