Medals galore for Bendigo Senior on Track and Field Championships
The Bendigo Senior Secondary College (BSSC) have come home with a massive sixteen medals from the School Sport Victoria (SSV) Track and Field State Championships.
SSV run a three-phase structured program with the athletes progressing from the Sandhurst Division to the Loddon Mallee Region then finally the State Championships. The State Championships were held on Monday 20th October at the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne.
11 students represented the BSSC Lions in 21 events with a massive 7 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze medals being won by the athletes.
Fletcher Watchman set the standard for the day with a gold medal in the 18-20yo Boys 110m Hurdles and followed it up later in the day with a state champion title for the 18-20 Boys 200m with a time of 22.41.
Kai Norton threw a 48.77 to secure his title as state champion of the 16yo Boys Javelin. Kai was 6m ahead of the second place to claim the gold medal. Kai also competed in the 16yo shot put event in which he claimed a bronze medal.
Chelsea Tickell ran in the 800m and the 1500m events as is state champion of both events. The 800m was set up well by Chelsea to claim the title in a time of 2:28.83. The 1500m was a hotly contested event with Chelsea getting the gold medal by .007 of a second. There was much confusion as they cross the line as it was too close to tell other than the photo finish.
Alyssa Beaton had a massive day of events as she competed in the 18-20yo Girls Hurdles, Long Jump, Triple Jump and High Jump as well as the 4x100m relay. A fourth position in the hurdles led into a string of medals for her remaining events. A silver medal in the long jump with a jump of 4.76m was a close event with a minimal margin between second and third. Bronze medals were won by Beaton in the triple jump and high jump in tough competitions.
Sebastian Vinnicombe ran the 18-20yo Boys 100m in which the race had multiple false starts. Seb was able to remain composed and finished the race in third position. Sebs second event was the 18-20yo Boys Long Jump in which he jumped a 6.14m and claimed his second bronze medal for the day.
Jasper Seymour won a Silver medal in the 16yo Boys Discus event with a throw of 49.27m. Jasper knew the competitors well as they compete against each other in field events regularly. The winner broke the SSV record with a throw of 55.19m
17yo Girls Long Jump was Bella Noonan’s event, a jump of 5.04m equalled a bronze medal to her name.
Avery McDermid rounded out the individual medal winners with a silver medal in the 1500m 17yo Boys event. He led with a lap to go and tried hard to fight off the fast-finishing opponent in a tight last lap.
The 4x100m 18-20 Girls relay was at the end of the day with BSSC being represented by Alyssa Beaton, Justine Hattingh, Chelsea Tickell and Bella Noonan. Alyssa started well and gave BSSC the edge in which Justine and Chelsea maintained through some outstanding running. Bella took the team into the last leg and never looked back, crossing the finishing line as State Champions!
The 4x100m 18-20 Boys relay was led by Fletcher Watchman, Xavier Emmerson, Jonty Davis and Seb Vinnicombe. Fletcher started well with Xav taking the first change, Jonty had a smooth transition and set up Seb well to come home for the win. The boys crossed the line in a time of 44.26 and as state champions!
School Sport Victoria have an overall school of the championship. BSSC finished overall in third position which is an amazing effort for only fielding year 11 and 12 athletes.
BSSC is very proud of the achievements of these athletes in what was a great day of school sport!
