May 11, 2015
Box Hill had a successful day at Lardner Park, winning the men’s premier division team’s event. Steve Kelly continued his successful comeback from surgery, winning the bronze medal. Will Potter finished not far behind in 7th place, probably a career best performance. Daniel Clark finished 14th, Nick Baggott (in his best ever result) was 16th, James O’Connell, 22th and new club member Oscar Robinson filled out Premier Division team finishing in 31st position.
The other outstanding result for the day was a win by Molly McCarthy in the girls under 14 event.
See below for Ian Sloane’s race report.
Results:
Men Premier Division 8km (Team place: 1st)
3. Steve Kelly 26:50
7. Will Potter 27:01
14. Daniel Clark 28:20
16. Nick Baggott 28:26
22. James O’Connell 28:34
31. Oscar Robinson 29:01
Men Division 2
47. John Meagher 29:51 (1st in 50-54 age group)
60. Michael Dowel 30:34
70. Welday Mebrahtu 30:55
74. Michael Vaughan 31:08
83. Simon Watson 31:34
93. David Jiminez 31:49
Men Division 3
114. Trent Collins 32:29
194. Peter Stefanos 34:43
216. Chris O’Connor 35:29
223. Graeme Olden 35:44
(Mitch Milnes – inv) 36:01
317 Jack Hill 40:09
Men Division 6
328. Simon St. Hill 42:05
Women Premier Division 4km (Team place: 5th)
14. Grace Brown 15:44
20. Julie Norney 15:55 (1st in the 45-49 age group)
48. Sarah Cant 16:54
55. Grace Kalac 17:16
60. June Petrie 17:23 (1st in the 50-54 age group)
Women Division 2
115. Talitha Crawford 19:10
137. Amelia Savige 20:00
169. Megan Sloane 21:11
174. Caitlin Harrison 21:22
Women Division 5
191. Nicole Smith 23:24
Women Under 14, 2km
1. Molly McCarthy 7:53
Men Under 14, 2km
10. Murray Lovass 8:24
Women Under 16, 3km
10. Amy Atkinson 12:56
12. Tamsyn Lovass 13:01
Women Under 18, 3km
14. Genevieve Wah 14:04
17. Zoe Schwerkolt 15:13
Men Under 18, 4km
15. Alex Ritchie 14:40
Men Under 20, 4km
32. Carlos Norman 18:24
Ian Sloane’s Full Report
We had relatively benign weather conditions at Drouin, although the wind was very strong. Rain threatened but did not eventuate.
We had a better turnout for the senior men’s event than at the relay meeting and it appears that Box Hill has won Premier Division team’s race by a significant margin. The men’s race saw the return to the podium by Steve Kelly, who claimed the bronze medal, in a dashing display of solid running. Steve was pushing the whole way and was in second position at the end of the first lap, in a bunch of about eight athletes all together. Will Potter and Daniel Clark were not far behind with Will running through in 11th with Daniel perhaps six places further back. James O’Connell has been going from strength to strength over the last year and he was only three seconds behind Daniel, with Michael Dowel just behind him. Newly joined member, Oscar Robinson was at the front end of the field somewhere around 35th position. Nick Baggott had a tremendous start as well. John Meagher was prominent, probably in about 50th position or so. Other athletes crossed the halfway point further back (first lap times appear in the results below).
Nick Wightman (Geelong) got away from Douglas Hamerlok (Frankston) and Steve Kelly mid-way to late through the second lap and won his first Victorian title after sprinting flat out down the last slope. Hamerlok placed second and Steve Kelly showed that he has regained fitness after an extended period of injury to claim the bronze medal, which certainly brought great cheer to our supporters. What was happening behind was remarkable, however. Three of our Division 1 or Premier Division athletes had huge breakthroughs. Will Potter made an enormous improvement to take a top 10 position in running seventh. He picked up four places in his second lap which shows a great improvement in strength. Will looks certain to be a permanent member of our top team, and there is no reason to think that he shouldn’t be thinking about doing even better. It was really pleasing to see Daniel Clark run a solid 14th and he appears to have regained an upward trajectory with his fitness as well. Nick Baggott had a breakthrough race easily eclipsing his previous best Cross Country position with 16th place, just behind Daniel. This was a most welcome outcome, and he should have an excellent winter season as well. James O’Connell has also been enjoying very good form and he also ran a new best placing in finishing 22nd, an excellent result. Completing the Premier Division team was Oscar Robinson who recorded 31st position.
Our Division 2 team also performed well, and although the provisional results were inaccurate at the time of this report being written, it appears that we have placed first or second. The team was made up of John Meagher (45th), Michael Dowel (58th), Welday Mebrahtu (68th), Michael Vaughan (71st), Simon Watson (81st) and David Jimenez (91st). Full results can be found below.
The women’s race was over a four kilometre course, and like the men’s race, produced many muddy legs and clothing. There was a fence to vault and six ditches to jump, the last akin to a quagmire. Sinead Diver (South Melbourne) outclassed Sarah Klein (Frankston) who was second and Virginia Moloney (Collingwood) who was third. In fourth place was Australian World Cross Country representative, Gemma Maini (Frankston). Grace Brown (13th) was our first athlete to finish, Julie Norney finished 18th, with Sarah Cant (46th), Grace Kalac (53rd) and June Petrie (approximately 58th) making up the Premier Division team. We believe that we finished in 5th place.
Earlier in the day, Murray Lovass finished in 9th position in the Under 14 Boys’ event, less than a minute behind the winner.
Molly McCarthy won the Girls’ Under 14 race in a really impressive display of running (she was fifth in the race overall, which included boys in the same age group, so this shows what a really classy effort she produced).
Alex Ritchie placed 16th in the Under 18 boys’ event, about a minute behind the winner. Alex seems to improve every time he pulls his spikes on and looked strong on the course. Carlos Norman was 31st in the Under 20 men’s race. Amy Atkinson finished 10th in the Under 16 girls’ race, with Tamsyn Lovass finishing 12th.
Genevieve Wah was 14th in the Under 18 girls’ race. Zoe Schwerkolt also competed, but probably due to a chip malfunction was not recorded in the provisional results.
Open Men’s results (AV results contained some inaccuracies)
1 Nick Wightman Geelong 13:34 26:37
2 Douglas Hamerlok Frankston 13:34 26:40
3 Steve Kelly Box Hill 13:34 26:50
7 Will Potter Box Hill 13:43 27:01
14 Daniel Clark Box Hill 14:06 28:20
16 Nick Baggott Box Hill 14:20 28:26
22 James O’Connell Box Hill 14:09 28:34
31 Oscar Robinson Box Hill 14:21 29:01
Division 1 Men’s team results
1 Box Hill 89
2 Melbourne University 188
3 Geelong 225
4 Frankston 250
5 Glenhuntly 255
Open Women’s results
- Sinead Diver South Melbourne 14:40
- Sarah Klein Frankston 14:44
- Virginia Moloney Collingwood 14:47
14 Grace Brown Box Hill 15:44
20 Julie Norney Box Hill 15:55
48 Sarah Cant Box Hill 16:54
55 Grace Kalac Box Hill 17:16
60 June Petrie Box Hill 17:23
Estimated Women’s team placings
1 South Melbourne 91
2 Collingwood 135
3 Knox 160
4 Glenhuntly 179
5 Box Hill 188