track and field
MR DAMIAN MEDNIS
director of track and field
T
he House Track and Field carnival was conducted at TSS on the last day of Term Two. This formed the basis of the TSS Track and Field Training Squad. During Term Three training for all disciplines was held on Monday and Wednesday afternoons under the watchful eye of our highly regarded coaching team of Peter and Sharon Hannan, Jackson Elliott, John Lane, Brett Green, Josh Connolly and Sonia Weatherley. John Lane is a former Old Boy of TSS and competed for England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. The District and Regional Track and Field Trials were held in Term Three and it was pleasing to see 14 TSS boys qualify for the State Championships in Brisbane from October 25-28. The following boys from both the Senior School and the Prep School all qualified for the State Championships: Hayden Atkinson, Charlie Blok, Harry Blok, Diesel Donnelly, JoJo Fifita, Jed Heslop, Angus James, Dougal Jones, Leo Llewellyn, Brayden Mercer, Sam Neal, Tom Ramsay, Jack Stapleton, Harry Ward and Oscar Yared. Leo Llewellyn from the Prep School won the Queensland Championship in the 10 Years Boys triathlon and Sam Neal won the 18 Years Boys 100m and 200m State Championship to go with his bronze medal in the 18 Years Boys triple jump.
The Senior GPS Track and Field championships were held on Saturday 3 November at QSAC in Brisbane. Whilst our overall placing wasn’t the desired result, TSS had some outstanding individual performances in the track and in the field. JoJo Fifita won the 100m and 200m double in the 304
SOUTHPORTONIAN
15 Years age group. Charlie Blok won the 15 Years Boys 800m breaking the two minute barrier and James Smith won the 16 years boys high jump and broke the TSS record in the process jumping 1.96m. TSS had another five boys finish second and a further five boys finish third in their respective events. The Prep GPS Track and Field championships were held on Wednesday 24 October also at QSAC and the TSS Prep School finished sixth overall. Our mantra throughout the season has been to compete hard and compete with a smile on our face. I cannot fault the desire and work ethic of our athletes and our group of dedicated coaches.
Finally I’d like to make mention of Harley Nielson – our Track and Field Captain. Harley has been an exemplary leader and an outstanding role model throughout the season. Leading with humility and authenticity, Harley had the ability to connect with all of our athletes from our youngest in Year 4 right through to his peers in Year 12.
