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Alysha Burnett and Angus Armstrong are getting ready for the Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast
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After spending couple days in Nuddge holding camp, team moved into the village for final preparation before the Games.
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NSW All Schools Championships, 2017
Congratulations to all the pole vaulter girls and boys who did very well in the NSW All Schools Championships and who did not go that well today, but definitely tried their best and worked hard. This effort will pay off for sure.
Girls:
Gold medalists: Anastasia Williams 290cm=PB (16y), Georgia Hulley 290cm PB (17y) and Emilie Autard 260cm (19y).
Silver medal: Abbey Waterworth 280cm (17y)
Bronze medal: Lauren Tisdale 220cm PB (14y
Boys
Gold medalists: Nickolai Simmons 400cm 8st =PB (16y), Princena-White Ethan 360cm (15y), Konrad Cuevas 330cm (17y), Caelan Shaw 340cm (19y) who won a silver medal in shot put during the never ending pole vault event.
And athletes they join us from other squads:
Silver medal: Cooper Thomson (16y), James Gorham (15y) - coached by Laure Allisson Woolangong
Bronze medal: Ethan Bateman (15y) - Trinity Grammar
And Joel Davidson winning gold medal in triple jump (19y)
Girls:
Gold medalists: Anastasia Williams 290cm=PB (16y), Georgia Hulley 290cm PB (17y) and Emilie Autard 260cm (19y).
Silver medal: Abbey Waterworth 280cm (17y)
Bronze medal: Lauren Tisdale 220cm PB (14y
Boys
Gold medalists: Nickolai Simmons 400cm 8st =PB (16y), Princena-White Ethan 360cm (15y), Konrad Cuevas 330cm (17y), Caelan Shaw 340cm (19y) who won a silver medal in shot put during the never ending pole vault event.
And athletes they join us from other squads:
Silver medal: Cooper Thomson (16y), James Gorham (15y) - coached by Laure Allisson Woolangong
Bronze medal: Ethan Bateman (15y) - Trinity Grammar
And Joel Davidson winning gold medal in triple jump (19y)
World University Games, Taipei 2017
Alysha Burnett won silver medal with great overall performance, achieving new personal best with a score of 5835 point, new personal best in high jump and 800m and two more Commonwealth Games B Qualifiers, in high jump and heptathlon in very challenging conditions.
Angus Armstrong coped very well with the extreme weather conditions and showed some really promising performances! With the 9th personal best in a depth with 15 athletes over 540 cm personal best Angus finished on the 5th place, just 10 cm of the medal.
03. Jun 2017
NSW Annual Awards Night
Alysha Burnett received the Junior Multi Events award again, Angus Armstrong the Junior Jumps award and Alec Diamond was nominated as well for Junior Multi Events award.
NSW Annual Awards Night
Alysha Burnett received the Junior Multi Events award again, Angus Armstrong the Junior Jumps award and Alec Diamond was nominated as well for Junior Multi Events award.
26 March-02 April 2017
Australian National Championships
Alysha Burnett won GOLD medal in Open Heptathlon with a great effort of 5817 points personal best, World University Games Qualifier, Commonwealth Games B Qualifier, regardless of the pouring rain on the first day!
Angus Armstrong, Jack Hicking and Mudith Jayasekara all qualified for the Open pole vault final where Angus Armstrong earned SILVER medal and won the World University Games Qualification trial, jumping an other Commonwealth Games B Qualifier.
Alec Diamond earned SILVER medal in Open Decathlon with a personal best of 6829 points in his first Open National!
Josiah Becker, Will North and Caelan Shaw fighted through the two days decathlon as well gathering lots of experience.
Great effort from Jamie Scroop winning BRONZE medal in Open Pole Vault, just missed out the silver on count back, being selected to Oceania Championships. Elizabeth Baral gave her good support during the comp after winning SILVER medal in U20 pole vault she finished 8th Australian in the open field.
Gabriel Wahl jumped equal PB of 440 cm and had great attempts 15 cm above his personal best. He just missed out the bronze medal on count back, but finished as the best Australian of the younger aged athletes in the U20 pole vault.
Nickolai Simmonds earned a BRONZE medal in the U17 pole vault with a great performance, clearing a personal best height of 410cm.
Georgia Hulley represented the squad first in the Championship with a great performance jumping a PB of 270cm in the U18 girls pole vault.
Abbey Waterworth and Anastasia Williams competed in the U17 pole vault and just missed their PB height where Anastasia won BRONZE medal and Abbey finished in the 6 th place.
Australian National Championships
Alysha Burnett won GOLD medal in Open Heptathlon with a great effort of 5817 points personal best, World University Games Qualifier, Commonwealth Games B Qualifier, regardless of the pouring rain on the first day!
Angus Armstrong, Jack Hicking and Mudith Jayasekara all qualified for the Open pole vault final where Angus Armstrong earned SILVER medal and won the World University Games Qualification trial, jumping an other Commonwealth Games B Qualifier.
Alec Diamond earned SILVER medal in Open Decathlon with a personal best of 6829 points in his first Open National!
Josiah Becker, Will North and Caelan Shaw fighted through the two days decathlon as well gathering lots of experience.
Great effort from Jamie Scroop winning BRONZE medal in Open Pole Vault, just missed out the silver on count back, being selected to Oceania Championships. Elizabeth Baral gave her good support during the comp after winning SILVER medal in U20 pole vault she finished 8th Australian in the open field.
Gabriel Wahl jumped equal PB of 440 cm and had great attempts 15 cm above his personal best. He just missed out the bronze medal on count back, but finished as the best Australian of the younger aged athletes in the U20 pole vault.
Nickolai Simmonds earned a BRONZE medal in the U17 pole vault with a great performance, clearing a personal best height of 410cm.
Georgia Hulley represented the squad first in the Championship with a great performance jumping a PB of 270cm in the U18 girls pole vault.
Abbey Waterworth and Anastasia Williams competed in the U17 pole vault and just missed their PB height where Anastasia won BRONZE medal and Abbey finished in the 6 th place.
18. March 2017
Angus Armstrong 545cm, new NSW Open Record
See article click here
4-5 March 2017
NSW Masters Championships
Well done for Jitka Hiscox for the great results in the NSW Masters Championships winning the gold medal in long jump, shot put, high jump events and finish in the second place in 100m with just 0.06 seconds!
24-26 February 2017
NSW Open Championships

Seahawks did a great effort winning 3 gold and all together 8 medals in the NSW Open Championships.
Veronica Torr won gold medal in the long jump and bronze in hurdles.
Alysha Burnett earned silver medals in javelin and long jump, there just 1 cm behind her squad mate Veronica.
In men pole vault the squad took the first four place with Angus Armstrong winning the gold,
Jack Hicking silver, Mudith Jayasekara bronze medal and Gabriel Wahl became fourth.
In women pole vault 8 girls of the squad competed in a field of 11. Jamie Scroop won the gold medal, Elizabeth Baral took the silver with an equal PB and Anastasia Williams became fourth with a Pb.
Veronica Torr won gold medal in the long jump and bronze in hurdles.
Alysha Burnett earned silver medals in javelin and long jump, there just 1 cm behind her squad mate Veronica.
In men pole vault the squad took the first four place with Angus Armstrong winning the gold,
Jack Hicking silver, Mudith Jayasekara bronze medal and Gabriel Wahl became fourth.
In women pole vault 8 girls of the squad competed in a field of 11. Jamie Scroop won the gold medal, Elizabeth Baral took the silver with an equal PB and Anastasia Williams became fourth with a Pb.
3-5 Februar 2017
NSW Junior Championships
Girls started the weekend with great jumps in pole vault earning 2 gold, 3 silver and a bronze medal.
Caelan Shaw competed in U20 boys shot put and finished 6th with a 96 cm PB of 12.00m. Great performances from the boys as well on the last day. Gabriel Whal and Nickolai Simmons won gold medal in pole vault with very promising jumps from short run up. Calean Shaw won a silver medal in pole vault with an equal PB and a bronze medal in U20 Javelin with an over 3 m Pb. Jacqui Fry became third the day before in the Sydney Invitational in triple jump with a PB after 2 years quitting athletics and missed off season.. Well done for everybody and thank you for the girls to come out to support their squad mates! |
18-19 December 2016
NSW Multi Event and Club Championships
Great effort from the squad on the weekend 14 athletes represented their clubs, winning Open Men Combined Event Gold - Alec Diamond, Silver - Josiah Becker and Bronze medals - Will North, Women Combined Event Gold - Veronica Torr and Silver medals - Alysha Burnett, Men Pole vault best 4 and Women pole vault best 3 performances and 8 personal bests! See article click here.
2-4 December 2016
Great squad, amazing team spirit, well done guys in Australian All Schools, Canberra 2016!
13 -16 October
NSW All Schools Championships
Great results from new and "old" athletes in the NSW All Schools Championships winning 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. See details here.
NSW All Schools Championships
Great results from new and "old" athletes in the NSW All Schools Championships winning 6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. See details here.
20.06.16.
Talent Identification day at SOPAC. Make sure you will not miss it out! Click here for more details.
Talent Identification day at SOPAC. Make sure you will not miss it out! Click here for more details.
20.06.16.
Talent Identification day at Bankstown. Make sure you will not miss it out! Click here for more details.
Talent Identification day at Bankstown. Make sure you will not miss it out! Click here for more details.

24.April 2016
2016 Athletics NSW Annual Dinner
Three athletes from the squad were up for awards.
Alysha Burnett in the best junior jumper and best junior multi event athlete category. In both categories she was against her training partners Angus Armstrong in jumps and Alec Diamond in multi events.
Alysha Burnett and Angus Armstrong won their category.
31 March-3 April 2016
Australian Open and Multi Event Championships
Busy 4 days for the squad. Kyle Cranston and Jitka Hiscox competed in open multi events, Alysha Burnett and Alec Diamond in U20 multi event, Angus Armstrong and Isabella Murrell in pole vault.
Alysha Burnett and Alec Diamond won gold medal and scored World junior Qualifier making the automatic qualification. Angus won bronze medal, Kyle after did not height in pole vault still finished as 4th Australian. Jitka finished in the 7th place and Isabella unfortunately did not heighted.
Australian Open and Multi Event Championships
Busy 4 days for the squad. Kyle Cranston and Jitka Hiscox competed in open multi events, Alysha Burnett and Alec Diamond in U20 multi event, Angus Armstrong and Isabella Murrell in pole vault.
Alysha Burnett and Alec Diamond won gold medal and scored World junior Qualifier making the automatic qualification. Angus won bronze medal, Kyle after did not height in pole vault still finished as 4th Australian. Jitka finished in the 7th place and Isabella unfortunately did not heighted.
09-13 March 2016
Australian Junior Championships, Perth
Day 1: Alysha Burnett bronze medal in U20 javelin, throwing a PB of 42.79m and Alec Diamond placing 5th in U20 discus with a PB of 49.96m!
Day 2: Alec Diamond in U20 shout put, throwing a personal best of 15.50m and finishing in the 4 th place
Day 3: Angus Armstrong won silver medal in U20 pole vault with 540cm an other World junior Qualifier.
Day 4: Good long jump performances tonight, Alec Diamond - 5th with 7.02 (=PB) and Alysha Burnett - 3rd with 6.00 (SB)
Day 6: Strong finish by the girls on the last day. Alysha won the U20 high jump with a PB of 183cm, automatic Word Junior Qualifier!
Anastasia Williams jumped a PB of 295cm an took the silver medal in U16 pole vault and Abbey Waterworth just missed the 3rd place on count back with a PB of 285cm.
21. Feb. 2016
Victorian Multi Event Championships
Alec Diamond won the U20 Victorian State Multi Event Championships, scoring 7012 points (PB by 388points). Just another 188 points to make the World Junior Qualifier!
Victorian Multi Event Championships
Alec Diamond won the U20 Victorian State Multi Event Championships, scoring 7012 points (PB by 388points). Just another 188 points to make the World Junior Qualifier!
05-07 Feb. 2016
NSW Junior & Youth Championships
NSW Junior Championships, 2016
The championships was held on a fully rebuilt warm up track. The nice blue track made everyone even more excited over the championships.
The squad athletes competed in women pole vault and men shot put on the first day. In pole vault Isabella Murrell with 320cm PB (U20), Johanna Volos (U18), Anastasia Williams with 290cm PB(U16) won gold medals, Abbey Waterworth 260cm PB (U16) and Elizabeth Baral (U20) earned silver medals. In U20 men shot put Alec Diamond won the gold medal with a PB of 15.38m and Will North became 3rd with a PB of 12.19m.
The Squad continued the good performance in the secound and third days of the competition as well.
Saturday Alysha Burnett won silver medal in long jump with a SB of 592cm and Alec Diamond ran a PB of 15.51s in 110m hurdles.
Sunday men pole vault started the day with 5 gold medals by Angus Armstrong, Gabriel Wahl, Konrad Cuevas, Nickolai Simmons and Blake Toohley. Will North won silver in U20 pole vault.
Addition to that Alec Diamond won gold in long jump and silver in discus throw and Alysha earned a silver in shot put.
The Squad collected total of 10 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medals. Congratulations for everybody!
09-10 Jan. 2016
NSW Multi Event Championships
The NSW Multi Event Championships was hosted on the Bankstown athletics track in nice sunny weather after a very wet week, but afternoons strong wind provided extra challenge for the athletes.
Squad athletes dominated the event. Alysha Burnett won the women open title with 5343 points, that is a World Junior Qualifier for her. Kyle Cranston defended his title from last year with a new personal best score of 7703 points. Alec Diamond won the U20 title with a new PB of 6688 points and Will North became second with a new PB of 6028 points.
12.Dec. 2015
Angus Armstrong new NSW Open and U20 record
Angus made exciting the last pole vault competition of
2015 in NSW. Although Angus competed just from 12 steps (3/4 run up) he cleared 536cm personal best then raised the height to 543cm that he cleared with his 3rd attempt and broke Jack Hicking's NSW Open record by 3cm.
With this leap Angus become the leader of the 2015 Australian Open and U20 pole vault ranking list and cleared the 3rd highest height in his age in the World!
08-11 Oct, 2015
NSW All Schools Championships, SOPAC
Seahawks had a great start of the 2015-16 season in the NSW All School Championships with 8 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals.
13y boys - 1st Blake Toohey, 270cm (PB) 14y girls - 1st Anastasia Williams, 250cm
14y boys - 1st Nickolai Simmons, 290cm (PB) 16y girls - 1st Johanna Volos, 290cm
15y boys - 1st Konrad Cuevas, 340cm (PB) 17y girls - 1st Elizabeth Baral, 310cm
3rd Donald Ohmer, 240cm 2nd Isabella Murrell, 300cm
17y boys - 1st Gabriel Wahl, 390cm (PB) 18y girls - 1st Emily Crawford, 300cm
4th Nick Alley, 250cm
26-29 March 2015
Australian Open Championships, Brisbane
The Australian Open Championships provided good excitement for the squad. On the first two days the athletes of the open multi events competed for the medals. Alysha Burnett (5163points) and Kyle Cranston (7629pionts PB) won silver medals, however they had some events that did not work well on the day. Jacqui Fry finished in the 8th place with 4552points.
Elizabeth Baral competed on the third day finishing in the 8th place in pole vault. Will North finished his decathlon on the same day and won silver medal in the U20 age group.
Men pole vault final was on Sunday where Angus Armstrong (535cm) won the gold medal becoming the youngest man ever to win the event. Jack Hicking (500cm) finished in the 4th place with same height that earned the bronze medal and Mudith Jayasekara (460cm) ended up in the 7th place.
10-11 Jan. 2015
NSW Multi Event Championships, SOPAC
The weather provided unwanted challenges to the athletes. It was hot and humid in the first day that changed to being rainy and windy in the second day.
Jacquie Fry (4674 points, Pb) and Kyle Cranston (7401 points, Pb - World University Games Qualifier) won gold medal in the open, Alysha Burnett (4921 points) and Will North (5751 points) in the U20 age group. Congratulations for the great effort!
11. Oct. 2014
NSW Allschools Championships, SOPAC
Seahawks had a busy day in the NSW Allschools Championships on Saturday. Both, girls and boys pole vault were held in the same day. The squad won 9 gold and 2 silver medals and 9 athletes qualified to the Australian All Schools Championships that will be in Adelaide (5-7th of December).
The 17 years girls competition became very exciting as 3 girls competed for the 2 qualifying spots of the National. Interestingly all of them cleared 3 m. Divine won the count back, but Emily and Isabella had cleared everything with the same attempts so they were force to jump off for the qualifying spot. After both of them missed the 310 cm again the bar was lowered to 305 cm and 300 cm, that just Emily cleared.
However all of the squad athletes competed from short approach there were several personal best. Well done for everybody!
Gold medalists: Abbey Waterworth (13y) 180cm Pb, Binta Salawu (14y) 300cm, Johanna Volos (15y) 300cm, Elizabeth Baral (16y) 310cm, Divine Aaron (17y) 300cm Pb, Konrad Cuevas (15y) 280cm, Gabriel Wahl (16y) 310cm, Angus Armstrong (17y) 420cm, Alexander Murrell (18y) 230cm
Silver medalists: Isabella Murrell (17y) 300cm Pb, Emily Crawford (17y) 300cm
26.July. 2014
An outstanding performance by Jack Hicking in the World Junior Championships Final
The World Junior Championships were held in Eugen (USA) 22-27 July. Jack completed the qualification confidently clearing 520cm just 6cm below his personal best. In the final in a very tough competition set a new NSW record with a leap of 540cm and became 7th, just 15cm below the gold medal place! This is the highest height that Australian athlete ever jumped in World Junior Championships. Paul Burgess had the highest jump before with 535cm and won the World Junior Championships with it in 1996 in Sydney.
19.Jun 2014
Jack Hicking set a new NSW record
Jack Hicking beat his personal best by 21 cm to break the NSW Open and Junior record. Tumbling a 20 years old NSW pole vault record that was set by Craig Schulstad 20 year ago. Click here to read more.
03-06 April 2014
Australian Open Championships
The 92nd Australian Athletics Championships was the domestic season closer competition for the squad. Often cold, windy and rainy weather provided extra challenge to the athletes.
Alysha Burnett won the U20 heptathlon and became Oceania Champion with an other World Junior Qualifier (5359) and Pbs in shot put(11.96) and javelin(41.48) .
Kyle Cranston won the bronze medal in the Open Decathlon and became 3rd in the Oceania Championships as well with an other Commonwealth B Qualifier (7390) 4 points of his Pb and Pb in high jump(198).
Angus Armstrong and Jack Hicking jumped 505 cm (Pb and =Pb) World Junior Qualifier in Pole Vault finishing in the 5th and 6th place.
Jacqui Fry finished in the 11th place in open heptathlon.
Unfortunatelly Mudith Jayasekara, Elizabeth Baral and Binta Salawu could not make the finial in pole vault.
12-16 April 2014
Australian Junior Championships
Alysha Burnett had a good start for the Seahawks in the first day of the Australian Junior Championships, winning the gold medal in U18 long jump with her first attempt of 609cm.Elizabeth Baral continued the Seahawks good performance in the second day winning the silver medal in the U17 pole vault. Jessica Deal became 4th with an 8st pb of 285cm and Isabella Murrell finished in the 5th place.
Alysha Burnett made the U20 hurdles final with a pb of 14.57sec. Unfortunately Gabriel Wahl did not jumped his starting height in the U16 pole vault. Johanna Volos closed the day winning the bronze medal in the U16 pole vault with 320cm (=pb).
The second gold medal was delivered by Binta Salawu winning the U15 pole vault in an exiting competition on the 3rd day of the meeting.
Konrad Cuevas provided excitement on the 4th day winning the bronze medal in the U15 pole vault with a 20cm PB of 300cm. Emily Crawford finished in the 4th place in the U18 pole vault with the same height of the 2nd place in the count back.
Jack Hicking defended his title in U20 pole vault clearing the 505cm (World Junior Qualifier, =Pb) in the Australian Junior Championships last day. Angus Armstrong became second with a Pb of 495cm and had very promising attempts on 505cm. Mudith Jayasekara finished in the 6th place with 465cm, Alexander Murrell finished in the 10th place with a Pb of 360cm.
28.Feb-20.March 2014
NSW Open Championships
The Seahawks had good overall performances at the NSW Open Championships however the weather conditions of showers and swirling wind provided additional challenges for the athletes in all events.
The squad earned 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals and, in men and women pole vault events, took the first 3 places.
Mudith Jayasekara won the gold medal in mens Pole Vault with a PB of 480cm. Jack Hicking got the silver medal and Angus Armstrong earned the bronze medal.
Elizabeth Baral defended her womens Pole Vault title with 350cm ahead of Binta Salawu and Johanna Volos came third.
Alysha Burnett won the bronze medal in high jump on Saturday. She did even better on Sunday in the long jump, winning the gold medal with a PB of 634cm, jumping a Commonwealth B and World Junior Qualifier. This is her 3rd event where she has achieved the World Junior standard as well as high jump and heptathlon.
26.March 2014
Junior Sports Star Awards
Each year, nineteen local newspapers around Sydney feature a weekly Junior Sports Star. Four finalists are selected and the winner for each newspaper is selected from the finalists at an awards night.
We are very proud that two Seahawks won for their local area: Alysha Burnett for the Hornsby Advocate and Elizabeth Baral for the Wentworth Courier. This means that they were judged the best athlete, of any sport, male or female, aged 16 years or under in their local areas!
4-5 Jan. 2014
NSW Combined Event Championships
Alysha Burnett had a great start of the season in her main event in the NSW Multi Event Championships. Started with a Pb of 14.75 sec in hurdles, did a heptathlon Pb in high jump 178 cm, shot put Pb 11.34 m and finished the first day with a 0.6 sec PB, 25.69 sec in 200m (w:-2.7). Alysha continued her good performance on the second day with a Pb of 604 cm (w:+2.7) in long jump. Unfortunately the javelin was held in massive front wind that caused a bit of trouble for Alysha and finished this event with 38.45m. Despite of the strong wind she could close the second day with a Pb of 2:28.93 in 800m. She scored 5476 points (226 points above the World Junior Qualifier) and broke Jane Jamieson's NSW U20 record, set over 20 years ago. Well done Alysha!!!
12-13 October 2013
NSW All Schools Championships
Great start of the season in the in the NSW All Schools Championships. 15 athletes of the squad competed and won 11 gold, 5 silver and one bronze medals in pole vault! Three athletes set or equaled the meeting record.
Girls:
Binta Salawu, Gold Medal 13y pole vault (310cm, meeting record)
Johanna Volos, Gold medal 14y pole vault (300cm, -meeting record)
Emily Crawford, Gold Medal 15y pole vault (320cm)
Elizabeth Baral, Silver Medal 15y pole vault (300cm)
Alysha Burnett, Gold Medal 15y high jump (181cm, PB), 15y javelin (46.98m, PB)
Bronze Medal 16y long jump (555cm)
Isabella Murrell, Gold Medal 17y pole vault (250cm)
Aaron Divine, Silver Medal 17y pole vault (230cm)
Jessica Dawe, Silver Medal 19y pole vault (230cm)
Boys
Konrad Cuevas, Gold Medal 13y (240cm)
Gabriel Wahl, Gold Medal 15y (290cm)
Angus Armstrong, Gold Medal 16y (460cm, meeting record)
Alwyn Mi, Gold Medal 17y (420cm)
Mudith Jayasekara, Silver Medal (410cm)
Alexander Murell, Gold Medal (350cm, PB)
Will North, Silver Medal (330cm)
12-13 July 2013
Alysha Burnett 5th place in the World Youth Championships, Donetsk
The 8th IAAF World Youth Championships was held in Ukraine 10-14 July. The heptathlon was on the third and fourth days with two Australian, Aliyah Johnson and Alysha Burnett. It was going to be a tough event with 42 athletes entered into the competition. Unfortunately Alysha did not enjoy the local food too much, became hardly sick for two days after arrival that made here job even harder. Alysha started well the competition with a Pb of 14.88s in hurdles. It was enough for the 31st place. In high jump Alysha could clear 175 cm after sitting on the heat for 1.5 hours and just slightly touched the bar with her heal twice on 178 cm, unluckily the bar felt off. She finished 3rd in the event and moved up to the 12th place. The afternoon session started with the shot put for the heptathletes. Alysha started well with a 12.90m throw but she was not able to improve on her 2nd and 3rd go. Still, this result moved her up to the 8th place before the 200m where she ran 26.46s and closed the first day in the 12th place.
The second day started with the long jump. It became one of Alysha's strongest event with the 5.90m leap for the first attempt. Unfortunately it was followed by two fouls. She finished in the second place in this event and moved up to the 7th place before the javelin. The favorite of the event Morgan Lake from England was not that lucky. Her first attempt was just 4.63 m that followed two fouls as well. However she was the World Record Holder and World leader, the competition for the gold medal was over for her. She moved back to the 3rd place, 124 point away the first place. Alysha continued her consistent performance in javelin too. Her first throw was 42.77m that she improved to 44.87 m in the second round and moved up to the 3rd position. But Aliyah improved 1.68 m in her last throw and took the 3rd position front of Alysha by 29 points before the last event. 800m always brings some surprise. It happened this time as well. Louisa Grauvogel from Germany had a very strong race with 2:19.26 and became third front of the Aussie girls. Alysha finished the race with a time of 2:31.56 and scored 5505points that is a new personal best for her by 149 points. She closed the competition on the 5th place just 76points from the bronze medal. Every athletes who finished front of Alysha belongs to a year older age group than her.
12-17 March
Australian Junior Championships, Perth
What a week for the Seahawks in Perth!
The statistics alone are impressive: 13 athletes brought home 15 medals (5 golds, 4 silvers and 6 bronzes) with a state age record and World Youth qualifier height. Nine athletes returned to Sydney with PB’s (and 2 of these improved their PB’s in their second event of the meet) and one equalled his PB.
Alysha was the first Seahawks competitor, starting with the U17 high jump on a hot Tuesday afternoon. She was flawless to 1.71m when a scheduling change meant she had to change spikes and go to the hurdles where she, unfortunately, false started. On her return to the high jump, she could not regain her rhythm and failed her three attempts at 1.74m, settling for silver.
Emily and Lizzie were up next in the U17 pole vault. Emily achieved first jump successes through a PB height of 3.05m before faltering with some great attempts at 3.15m. Lizzie needed a third attempt success at 3.25m to win the comp and then confidently sailed over 3.45m on her first attempt before the bar was raised to an U16 NSW record height of 3.56m…which she also confidently sailed over on her first attempt! Three valiant attempts at 3.61m stopped her competition but not her huge smile.
Wednesday gave Alexander, Mudith and Angus the opportunity to compete in the U18 pole vault. Alexander’s improvement continues as he jumped a PB of 3.35m. Mudith’s first attempt at 4.35m looked great but he nudged the bar just enough for it to fall and his subsequent efforts also failed. In an enthralling contest, Angus matched WA athlete, Henri Brown through a first attempt clearance to equal his PB of 4.65m. Both failed three times at the World Youth qualifying height of 4.75m resulting in a jump off that Henri managed to clear but Angus, unfortunately, couldn’t leaving him with a hard earned silver.
On Wednesday night, Alysha claimed silver in a tight U17 javelin contest where less than 1.5m separated the first 5 athletes. Alwyn was flawless through a PB height of 4.35m in the U17 pole vault but could not jump higher on the night and had to settle for bronze. He looks ready to jump even higher really soon!
Thursday brought the rain…and lots of it…as well as Jack’s opportunity to shine. He was overdue for a PB and did not disappoint, looking really impressive through 4.85m before the downpour increased, dampening his efforts at 4.95m. Also competing and backing up were Angus who had an amazing leap over the World Youth qualifying height (and PB) of 4.75m that had eluded him 24 hours earlier (unfortunately, the selection criteria requires 2 qualifiers) and received a bronze for his efforts; Mudith showed real guts to come back with successful jumps after 2 consecutive comps where he no heighted and cleared 4.45m for 5th place. Alwyn had the toughest job backing up from his comp the night before and only succeeded at 4.05m.
Thursday evening saw the rain get even heavier resulting in a delay of competition….but Alysha did not let the extreme precipitation get in the way of her winning gold in the U17 long jump.
The clouds cleared for Friday morning allowing Konrad to jump a PB 2.50m for silver in the U14 boys’ pole vault. Binta did not even start jumping in the U14 girls’ event until all her competitors were out! She jumped a PB 3.20m to win by 90cm. That night, Emily and Lizzie backed up from earlier in the week and were joined by Isabella in the U16 pole vault. Izzie showed her continued improvement to jump a PB of 2.55m. Emily further increased her PB from three days prior to 3.15m, along the way, making 2 third attempt clearances (which she has not done before) for bronze. Lizzie cleared 3.45m and made some really promising attempts at 3.60m to win her second gold of the meet.
Sunday saw the U15 boys’ and girls’ contests at which Gabriel (with an equal PB of 2.80m) and Johanna (265cm) won bronzes. They started the competitions with good jumps that required them to jump on bigger poles. Unfortunately in the competition situation it did not work well for them. Having their competition on the last day (they could not pole vault for more than a week before the event) made their situation difficult.
The athletes found success despite Zsuzsa losing her voice (and finding it again by the end of the week). Thanks to her for all her hard work, not only during the busy week but throughout the whole year. Her efforts have resulted in NSW being the top pole vault state with 14 out of a possible 36 medals (12 of these from Seahawks) followed by the traditional pole vault states of Victoria with 10 medals and Western Australia with 7. Of gold medals in pole vault, NSW (all Seahawks) won 4 out of a possible 12, followed by Victoria and WA with 3 each.
1-3 March 2013
NSW Open Championships
The weather was not nice to the athletes and officials. Heavy rains and strong gusty wind tried out the competitors in Saturday (men pole vault) and it became a bit warmer and drier for Sunday (women pole vault).
Results
Men Pole Vault
Silver medal: Jack Hicking 460cm
Bronze medal:
Nathan Rushworth 450cm
4th: Angus Armstrong 430cm
5th: Alwyn Mi 420cm
Mudith Jayasekara NH
Women Pole Vault: Women High Jump: Long Jump:
Gold medal: Elizabeth Baral 340cm 4th: Alysha Burnett 170cm 11th: Alysha Burnett 556cm
Silver medal: Janina Strauts 310cm
Bronze medal: Emily Crawford 300cm
4th: Johanna Volos 280cm
5th: Isabella Murrell 225cm
16-17 Feb.2013
Australian Junior Multi Events Championships
Alysha Burnett became second in the U18 age group with 5356 points. She scored world youth qualifier in the second time in this season!
100m Hurdles: 15.10s
High Jump: 172cm
Shot Put: 12.95m
200m: 26.49s
Long Jump: 567cm
Javelin: 43.17m
800m: 2;30.06s
08-10 Feb. 2013
NSW Junior Championships
The girls pole vault competition opened the championships for the squad. All age groups in one pool tried their best in Friday afternoon. Saturday was rest for the pole vaulters making busy Alysha with 100m hurdles, high jump and javelin. The U14, U16 boys started the competition in Sunday followed by the older boys and Alysha closed it with long jump. The weather was nice until the wind picked up in the middle of the U18, U20 pole vault. A strong and gusty wind made hard to set the run up for all athletes.
Gold medal Silver medals
Binta Salawu U14 pole vault, 300cm Isabella Murrell U18 pole vault, 240cm
Elizabeth Baral U16 pole vault, 310cm Emily Crawford U16 pole vault, 290cm
Johanna Volos U20 pole vault, 290cm (PB) Alysha Burnett U18 high jump, 170cm
Konrad Cuevas U14 pole vault, 240cm (=PB) Alysha Burnett U18 javelin, 42.65cm
Gabriel Wahl U16 pole vault, 280cm (PB) Alysha Burnett U18 long jump, 569cm
Angus Armsrtong U18 pole vault, 440cm (PB) Mudith Jayasekara U18 pole vault, 440cm
Jack Hicking U20 pole vault, 460cm (10st PB)
Bronze medals
Alexander Murrell U20 pole vault, 310cm
Will North U18 pole vault, 330cm
Alysha Burnett U18 hurdles 8th place, 15.10s
Alwyn Mi U18 pole vault, NH
5-6 Jan. 2013
NSW Multi Events Championships 2013
The hot weather provided an additional challenge for athletes, officials, coaches and spectators in the NSW Multi Events Championships. Some occasions the track temperature was around 60 degrees made almost impossible to do block start..
Alysha had her second opportunity to make the World Youth qualifier 5228 points in this season. After an under performance in Adelaide she seemed more focused this time. Alysha started her first day with a Pb of 14.91s in 100m hurdles and continued 177cm in high jump. The shot put was not her best event still with 12.37cm, but worked far better than in Adelaide. Because of the extreme heat the 200m start was delayed. Despite of that she made her third Pb of the day with 26.30s.
The second day started with the long jump. Alysha solved it with 5.59m. The javelin should have been one of her strongest events but it flew just to 37.97m. With this throw she still had the chance to make the qualifier with a good run in 800m. The heat and the strong wind did not seem to help her. But she proved her toughness and completed the last event with a Pb of 2:30.62s.
Alysha scored 5291 points, 63 point over the World Youth Qualifier and became NSW U18 Champion!
Click here to read more about it.
1-2 December 2012
Australian Allschools Championships 2012,(Hobart)
As usual Hobart weather provided a good challenge to the athletes. Strong, gusty winds made the competition particularly interesting on Saturday. The U18 boys started the pole vault competition in front of the grand stand which ensured a good atmosphere. As the competition progressed, only Mudith and Jack remained in the competition with Jack prevailing to take the gold medal with a 10 step PB over Mudith’s PB. Then the U16 boys kept the spectators on the edge of their seats, where, again, two Seahawks, Alwyn and Angus, were the last competitors; both jumped 4.25m with Angus winning on countback . At the same time, Alysha won gold in the U16 high jump. Gabriel took on the tough conditions in the U14 competition to close the day for the squad.
Sunday was the girls’ day. Lizzie and Emily (with a PB) brought home two medals from the U16 pole vault. They were followed by Isabella who jumped a PB in the U 18 competition. Binta and Johanna finished the pole vault competitions for the weekend in the U14 age group with Binta winning her first national gold medal.
Alysha kept herself busy on Sunday in the U16 shot put, javelin and long jump; winning another gold medal and a silver.
Results
Gold Medals:
Jack Hicking, U18 pole vault, 460cm (10steps PB)
Angus Armstrong, U16 pole vault, 425cm
Alysha Burnett, U16 high jump, 175cm (PB); U16 javelin, 42.16m
Binta Salawu, U14 pole vault, 280cm
Silver Medal: Bronze Medal:
Mudith Jayasekara, U18 pole vault, 440cm (PB) Emily Crawford, U16 pole vault, 295cm (PB)
Alwyn Mi, U16 pole vault, 425cm (=PB) 5th place: Johanna Volos, U14 pole vault 240cm
Alysha Burnett, U16 long jump 575cm (PB) 6th place: Gabriel Wahl, U14 pole vault, 235cm
Elizabeth Baral, U16 pole vault, 310cm 7th place: Isabella Murrell, U18 pole vault, 230cm (PB)
22.11.12
U23 Pole Vault (ANSW Permit), SOPAC
Great results from the Seahawks on a cold, gusty Thursday night. 14 athletes competed, 6 of them achieved PB's!
Alwyn Mi and Angus Armstrong were fighting to break Blake Lucas’ NSW record (420 cm). It was broken first by Angus at 425 cm, a height, subsequently cleared by Alwyn as well. Of course, they could not be satisfied with their PB’s of 425 cm. The competition stayed hot for the new record! Angus cleared 435 cm with his first attempt, but could not stay relaxed because Alwyn just missed it with his first attempt and had another two good tries at it.
Results
Women Men
Janina Strauts 335cm Nathan Rushworth 455cm (PB)
Elizabeth Baral 325cm (PB) Jack Hicking 445cm
Binta Salawu 315cm (PB) Angus Armstrong 435cm (NSW U16 Record), (PB)
Emily Crawford 285cm Mudith Jayasekara 425cm (PB)
Johanna Volos 245cm Alwyn Mi 425cm (PB)
Isabella Murrell 215cm Will North 295cm
Rhys Stein 285cm
Konrad Cuevas 195cm
12-13 Oct. 2012
NSW All Schools Championships
Seahawks athletes had a good start at the first major competition. Twelve of the pole vaulters competed and all of them won a medal!
Gold Medal: Silver Medal: Bronze Medal:
Elizabeth Baral (300cm, MR), 14y Emily Crawford (280cm, PB), 15y Isabella Murrell (210cm, PB), 14y
Binta Salawu (290cm, MR), 13y Johanna Volos (230cm), 13y Alexander Murrell (290cm, PB), 16y
Jack Hicking (430cm), 17y Llewellyn Philips (380cm), 17y
Mudith Jayasekara (420cm, PB), 16y Will North-decathlete- (300cm,PB), 16y
Angus Armstrong (420cm, MR, PB), 15y Alwyn Mi (400cm, PB), 15y
Gabriel Wahl (230cm), 13y
/MR=Meeting Record/
Alysha Burnett joined to our squad to train for heptathlon in Jun. She competed in the following events:
High Jump 15y, 173cm(PB), 1st place
Javelin(500g) 15y, 42.32m, 1st place
Shot Put(3kg) 15y, 13.61m, 1st place
Long Jump 15y, 563cm(PB), 2nd place
100mH(76) 16y, 15.54s (Heat 15.41s(PB), 3rd place
6-8 Sept.2012
NSW Combined High Schools Championships
Pole vaulters have tried out themselves in different events during the 3 days competition. And a new member of the squad Alysha Burnett (heptathlon) has competed all around the events of the heptathlon.
Results
1st place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: High jump 174cm
Javelin throw (500g) 45.16m(PB)
Long Jump 554cm
2nd place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: Shot Put (3kg) 13.19m(PB)
3rd place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: 4x100m Relay 51.71s
Mudith Jayasekara 16y boys: 200m 23.04(PB)
4th place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: 90m Hurdles 13.99s (Heat 13.87s)
Mudith Jayasekara 16y boys: 100m 11.63s (Heat 11.56s)
Angus Armstrong 15y boys: 4x100m Relay 47.18s
5th place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: 200m 26.77s(PB)
Jack Hicking 17+ boys: 110m Hurdles 15.33s
31. March - 01.April 2012
NSW Open Championships
The competition was a great finishing of the season for most of the team. From the 6 pole vault medals Seahawks won one gold, one silver and two bronze.
Men
Jack Hicking: Silver Medal, 460cm
Nathan Rushworth: Bronze Medal, 430cm
Angus Armstrong: 5th, 400cm (PB)
Mudith Jayasekara: 5th, 400cm
Llewellyn Phillips: 7th, 390cm (PB)
Alwyn Mi: 8th, 390cm (=PB)
Women
Marle Barber: Gold Medal, 330cm (PB)
Janina Strauts: Bronze Medal, 320cm
Elizabeth Baral: 4th, 290cm
Emily Crawford: 6th, 260cm (PB)
Binta Salawu: 7th, 250cm (PB)
14-18. March. 2012
Australian Junior Championships
The Seahawks had a busy weekend in the Australian Junior Championships. 9 athletes competed in 7 events and overall earned 7 medals: 3 golds, 3 silvers and one bronze....with 6 athletes finishing with either PB’s or equal PB’s.
Alwyn Mi and Angus Armstrong started the championships on Thursday in the U16 age group. Unfortunately after a good warm up Angus failed at his starting height 345cm that would have gave him a bronze medal straight away. However, Alwyn who was defending his title from last year proved himself in winning the competition with a personal best of 390cm.
Lizzie Baral also came to defend her title. Emily Crawford who just started pole vault half year ago was in the same competition in the U15 age group. She jumped 240cm and came 4th. Because of an early miss, Lizzie was in second place despite having cleared 295cm. Her first up clearance of a PB 310cm ensured her victory, she went on to clear another personal best of 315cm before narrow misses at 325cm.
Jack Hicking had his first appearance on Friday in the U20 competition that was the World Junior Trial. He cleared 440cm, 455cm, 470cm easily before just missing the 490cm in winning the silver medal.
Saturday was the youngest vaulters’ day. Binta Salawu (who is just 12 years old) and Gabriel Wahl competed at the same time and jumped the same height: 230cm, a PB for Gabriel and equal PB for Binta. She won silver medal and Gabriel bronze.
Jack Hicking had his second competition with Llewellyn Phillips on Sunday in the U18 age group. The strong side wind gave them a hard time on the track. Llewy jumped 355cm and came 10th. In these tough conditions Jack had to start the competition at 425cm, which he cleared with his third attempt. He ultimately jumped 435cm to win his second silver medal.
While Jack was waiting to start his competition on pit B, Mudith Jayasekara won the competition in the U17 age group in pit A with brilliant jumps, clearing PB heights at 380cm, 395cm, 405cm and 415cm.
10-12. Feb. 2012
NSW Junior and Youth Championships
At the NSW Junior and Youth Championships, the Seahawks fielded 10 competitors across 6 events and came away with 6 golds, 3 silvers and a bronze.
Binta started the success for the weekend and herself in the U14’s in her very first competition with four very competent clearances, finishing with 2.00m. Marlee did well starting with a 6 step approach in the U20’s. Emily’s continued strength and improvement with her silver in the U16’s with 2.40m and Lizzie is finding heights that were exciting to clear just a few months ago are becoming consistent for her, winning the U16’s with 2.80m. Lizzie continued in a very busy schedule over the weekend and achieved PB’s in long jump, 100m and 200m.
For the boys, Gabriel equalled his PB of 2.20 to win the U14 competition. Alwyn and Angus continued their tussle for supremacy and Seahawks age records! In a very exciting competition, Alwyn came out on top. After they both cleared their 3rd attempt at 3.70m (with equivalent sheets), Alwyn had a first time clearance of 3.80m that Angus could not match (yet!). The U18 boys filled the podium with Jack (4.70m), Mudith (3.70m) and Llewy (3.50m). Jack looked very close to clearing 4.80m (the open national’s qualifiying height) and all three look like they will jump higher very soon!
Thanks to Zsuzsa for her tireless efforts in bringing the squad into good form for a major championship again. Watch out nationals, here come the Seahawks!
-Randolph Baral
3-4. Dec. 2011
Australian All Schools Championships
At the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships, the Seahawks proved that hard work under expert guidance pays off and the 7 competitors finished up with 5 medals (including 2 GOLD), 3 PB’s and 2 equal PB’s!
Jack and Llewy were first to compete on the Saturday morning. Jack (who remains in this age group next year) cleared a PB and squad record 445cm for silver medal behind Australian Youth representative, Brodie Cross. Also Jack had three good attempts on 460cm. Llewy equaled his PB of 340cm (again!) to finish a great first school season for him.
In what is believed to be first for pole vault at Australian All School, Mudy, Angus and Alwyn filled all three podium spots from the one state (and training squad!). In this exciting competition, the positions changed several times due to misses at lower heights. Angus had a clean sheet until 360cm (which would have been a PB) and Mudy needed 3 attempts to stay in the competition at 330cm but his first time clearance of 360cm won the day. These three can only continue to push each other higher in the future.
On Sunday, it was the girls’ turn. Emily’s increasing strength was evident as she achieved two PB’s with her first time clearances of 210cm and 220cm (which made her an early leader in the competition). Her narrow misses at 230cm showed encouraging signs for future improvement. Lizzie’s first time miss at 250cm put her in second place and meant she needed a PB to win. Her first time clearance at 270cm ensured this and she went on to clear 280cm and narrowly missed all three attempts at 300cm.
Well done to everyone. Thanks to Zsuzsa for her expertise and long hours. Thanks to the all the parents (particularly Linda and Dave) for organizing the pole transport to and from Brisbane and all the competitors appreciated the support from the team mates and the parents who were able to make the trip up.
-Randolph Baral
15. October 2011
NSW ALL Schools Championships (SOPAC)
The Seahawks flew high at the NSW All Schools Athletics Championships! 10 athletes came away with 7 golds, 3 silvers and 2 championships records between them, including 4 PB's and 3 further PB equalling performances.
The girls started the day with Lizzie soaring to a championship record of 2.60m (equalling her PB) in the 13 years division. Emily came second with 1.80m in only her second competition. Courtney gave the spectators some heart wrenching moments in missing her first two attempts of the day before going on to equal her PB of 2.20m and win gold in the 15 years age group. Marlee also equalled her PB of 3.10m in winning the 19 years division.
The boys carried on where the girls left off! Alwyn won the 14 years age group with a PB and championship record of 3.60m This is a full metre higher than his result at these championships a year ago! Gabriel won the 13 years division in 1.80m (PB) and is only 12 so will remain in this age category next year. Mudith won the 15 years age group, also with a PB of 3.60m and Angus, competing an age group up, came second with a 40cm PB of 3.10m. Llewy came second in the 17 years with 3.10m. After almost 2 hours waiting Jack started his competition with great jumps on 4m and 4.20m and just missed out 4.40m a new competition record. He was the highest overall competitor of the day with his leap of 4.20m to win the 16 years age group.
All 9 athletes who could qualify for national All Schools have done so (Marlee's age group is not contested at Nationals). Well done, Seahawks!
(Courtesy of Randolph Baral)
13. August 2011
9th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Despite of the small number of the athletes good atmosphere characterized the competition. Alwyn and Mudith had shown an outstanding performance.
Men
Nathan Rushworth (4st) 340cm
Jack Hicking (4st) 310cm
Mudith Jayasekara (4st) 310cm
Alwyn Mi (4st) 290cm
23. July 2011
8th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Men Women
Nathan Rushworth (4st) 330cm Marlee Barber (6st) 260cm
Jack Hicking (4st) 310cm
Mudith Jayasekara (4st) 290cm
Alwyn Mi (4st) 270cm
Angus Armstrong (4st) 260cm
2. July 2011
7th Seahawks Handicap Competition
The competition ran with the participation of six athletes. This time the athlete competed two , four or six steps run up.
The overall winner and the winner of the handicap competition was Nathan Rushworth with jump of 350 cm. Marlee Barber became second and Mudith Jayasekara got the 3rd place.
Men Women
Nathan Rushworth (4st) 350cm Marlee Barber (6st) 270cm
Jack Hicking (2st) 280cm
Alwyn Mi (4st) 260cm
Mudith Jayasekara (2st) 250cm
Angus Armstrong (2st) 220cm
18. June 2011
6th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Fine weather greeted the athletes competing at the 6th Seahawks handicap competition. Competition was again from a 'two-step' run up with the starting height set at 40cm below each athlete's two-step pb. Mudith continued his rapid improvement to win with a height of 250cm. Lizzie came second with 220cm, which is higher than her 6-step pb! Marlee came third with 240cm (on count back with Alwyn fourth). Rushy an Jack achieved the highest overall mark with 290 cm.
Men Women
Nathan Rushworth 290cm Marlee Barber 230cm
Jack Hicking 290cm Elizabeth Baral 220cm
Mudith Jayasekara 250cm
Alwyn Mi 240cm
Angus Armstrong 230cm
Llewellyn Phillips 200cm
04. June 2011
5th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Despite the forecast of rainy weather for Saturday morning, we had good conditions for pole vaulting. Eight athletes competed from 2 steps approach. Two of them were absolute beginners.
The overall winner and the winner of the handicap competition was Jack Hicking with jump of 300 cm. Angus Armstrong came second with 240 cm and the third was Mudith Jayasekara 230 cm.
Men Women
Jack Hicking 300 cm Marlee Barber 230 cm
Nathan Rushworth 290 cm Elizabeth Baral 200 cm
Alwyn Mi 240 cm
Angus Armstrong 240 cm
Mudith Jayasekara 230 cm
Llewellyn Phillips 220 cm
31 March-1 April 2011
Australian Multi Events Championships, 2011
Perth
Nathan Rushworth Stephanie Langridge
U20 Decathlon Bronze Medal Open Heptathlon 9th place
25-27 March 2011
NSW State Open Championships, 2011
SOPAC
Marlee Barber Nathan Rushworth Catherine Ebeling
Pole Vault Gold Medal Pole Vault Bronze Medal Pole Vault Bronze Medal
18-20 March
Target Talent Program Pole Vault Camp
Sydney
Sydney and SOPAC hosted the best Australian U20 pole vaulters on the weekend of the Sydney Track Classic. From Athletics Australia, Mark Stewart (National Youth Pole Vault coach -coach of Emma George, Steve Hooker), Rosanna Ditton (Target Talent Program) Coordinator and Zsuzsanna Olgyay-Szabo (Target Talent Coach) ran the camp. The international guest of the program was Jan Johnson (Olympic Games Bronze Medallist in Munich in 1972 and father and coach of Chelsea Johnson, World Championships Silver Medallist in Berlin 2009) and he started the program with a practical session followed by an open discussion on Friday afternoon.
On Saturday morning, the athletes who were not competing at the Sydney Track Classic had a pole vault session; the afternoon was for the competitors. Unfortunately the rainy weather made the athletes’ job hard.
Sunday started with a gymnastics session since body tension, relative strength and awareness in the air are important aspects of pole vault. The final session was video analysis of the training sessions which helped the athletes to understand and fix their mistakes.
The community of NSW pole vaulters is very happy to have had the chance to see and learn from the national (and international!) coaches as well as Australia’s best junior athletes. Thank you to Rosie and Mark for holding the program in Sydney.
Seahawks squad was represented by Amanda Bartrim, Marlee Barber, Elizabeth Baral, Alwyn Mi and Nathan Rushworth.
10-14 March 2011
Australian Junior and Youth Championships, 2011, SOPAC
Elizabeth Baral Alwyn Mi Emma Nash Nathan Rushworth
Gold Medal Gold Medal Silver Medal Bronze Medal
U14 Pole Vault U15 Pole Vault U16 Pole Vault U20 Pole vault
Other results:
Elizabeth Baral: U14 4*100 Silver Medal
Angus Armstrong: U15 Pole Vault 6st place
Nathan Rushworth: U20 110m Hurdles 9th place
Mudith Jajasekara: U16 100m 9th place
Marlee Barber: U20 pole Vault NH
Catherine Ebeling: U20 pole Vault NH
11-13. February 2011
NSW State Junior and Youth Championships 2011, SOPAC
Women U14: Elizabeth Baral Gold Medal in PV and 2nd place in 100m
U16: Emma Nash Gold Medal in Pole Vault
U20: Marlee Barber Gold Medal in Pole Vault
Catherine Ebeling Silver Medal in Pole Vault
Men U16: Alwyn Mi Silver Medal in Pole Vault
Angus Armstrong Bronze Medal in Pole Vault
U20: Nathan Rushworth Gold Medal in Pole Vault and Bronze Medal in 110mH
8-9. January 2011
NSW State Multi Events Championships 2011, Campbelltown
Open Women Heptathlon U20 Men Decathlon U14 Girls Pentathlon
1st place: Stephanie Langridge 2nd place: Nathan Rushworth 3rd place: Elizabeth Baral
4623 points (PB) 6286 points (PB) 2263 points (PB)
To check all previous news and results, please go to our SQUAD NEWS AND RESULTS ARCHIVE.
NSW Junior & Youth Championships
NSW Junior Championships, 2016
The championships was held on a fully rebuilt warm up track. The nice blue track made everyone even more excited over the championships.
The squad athletes competed in women pole vault and men shot put on the first day. In pole vault Isabella Murrell with 320cm PB (U20), Johanna Volos (U18), Anastasia Williams with 290cm PB(U16) won gold medals, Abbey Waterworth 260cm PB (U16) and Elizabeth Baral (U20) earned silver medals. In U20 men shot put Alec Diamond won the gold medal with a PB of 15.38m and Will North became 3rd with a PB of 12.19m.
The Squad continued the good performance in the secound and third days of the competition as well.
Saturday Alysha Burnett won silver medal in long jump with a SB of 592cm and Alec Diamond ran a PB of 15.51s in 110m hurdles.
Sunday men pole vault started the day with 5 gold medals by Angus Armstrong, Gabriel Wahl, Konrad Cuevas, Nickolai Simmons and Blake Toohley. Will North won silver in U20 pole vault.
Addition to that Alec Diamond won gold in long jump and silver in discus throw and Alysha earned a silver in shot put.
The Squad collected total of 10 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medals. Congratulations for everybody!
09-10 Jan. 2016
NSW Multi Event Championships
The NSW Multi Event Championships was hosted on the Bankstown athletics track in nice sunny weather after a very wet week, but afternoons strong wind provided extra challenge for the athletes.
Squad athletes dominated the event. Alysha Burnett won the women open title with 5343 points, that is a World Junior Qualifier for her. Kyle Cranston defended his title from last year with a new personal best score of 7703 points. Alec Diamond won the U20 title with a new PB of 6688 points and Will North became second with a new PB of 6028 points.
12.Dec. 2015
Angus Armstrong new NSW Open and U20 record
Angus made exciting the last pole vault competition of
2015 in NSW. Although Angus competed just from 12 steps (3/4 run up) he cleared 536cm personal best then raised the height to 543cm that he cleared with his 3rd attempt and broke Jack Hicking's NSW Open record by 3cm.
With this leap Angus become the leader of the 2015 Australian Open and U20 pole vault ranking list and cleared the 3rd highest height in his age in the World!
08-11 Oct, 2015
NSW All Schools Championships, SOPAC
Seahawks had a great start of the 2015-16 season in the NSW All School Championships with 8 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals.
13y boys - 1st Blake Toohey, 270cm (PB) 14y girls - 1st Anastasia Williams, 250cm
14y boys - 1st Nickolai Simmons, 290cm (PB) 16y girls - 1st Johanna Volos, 290cm
15y boys - 1st Konrad Cuevas, 340cm (PB) 17y girls - 1st Elizabeth Baral, 310cm
3rd Donald Ohmer, 240cm 2nd Isabella Murrell, 300cm
17y boys - 1st Gabriel Wahl, 390cm (PB) 18y girls - 1st Emily Crawford, 300cm
4th Nick Alley, 250cm
26-29 March 2015
Australian Open Championships, Brisbane
The Australian Open Championships provided good excitement for the squad. On the first two days the athletes of the open multi events competed for the medals. Alysha Burnett (5163points) and Kyle Cranston (7629pionts PB) won silver medals, however they had some events that did not work well on the day. Jacqui Fry finished in the 8th place with 4552points.
Elizabeth Baral competed on the third day finishing in the 8th place in pole vault. Will North finished his decathlon on the same day and won silver medal in the U20 age group.
Men pole vault final was on Sunday where Angus Armstrong (535cm) won the gold medal becoming the youngest man ever to win the event. Jack Hicking (500cm) finished in the 4th place with same height that earned the bronze medal and Mudith Jayasekara (460cm) ended up in the 7th place.
10-11 Jan. 2015
NSW Multi Event Championships, SOPAC
The weather provided unwanted challenges to the athletes. It was hot and humid in the first day that changed to being rainy and windy in the second day.
Jacquie Fry (4674 points, Pb) and Kyle Cranston (7401 points, Pb - World University Games Qualifier) won gold medal in the open, Alysha Burnett (4921 points) and Will North (5751 points) in the U20 age group. Congratulations for the great effort!
11. Oct. 2014
NSW Allschools Championships, SOPAC
Seahawks had a busy day in the NSW Allschools Championships on Saturday. Both, girls and boys pole vault were held in the same day. The squad won 9 gold and 2 silver medals and 9 athletes qualified to the Australian All Schools Championships that will be in Adelaide (5-7th of December).
The 17 years girls competition became very exciting as 3 girls competed for the 2 qualifying spots of the National. Interestingly all of them cleared 3 m. Divine won the count back, but Emily and Isabella had cleared everything with the same attempts so they were force to jump off for the qualifying spot. After both of them missed the 310 cm again the bar was lowered to 305 cm and 300 cm, that just Emily cleared.
However all of the squad athletes competed from short approach there were several personal best. Well done for everybody!
Gold medalists: Abbey Waterworth (13y) 180cm Pb, Binta Salawu (14y) 300cm, Johanna Volos (15y) 300cm, Elizabeth Baral (16y) 310cm, Divine Aaron (17y) 300cm Pb, Konrad Cuevas (15y) 280cm, Gabriel Wahl (16y) 310cm, Angus Armstrong (17y) 420cm, Alexander Murrell (18y) 230cm
Silver medalists: Isabella Murrell (17y) 300cm Pb, Emily Crawford (17y) 300cm
26.July. 2014
An outstanding performance by Jack Hicking in the World Junior Championships Final
The World Junior Championships were held in Eugen (USA) 22-27 July. Jack completed the qualification confidently clearing 520cm just 6cm below his personal best. In the final in a very tough competition set a new NSW record with a leap of 540cm and became 7th, just 15cm below the gold medal place! This is the highest height that Australian athlete ever jumped in World Junior Championships. Paul Burgess had the highest jump before with 535cm and won the World Junior Championships with it in 1996 in Sydney.
19.Jun 2014
Jack Hicking set a new NSW record
Jack Hicking beat his personal best by 21 cm to break the NSW Open and Junior record. Tumbling a 20 years old NSW pole vault record that was set by Craig Schulstad 20 year ago. Click here to read more.
03-06 April 2014
Australian Open Championships
The 92nd Australian Athletics Championships was the domestic season closer competition for the squad. Often cold, windy and rainy weather provided extra challenge to the athletes.
Alysha Burnett won the U20 heptathlon and became Oceania Champion with an other World Junior Qualifier (5359) and Pbs in shot put(11.96) and javelin(41.48) .
Kyle Cranston won the bronze medal in the Open Decathlon and became 3rd in the Oceania Championships as well with an other Commonwealth B Qualifier (7390) 4 points of his Pb and Pb in high jump(198).
Angus Armstrong and Jack Hicking jumped 505 cm (Pb and =Pb) World Junior Qualifier in Pole Vault finishing in the 5th and 6th place.
Jacqui Fry finished in the 11th place in open heptathlon.
Unfortunatelly Mudith Jayasekara, Elizabeth Baral and Binta Salawu could not make the finial in pole vault.
12-16 April 2014
Australian Junior Championships
Alysha Burnett had a good start for the Seahawks in the first day of the Australian Junior Championships, winning the gold medal in U18 long jump with her first attempt of 609cm.Elizabeth Baral continued the Seahawks good performance in the second day winning the silver medal in the U17 pole vault. Jessica Deal became 4th with an 8st pb of 285cm and Isabella Murrell finished in the 5th place.
Alysha Burnett made the U20 hurdles final with a pb of 14.57sec. Unfortunately Gabriel Wahl did not jumped his starting height in the U16 pole vault. Johanna Volos closed the day winning the bronze medal in the U16 pole vault with 320cm (=pb).
The second gold medal was delivered by Binta Salawu winning the U15 pole vault in an exiting competition on the 3rd day of the meeting.
Konrad Cuevas provided excitement on the 4th day winning the bronze medal in the U15 pole vault with a 20cm PB of 300cm. Emily Crawford finished in the 4th place in the U18 pole vault with the same height of the 2nd place in the count back.
Jack Hicking defended his title in U20 pole vault clearing the 505cm (World Junior Qualifier, =Pb) in the Australian Junior Championships last day. Angus Armstrong became second with a Pb of 495cm and had very promising attempts on 505cm. Mudith Jayasekara finished in the 6th place with 465cm, Alexander Murrell finished in the 10th place with a Pb of 360cm.
28.Feb-20.March 2014
NSW Open Championships
The Seahawks had good overall performances at the NSW Open Championships however the weather conditions of showers and swirling wind provided additional challenges for the athletes in all events.
The squad earned 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals and, in men and women pole vault events, took the first 3 places.
Mudith Jayasekara won the gold medal in mens Pole Vault with a PB of 480cm. Jack Hicking got the silver medal and Angus Armstrong earned the bronze medal.
Elizabeth Baral defended her womens Pole Vault title with 350cm ahead of Binta Salawu and Johanna Volos came third.
Alysha Burnett won the bronze medal in high jump on Saturday. She did even better on Sunday in the long jump, winning the gold medal with a PB of 634cm, jumping a Commonwealth B and World Junior Qualifier. This is her 3rd event where she has achieved the World Junior standard as well as high jump and heptathlon.
26.March 2014
Junior Sports Star Awards
Each year, nineteen local newspapers around Sydney feature a weekly Junior Sports Star. Four finalists are selected and the winner for each newspaper is selected from the finalists at an awards night.
We are very proud that two Seahawks won for their local area: Alysha Burnett for the Hornsby Advocate and Elizabeth Baral for the Wentworth Courier. This means that they were judged the best athlete, of any sport, male or female, aged 16 years or under in their local areas!
4-5 Jan. 2014
NSW Combined Event Championships
Alysha Burnett had a great start of the season in her main event in the NSW Multi Event Championships. Started with a Pb of 14.75 sec in hurdles, did a heptathlon Pb in high jump 178 cm, shot put Pb 11.34 m and finished the first day with a 0.6 sec PB, 25.69 sec in 200m (w:-2.7). Alysha continued her good performance on the second day with a Pb of 604 cm (w:+2.7) in long jump. Unfortunately the javelin was held in massive front wind that caused a bit of trouble for Alysha and finished this event with 38.45m. Despite of the strong wind she could close the second day with a Pb of 2:28.93 in 800m. She scored 5476 points (226 points above the World Junior Qualifier) and broke Jane Jamieson's NSW U20 record, set over 20 years ago. Well done Alysha!!!
12-13 October 2013
NSW All Schools Championships
Great start of the season in the in the NSW All Schools Championships. 15 athletes of the squad competed and won 11 gold, 5 silver and one bronze medals in pole vault! Three athletes set or equaled the meeting record.
Girls:
Binta Salawu, Gold Medal 13y pole vault (310cm, meeting record)
Johanna Volos, Gold medal 14y pole vault (300cm, -meeting record)
Emily Crawford, Gold Medal 15y pole vault (320cm)
Elizabeth Baral, Silver Medal 15y pole vault (300cm)
Alysha Burnett, Gold Medal 15y high jump (181cm, PB), 15y javelin (46.98m, PB)
Bronze Medal 16y long jump (555cm)
Isabella Murrell, Gold Medal 17y pole vault (250cm)
Aaron Divine, Silver Medal 17y pole vault (230cm)
Jessica Dawe, Silver Medal 19y pole vault (230cm)
Boys
Konrad Cuevas, Gold Medal 13y (240cm)
Gabriel Wahl, Gold Medal 15y (290cm)
Angus Armstrong, Gold Medal 16y (460cm, meeting record)
Alwyn Mi, Gold Medal 17y (420cm)
Mudith Jayasekara, Silver Medal (410cm)
Alexander Murell, Gold Medal (350cm, PB)
Will North, Silver Medal (330cm)
12-13 July 2013
Alysha Burnett 5th place in the World Youth Championships, Donetsk
The 8th IAAF World Youth Championships was held in Ukraine 10-14 July. The heptathlon was on the third and fourth days with two Australian, Aliyah Johnson and Alysha Burnett. It was going to be a tough event with 42 athletes entered into the competition. Unfortunately Alysha did not enjoy the local food too much, became hardly sick for two days after arrival that made here job even harder. Alysha started well the competition with a Pb of 14.88s in hurdles. It was enough for the 31st place. In high jump Alysha could clear 175 cm after sitting on the heat for 1.5 hours and just slightly touched the bar with her heal twice on 178 cm, unluckily the bar felt off. She finished 3rd in the event and moved up to the 12th place. The afternoon session started with the shot put for the heptathletes. Alysha started well with a 12.90m throw but she was not able to improve on her 2nd and 3rd go. Still, this result moved her up to the 8th place before the 200m where she ran 26.46s and closed the first day in the 12th place.
The second day started with the long jump. It became one of Alysha's strongest event with the 5.90m leap for the first attempt. Unfortunately it was followed by two fouls. She finished in the second place in this event and moved up to the 7th place before the javelin. The favorite of the event Morgan Lake from England was not that lucky. Her first attempt was just 4.63 m that followed two fouls as well. However she was the World Record Holder and World leader, the competition for the gold medal was over for her. She moved back to the 3rd place, 124 point away the first place. Alysha continued her consistent performance in javelin too. Her first throw was 42.77m that she improved to 44.87 m in the second round and moved up to the 3rd position. But Aliyah improved 1.68 m in her last throw and took the 3rd position front of Alysha by 29 points before the last event. 800m always brings some surprise. It happened this time as well. Louisa Grauvogel from Germany had a very strong race with 2:19.26 and became third front of the Aussie girls. Alysha finished the race with a time of 2:31.56 and scored 5505points that is a new personal best for her by 149 points. She closed the competition on the 5th place just 76points from the bronze medal. Every athletes who finished front of Alysha belongs to a year older age group than her.
12-17 March
Australian Junior Championships, Perth
What a week for the Seahawks in Perth!
The statistics alone are impressive: 13 athletes brought home 15 medals (5 golds, 4 silvers and 6 bronzes) with a state age record and World Youth qualifier height. Nine athletes returned to Sydney with PB’s (and 2 of these improved their PB’s in their second event of the meet) and one equalled his PB.
Alysha was the first Seahawks competitor, starting with the U17 high jump on a hot Tuesday afternoon. She was flawless to 1.71m when a scheduling change meant she had to change spikes and go to the hurdles where she, unfortunately, false started. On her return to the high jump, she could not regain her rhythm and failed her three attempts at 1.74m, settling for silver.
Emily and Lizzie were up next in the U17 pole vault. Emily achieved first jump successes through a PB height of 3.05m before faltering with some great attempts at 3.15m. Lizzie needed a third attempt success at 3.25m to win the comp and then confidently sailed over 3.45m on her first attempt before the bar was raised to an U16 NSW record height of 3.56m…which she also confidently sailed over on her first attempt! Three valiant attempts at 3.61m stopped her competition but not her huge smile.
Wednesday gave Alexander, Mudith and Angus the opportunity to compete in the U18 pole vault. Alexander’s improvement continues as he jumped a PB of 3.35m. Mudith’s first attempt at 4.35m looked great but he nudged the bar just enough for it to fall and his subsequent efforts also failed. In an enthralling contest, Angus matched WA athlete, Henri Brown through a first attempt clearance to equal his PB of 4.65m. Both failed three times at the World Youth qualifying height of 4.75m resulting in a jump off that Henri managed to clear but Angus, unfortunately, couldn’t leaving him with a hard earned silver.
On Wednesday night, Alysha claimed silver in a tight U17 javelin contest where less than 1.5m separated the first 5 athletes. Alwyn was flawless through a PB height of 4.35m in the U17 pole vault but could not jump higher on the night and had to settle for bronze. He looks ready to jump even higher really soon!
Thursday brought the rain…and lots of it…as well as Jack’s opportunity to shine. He was overdue for a PB and did not disappoint, looking really impressive through 4.85m before the downpour increased, dampening his efforts at 4.95m. Also competing and backing up were Angus who had an amazing leap over the World Youth qualifying height (and PB) of 4.75m that had eluded him 24 hours earlier (unfortunately, the selection criteria requires 2 qualifiers) and received a bronze for his efforts; Mudith showed real guts to come back with successful jumps after 2 consecutive comps where he no heighted and cleared 4.45m for 5th place. Alwyn had the toughest job backing up from his comp the night before and only succeeded at 4.05m.
Thursday evening saw the rain get even heavier resulting in a delay of competition….but Alysha did not let the extreme precipitation get in the way of her winning gold in the U17 long jump.
The clouds cleared for Friday morning allowing Konrad to jump a PB 2.50m for silver in the U14 boys’ pole vault. Binta did not even start jumping in the U14 girls’ event until all her competitors were out! She jumped a PB 3.20m to win by 90cm. That night, Emily and Lizzie backed up from earlier in the week and were joined by Isabella in the U16 pole vault. Izzie showed her continued improvement to jump a PB of 2.55m. Emily further increased her PB from three days prior to 3.15m, along the way, making 2 third attempt clearances (which she has not done before) for bronze. Lizzie cleared 3.45m and made some really promising attempts at 3.60m to win her second gold of the meet.
Sunday saw the U15 boys’ and girls’ contests at which Gabriel (with an equal PB of 2.80m) and Johanna (265cm) won bronzes. They started the competitions with good jumps that required them to jump on bigger poles. Unfortunately in the competition situation it did not work well for them. Having their competition on the last day (they could not pole vault for more than a week before the event) made their situation difficult.
The athletes found success despite Zsuzsa losing her voice (and finding it again by the end of the week). Thanks to her for all her hard work, not only during the busy week but throughout the whole year. Her efforts have resulted in NSW being the top pole vault state with 14 out of a possible 36 medals (12 of these from Seahawks) followed by the traditional pole vault states of Victoria with 10 medals and Western Australia with 7. Of gold medals in pole vault, NSW (all Seahawks) won 4 out of a possible 12, followed by Victoria and WA with 3 each.
1-3 March 2013
NSW Open Championships
The weather was not nice to the athletes and officials. Heavy rains and strong gusty wind tried out the competitors in Saturday (men pole vault) and it became a bit warmer and drier for Sunday (women pole vault).
Results
Men Pole Vault
Silver medal: Jack Hicking 460cm
Bronze medal:
Nathan Rushworth 450cm
4th: Angus Armstrong 430cm
5th: Alwyn Mi 420cm
Mudith Jayasekara NH
Women Pole Vault: Women High Jump: Long Jump:
Gold medal: Elizabeth Baral 340cm 4th: Alysha Burnett 170cm 11th: Alysha Burnett 556cm
Silver medal: Janina Strauts 310cm
Bronze medal: Emily Crawford 300cm
4th: Johanna Volos 280cm
5th: Isabella Murrell 225cm
16-17 Feb.2013
Australian Junior Multi Events Championships
Alysha Burnett became second in the U18 age group with 5356 points. She scored world youth qualifier in the second time in this season!
100m Hurdles: 15.10s
High Jump: 172cm
Shot Put: 12.95m
200m: 26.49s
Long Jump: 567cm
Javelin: 43.17m
800m: 2;30.06s
08-10 Feb. 2013
NSW Junior Championships
The girls pole vault competition opened the championships for the squad. All age groups in one pool tried their best in Friday afternoon. Saturday was rest for the pole vaulters making busy Alysha with 100m hurdles, high jump and javelin. The U14, U16 boys started the competition in Sunday followed by the older boys and Alysha closed it with long jump. The weather was nice until the wind picked up in the middle of the U18, U20 pole vault. A strong and gusty wind made hard to set the run up for all athletes.
Gold medal Silver medals
Binta Salawu U14 pole vault, 300cm Isabella Murrell U18 pole vault, 240cm
Elizabeth Baral U16 pole vault, 310cm Emily Crawford U16 pole vault, 290cm
Johanna Volos U20 pole vault, 290cm (PB) Alysha Burnett U18 high jump, 170cm
Konrad Cuevas U14 pole vault, 240cm (=PB) Alysha Burnett U18 javelin, 42.65cm
Gabriel Wahl U16 pole vault, 280cm (PB) Alysha Burnett U18 long jump, 569cm
Angus Armsrtong U18 pole vault, 440cm (PB) Mudith Jayasekara U18 pole vault, 440cm
Jack Hicking U20 pole vault, 460cm (10st PB)
Bronze medals
Alexander Murrell U20 pole vault, 310cm
Will North U18 pole vault, 330cm
Alysha Burnett U18 hurdles 8th place, 15.10s
Alwyn Mi U18 pole vault, NH
5-6 Jan. 2013
NSW Multi Events Championships 2013
The hot weather provided an additional challenge for athletes, officials, coaches and spectators in the NSW Multi Events Championships. Some occasions the track temperature was around 60 degrees made almost impossible to do block start..
Alysha had her second opportunity to make the World Youth qualifier 5228 points in this season. After an under performance in Adelaide she seemed more focused this time. Alysha started her first day with a Pb of 14.91s in 100m hurdles and continued 177cm in high jump. The shot put was not her best event still with 12.37cm, but worked far better than in Adelaide. Because of the extreme heat the 200m start was delayed. Despite of that she made her third Pb of the day with 26.30s.
The second day started with the long jump. Alysha solved it with 5.59m. The javelin should have been one of her strongest events but it flew just to 37.97m. With this throw she still had the chance to make the qualifier with a good run in 800m. The heat and the strong wind did not seem to help her. But she proved her toughness and completed the last event with a Pb of 2:30.62s.
Alysha scored 5291 points, 63 point over the World Youth Qualifier and became NSW U18 Champion!
Click here to read more about it.
1-2 December 2012
Australian Allschools Championships 2012,(Hobart)
As usual Hobart weather provided a good challenge to the athletes. Strong, gusty winds made the competition particularly interesting on Saturday. The U18 boys started the pole vault competition in front of the grand stand which ensured a good atmosphere. As the competition progressed, only Mudith and Jack remained in the competition with Jack prevailing to take the gold medal with a 10 step PB over Mudith’s PB. Then the U16 boys kept the spectators on the edge of their seats, where, again, two Seahawks, Alwyn and Angus, were the last competitors; both jumped 4.25m with Angus winning on countback . At the same time, Alysha won gold in the U16 high jump. Gabriel took on the tough conditions in the U14 competition to close the day for the squad.
Sunday was the girls’ day. Lizzie and Emily (with a PB) brought home two medals from the U16 pole vault. They were followed by Isabella who jumped a PB in the U 18 competition. Binta and Johanna finished the pole vault competitions for the weekend in the U14 age group with Binta winning her first national gold medal.
Alysha kept herself busy on Sunday in the U16 shot put, javelin and long jump; winning another gold medal and a silver.
Results
Gold Medals:
Jack Hicking, U18 pole vault, 460cm (10steps PB)
Angus Armstrong, U16 pole vault, 425cm
Alysha Burnett, U16 high jump, 175cm (PB); U16 javelin, 42.16m
Binta Salawu, U14 pole vault, 280cm
Silver Medal: Bronze Medal:
Mudith Jayasekara, U18 pole vault, 440cm (PB) Emily Crawford, U16 pole vault, 295cm (PB)
Alwyn Mi, U16 pole vault, 425cm (=PB) 5th place: Johanna Volos, U14 pole vault 240cm
Alysha Burnett, U16 long jump 575cm (PB) 6th place: Gabriel Wahl, U14 pole vault, 235cm
Elizabeth Baral, U16 pole vault, 310cm 7th place: Isabella Murrell, U18 pole vault, 230cm (PB)
22.11.12
U23 Pole Vault (ANSW Permit), SOPAC
Great results from the Seahawks on a cold, gusty Thursday night. 14 athletes competed, 6 of them achieved PB's!
Alwyn Mi and Angus Armstrong were fighting to break Blake Lucas’ NSW record (420 cm). It was broken first by Angus at 425 cm, a height, subsequently cleared by Alwyn as well. Of course, they could not be satisfied with their PB’s of 425 cm. The competition stayed hot for the new record! Angus cleared 435 cm with his first attempt, but could not stay relaxed because Alwyn just missed it with his first attempt and had another two good tries at it.
Results
Women Men
Janina Strauts 335cm Nathan Rushworth 455cm (PB)
Elizabeth Baral 325cm (PB) Jack Hicking 445cm
Binta Salawu 315cm (PB) Angus Armstrong 435cm (NSW U16 Record), (PB)
Emily Crawford 285cm Mudith Jayasekara 425cm (PB)
Johanna Volos 245cm Alwyn Mi 425cm (PB)
Isabella Murrell 215cm Will North 295cm
Rhys Stein 285cm
Konrad Cuevas 195cm
12-13 Oct. 2012
NSW All Schools Championships
Seahawks athletes had a good start at the first major competition. Twelve of the pole vaulters competed and all of them won a medal!
Gold Medal: Silver Medal: Bronze Medal:
Elizabeth Baral (300cm, MR), 14y Emily Crawford (280cm, PB), 15y Isabella Murrell (210cm, PB), 14y
Binta Salawu (290cm, MR), 13y Johanna Volos (230cm), 13y Alexander Murrell (290cm, PB), 16y
Jack Hicking (430cm), 17y Llewellyn Philips (380cm), 17y
Mudith Jayasekara (420cm, PB), 16y Will North-decathlete- (300cm,PB), 16y
Angus Armstrong (420cm, MR, PB), 15y Alwyn Mi (400cm, PB), 15y
Gabriel Wahl (230cm), 13y
/MR=Meeting Record/
Alysha Burnett joined to our squad to train for heptathlon in Jun. She competed in the following events:
High Jump 15y, 173cm(PB), 1st place
Javelin(500g) 15y, 42.32m, 1st place
Shot Put(3kg) 15y, 13.61m, 1st place
Long Jump 15y, 563cm(PB), 2nd place
100mH(76) 16y, 15.54s (Heat 15.41s(PB), 3rd place
6-8 Sept.2012
NSW Combined High Schools Championships
Pole vaulters have tried out themselves in different events during the 3 days competition. And a new member of the squad Alysha Burnett (heptathlon) has competed all around the events of the heptathlon.
Results
1st place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: High jump 174cm
Javelin throw (500g) 45.16m(PB)
Long Jump 554cm
2nd place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: Shot Put (3kg) 13.19m(PB)
3rd place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: 4x100m Relay 51.71s
Mudith Jayasekara 16y boys: 200m 23.04(PB)
4th place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: 90m Hurdles 13.99s (Heat 13.87s)
Mudith Jayasekara 16y boys: 100m 11.63s (Heat 11.56s)
Angus Armstrong 15y boys: 4x100m Relay 47.18s
5th place: Alysha Burnett 15y girls: 200m 26.77s(PB)
Jack Hicking 17+ boys: 110m Hurdles 15.33s
31. March - 01.April 2012
NSW Open Championships
The competition was a great finishing of the season for most of the team. From the 6 pole vault medals Seahawks won one gold, one silver and two bronze.
Men
Jack Hicking: Silver Medal, 460cm
Nathan Rushworth: Bronze Medal, 430cm
Angus Armstrong: 5th, 400cm (PB)
Mudith Jayasekara: 5th, 400cm
Llewellyn Phillips: 7th, 390cm (PB)
Alwyn Mi: 8th, 390cm (=PB)
Women
Marle Barber: Gold Medal, 330cm (PB)
Janina Strauts: Bronze Medal, 320cm
Elizabeth Baral: 4th, 290cm
Emily Crawford: 6th, 260cm (PB)
Binta Salawu: 7th, 250cm (PB)
14-18. March. 2012
Australian Junior Championships
The Seahawks had a busy weekend in the Australian Junior Championships. 9 athletes competed in 7 events and overall earned 7 medals: 3 golds, 3 silvers and one bronze....with 6 athletes finishing with either PB’s or equal PB’s.
Alwyn Mi and Angus Armstrong started the championships on Thursday in the U16 age group. Unfortunately after a good warm up Angus failed at his starting height 345cm that would have gave him a bronze medal straight away. However, Alwyn who was defending his title from last year proved himself in winning the competition with a personal best of 390cm.
Lizzie Baral also came to defend her title. Emily Crawford who just started pole vault half year ago was in the same competition in the U15 age group. She jumped 240cm and came 4th. Because of an early miss, Lizzie was in second place despite having cleared 295cm. Her first up clearance of a PB 310cm ensured her victory, she went on to clear another personal best of 315cm before narrow misses at 325cm.
Jack Hicking had his first appearance on Friday in the U20 competition that was the World Junior Trial. He cleared 440cm, 455cm, 470cm easily before just missing the 490cm in winning the silver medal.
Saturday was the youngest vaulters’ day. Binta Salawu (who is just 12 years old) and Gabriel Wahl competed at the same time and jumped the same height: 230cm, a PB for Gabriel and equal PB for Binta. She won silver medal and Gabriel bronze.
Jack Hicking had his second competition with Llewellyn Phillips on Sunday in the U18 age group. The strong side wind gave them a hard time on the track. Llewy jumped 355cm and came 10th. In these tough conditions Jack had to start the competition at 425cm, which he cleared with his third attempt. He ultimately jumped 435cm to win his second silver medal.
While Jack was waiting to start his competition on pit B, Mudith Jayasekara won the competition in the U17 age group in pit A with brilliant jumps, clearing PB heights at 380cm, 395cm, 405cm and 415cm.
10-12. Feb. 2012
NSW Junior and Youth Championships
At the NSW Junior and Youth Championships, the Seahawks fielded 10 competitors across 6 events and came away with 6 golds, 3 silvers and a bronze.
Binta started the success for the weekend and herself in the U14’s in her very first competition with four very competent clearances, finishing with 2.00m. Marlee did well starting with a 6 step approach in the U20’s. Emily’s continued strength and improvement with her silver in the U16’s with 2.40m and Lizzie is finding heights that were exciting to clear just a few months ago are becoming consistent for her, winning the U16’s with 2.80m. Lizzie continued in a very busy schedule over the weekend and achieved PB’s in long jump, 100m and 200m.
For the boys, Gabriel equalled his PB of 2.20 to win the U14 competition. Alwyn and Angus continued their tussle for supremacy and Seahawks age records! In a very exciting competition, Alwyn came out on top. After they both cleared their 3rd attempt at 3.70m (with equivalent sheets), Alwyn had a first time clearance of 3.80m that Angus could not match (yet!). The U18 boys filled the podium with Jack (4.70m), Mudith (3.70m) and Llewy (3.50m). Jack looked very close to clearing 4.80m (the open national’s qualifiying height) and all three look like they will jump higher very soon!
Thanks to Zsuzsa for her tireless efforts in bringing the squad into good form for a major championship again. Watch out nationals, here come the Seahawks!
-Randolph Baral
3-4. Dec. 2011
Australian All Schools Championships
At the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships, the Seahawks proved that hard work under expert guidance pays off and the 7 competitors finished up with 5 medals (including 2 GOLD), 3 PB’s and 2 equal PB’s!
Jack and Llewy were first to compete on the Saturday morning. Jack (who remains in this age group next year) cleared a PB and squad record 445cm for silver medal behind Australian Youth representative, Brodie Cross. Also Jack had three good attempts on 460cm. Llewy equaled his PB of 340cm (again!) to finish a great first school season for him.
In what is believed to be first for pole vault at Australian All School, Mudy, Angus and Alwyn filled all three podium spots from the one state (and training squad!). In this exciting competition, the positions changed several times due to misses at lower heights. Angus had a clean sheet until 360cm (which would have been a PB) and Mudy needed 3 attempts to stay in the competition at 330cm but his first time clearance of 360cm won the day. These three can only continue to push each other higher in the future.
On Sunday, it was the girls’ turn. Emily’s increasing strength was evident as she achieved two PB’s with her first time clearances of 210cm and 220cm (which made her an early leader in the competition). Her narrow misses at 230cm showed encouraging signs for future improvement. Lizzie’s first time miss at 250cm put her in second place and meant she needed a PB to win. Her first time clearance at 270cm ensured this and she went on to clear 280cm and narrowly missed all three attempts at 300cm.
Well done to everyone. Thanks to Zsuzsa for her expertise and long hours. Thanks to the all the parents (particularly Linda and Dave) for organizing the pole transport to and from Brisbane and all the competitors appreciated the support from the team mates and the parents who were able to make the trip up.
-Randolph Baral
15. October 2011
NSW ALL Schools Championships (SOPAC)
The Seahawks flew high at the NSW All Schools Athletics Championships! 10 athletes came away with 7 golds, 3 silvers and 2 championships records between them, including 4 PB's and 3 further PB equalling performances.
The girls started the day with Lizzie soaring to a championship record of 2.60m (equalling her PB) in the 13 years division. Emily came second with 1.80m in only her second competition. Courtney gave the spectators some heart wrenching moments in missing her first two attempts of the day before going on to equal her PB of 2.20m and win gold in the 15 years age group. Marlee also equalled her PB of 3.10m in winning the 19 years division.
The boys carried on where the girls left off! Alwyn won the 14 years age group with a PB and championship record of 3.60m This is a full metre higher than his result at these championships a year ago! Gabriel won the 13 years division in 1.80m (PB) and is only 12 so will remain in this age category next year. Mudith won the 15 years age group, also with a PB of 3.60m and Angus, competing an age group up, came second with a 40cm PB of 3.10m. Llewy came second in the 17 years with 3.10m. After almost 2 hours waiting Jack started his competition with great jumps on 4m and 4.20m and just missed out 4.40m a new competition record. He was the highest overall competitor of the day with his leap of 4.20m to win the 16 years age group.
All 9 athletes who could qualify for national All Schools have done so (Marlee's age group is not contested at Nationals). Well done, Seahawks!
(Courtesy of Randolph Baral)
13. August 2011
9th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Despite of the small number of the athletes good atmosphere characterized the competition. Alwyn and Mudith had shown an outstanding performance.
Men
Nathan Rushworth (4st) 340cm
Jack Hicking (4st) 310cm
Mudith Jayasekara (4st) 310cm
Alwyn Mi (4st) 290cm
23. July 2011
8th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Men Women
Nathan Rushworth (4st) 330cm Marlee Barber (6st) 260cm
Jack Hicking (4st) 310cm
Mudith Jayasekara (4st) 290cm
Alwyn Mi (4st) 270cm
Angus Armstrong (4st) 260cm
2. July 2011
7th Seahawks Handicap Competition
The competition ran with the participation of six athletes. This time the athlete competed two , four or six steps run up.
The overall winner and the winner of the handicap competition was Nathan Rushworth with jump of 350 cm. Marlee Barber became second and Mudith Jayasekara got the 3rd place.
Men Women
Nathan Rushworth (4st) 350cm Marlee Barber (6st) 270cm
Jack Hicking (2st) 280cm
Alwyn Mi (4st) 260cm
Mudith Jayasekara (2st) 250cm
Angus Armstrong (2st) 220cm
18. June 2011
6th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Fine weather greeted the athletes competing at the 6th Seahawks handicap competition. Competition was again from a 'two-step' run up with the starting height set at 40cm below each athlete's two-step pb. Mudith continued his rapid improvement to win with a height of 250cm. Lizzie came second with 220cm, which is higher than her 6-step pb! Marlee came third with 240cm (on count back with Alwyn fourth). Rushy an Jack achieved the highest overall mark with 290 cm.
Men Women
Nathan Rushworth 290cm Marlee Barber 230cm
Jack Hicking 290cm Elizabeth Baral 220cm
Mudith Jayasekara 250cm
Alwyn Mi 240cm
Angus Armstrong 230cm
Llewellyn Phillips 200cm
04. June 2011
5th Seahawks Handicap Competition
Despite the forecast of rainy weather for Saturday morning, we had good conditions for pole vaulting. Eight athletes competed from 2 steps approach. Two of them were absolute beginners.
The overall winner and the winner of the handicap competition was Jack Hicking with jump of 300 cm. Angus Armstrong came second with 240 cm and the third was Mudith Jayasekara 230 cm.
Men Women
Jack Hicking 300 cm Marlee Barber 230 cm
Nathan Rushworth 290 cm Elizabeth Baral 200 cm
Alwyn Mi 240 cm
Angus Armstrong 240 cm
Mudith Jayasekara 230 cm
Llewellyn Phillips 220 cm
31 March-1 April 2011
Australian Multi Events Championships, 2011
Perth
Nathan Rushworth Stephanie Langridge
U20 Decathlon Bronze Medal Open Heptathlon 9th place
25-27 March 2011
NSW State Open Championships, 2011
SOPAC
Marlee Barber Nathan Rushworth Catherine Ebeling
Pole Vault Gold Medal Pole Vault Bronze Medal Pole Vault Bronze Medal
18-20 March
Target Talent Program Pole Vault Camp
Sydney
Sydney and SOPAC hosted the best Australian U20 pole vaulters on the weekend of the Sydney Track Classic. From Athletics Australia, Mark Stewart (National Youth Pole Vault coach -coach of Emma George, Steve Hooker), Rosanna Ditton (Target Talent Program) Coordinator and Zsuzsanna Olgyay-Szabo (Target Talent Coach) ran the camp. The international guest of the program was Jan Johnson (Olympic Games Bronze Medallist in Munich in 1972 and father and coach of Chelsea Johnson, World Championships Silver Medallist in Berlin 2009) and he started the program with a practical session followed by an open discussion on Friday afternoon.
On Saturday morning, the athletes who were not competing at the Sydney Track Classic had a pole vault session; the afternoon was for the competitors. Unfortunately the rainy weather made the athletes’ job hard.
Sunday started with a gymnastics session since body tension, relative strength and awareness in the air are important aspects of pole vault. The final session was video analysis of the training sessions which helped the athletes to understand and fix their mistakes.
The community of NSW pole vaulters is very happy to have had the chance to see and learn from the national (and international!) coaches as well as Australia’s best junior athletes. Thank you to Rosie and Mark for holding the program in Sydney.
Seahawks squad was represented by Amanda Bartrim, Marlee Barber, Elizabeth Baral, Alwyn Mi and Nathan Rushworth.
10-14 March 2011
Australian Junior and Youth Championships, 2011, SOPAC
Elizabeth Baral Alwyn Mi Emma Nash Nathan Rushworth
Gold Medal Gold Medal Silver Medal Bronze Medal
U14 Pole Vault U15 Pole Vault U16 Pole Vault U20 Pole vault
Other results:
Elizabeth Baral: U14 4*100 Silver Medal
Angus Armstrong: U15 Pole Vault 6st place
Nathan Rushworth: U20 110m Hurdles 9th place
Mudith Jajasekara: U16 100m 9th place
Marlee Barber: U20 pole Vault NH
Catherine Ebeling: U20 pole Vault NH
11-13. February 2011
NSW State Junior and Youth Championships 2011, SOPAC
Women U14: Elizabeth Baral Gold Medal in PV and 2nd place in 100m
U16: Emma Nash Gold Medal in Pole Vault
U20: Marlee Barber Gold Medal in Pole Vault
Catherine Ebeling Silver Medal in Pole Vault
Men U16: Alwyn Mi Silver Medal in Pole Vault
Angus Armstrong Bronze Medal in Pole Vault
U20: Nathan Rushworth Gold Medal in Pole Vault and Bronze Medal in 110mH
8-9. January 2011
NSW State Multi Events Championships 2011, Campbelltown
Open Women Heptathlon U20 Men Decathlon U14 Girls Pentathlon
1st place: Stephanie Langridge 2nd place: Nathan Rushworth 3rd place: Elizabeth Baral
4623 points (PB) 6286 points (PB) 2263 points (PB)
To check all previous news and results, please go to our SQUAD NEWS AND RESULTS ARCHIVE.