Michaela Walsh and Jenna Bromell star at Junior and U23 Indoor Championships
Walsh (Swinford) impressed in the junior women’s shot put with a national junior record and championship best performance of 13.97m. The Swinford girl is going from strength to strength since her impressive ninth place finish at the World Youth Championships in Cali, Columbia last July.
Bromell was equally impressive in the junior women’s 400m with a dominant performance of 54.19 seconds. The Limerick woman’s big aim for the year will be the World Junior Athletics Championships in Poland in July.
The race of the day was undoubtedly the junior women’s 800m, where Amy Hamill (Glaslough Harriers) pipped Rose Finnegan (Bohermeen) — both were timed at 2:18.96. Multi-event specialist Elizabeth Morland (Cushinstown) doubled in the long jump and the 60m hurdles, winning with marks of 5.70m and 8.43 seconds respectively.
Emerald’s Ciara Neville won an exciting junior women’s 60m in 7.47 seconds but was usurped by Newport’s Sharlene Mawdsley in 24.40 to 24.88 in the 200m.
Bandon’s Phil Healy doubled in the U23 women’s 60m and 200m with 7.47 and 24.04. Tullamore Harriers’ Jordan Hoang produced a championship best performance in the junior men’s triple jump of 14.44m.
St Laurence O’Toole’s Marcus Lawler was favoured in the U23 men’s 60m but was disqualified for a false start, leaving it to Andrew Mellon (North Down) to take the title in 6.92.
He stepped up in distance for a rare outing over 400m and finished third in 50.03. Eanna Madden (Carrick on Shannon) won convincingly in 48.26 with Paul White (Nenagh) second in 48.98.
17-year-old David McDonald (Menapians) won a tight junior men’s 200m in 21.99 ahead of Craig Newell (Ballymena & Antrim) in 22.12 and Cillian Greene (Galway City Harriers) in 22.15.
Keith Marks (Cushinstown) won the junior men’s long jump with his leap of 7.15m from Ben Fisher (City of Lisburn) who had a best of 7.06m and Luc Bellintani (Raheny Shamrock) third with 6.70m.
Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrock) won the Raheny 5 mile road race in wet and windy conditions in 24:05 while Mary Cullen (North Sligo) won the women’s race in 26:16. Clohisey will run in the Seville marathon later this month in a bid to secure qualification for Rio while Cullen now goes on a training camp to the US as she prepares to get the 5,000m standard. Stateside, Sean Tobin (Clonmel) running for Ole Mississippi finished second over the mile in 4:01.86 in University Park.
