Kinnear brightest of many stars

ERIN KINNEAR (Victoria College) could emerge as the brightest star in the galaxy at the Kit Kat Irish Schools Track and Field Championships in Tullamore on Saturday (9 am) when the best and the brightest face each other in what promises to be an action- packed day.

Last weekend at the Antrim Forum she set a new Irish senior record when she cleared 3.77m at the Ulster Schools championships. In the highlight of the meeting, she exceeded the old record which she’d held jointly with her training partner Zoe Brown.

The performance qualifies her for this year’s European Junior Championships in Tampere and takes her to Tullamore on Saturday as the hot favourite for the title on a day of fierce competition.

A lot of people will look at the Ulster championships for form and Ciaran O’Connell (St McCartan’s) had a impressive double, successfully defending his 800m title after winning the 400m.

Colin Costelloe (Gormanston), who won the AAA junior indoor title in 3:53, will be the red hot favourite for the 1,500m title.

And Seamus Mac Suibhne, the Leinster champion, will be fancied to win the 5,000m where the big challenge will come from Jamie McCarthy (Kinsale CS), the newly crowned Munster champion, and Greg Walton, the Ulster champion. But the dark horse here could be Mark Hanrahan (Douglas CS) who hit form this time last year.

There was also some exciting sprinting up North where Mark Hopkins (RBAI), an outstanding rugby player, had a senior boys’ 100m/200m double and Gemma Thompson (St Cecilia’s, Derry) also recorded a sprint double.

Nicole McSweeney (Pres Killarney) raised a few eyebrows when she beat Joyce Curtin ( (Colaiste Eoghain, Youghal) in the intermediate girls’ 1,500m at the CIT, completing an 800m/1,500m double but Joyce Curtin was an impressive winner of the 3,000m.

In Ulster, Liz McWilliams (Loreto Coleraine) broke Arlene Smith’s 14 year old record when she won the 800m in 2:10.7.