2024 Australian Junior Champs: Day 5 Review

20 April 2024

2024 Australian Junior Champs: Day 5 Review

FRIDAY: Friday was finals day at the Chemist Warehouse Australian Junior Championships in Adelaide with NSW athletes winning more than their share of National titles.

Evan Rowbotham distance treble

Last year Evan Rowbotham placed second in the 1500m and fourth in the 800m, but under the coaching of Jordan Williams his performances certainly have progressed this summer. At the NSW Championships he was a surprise winner of the under-15 distance treble – 800m, 1500m and 3000m.

Coming into the Nationals this week he had set a goal.

“I just wanted to win one of the three events with the 1500m being my main goal, then 3000m,” said Evan.

Over the first two days he delivered those two National titles with brilliant times of 4:07.40 and 9:03.26. After a day’s rest he would line up in the 800m to attempt the treble. On paper he was the fastest, but the cutthroat heats required a win to proceed automatically to the final. Evan placed second in heat 1 and had a nervous wait to see if he would proceed as one of the fastest non-autos. He did and lined up seventh fastest from the heats in the final.

In the final he rose to the occasion to take the title after a close sprint to the finish line against his NSW team mate Harry Keats. They clocked times of 2:00.89 and 2:00.99 respectively. NSW dominated the race filling four of the top-5 places.

After the race Evan was still coming to terms with the achievement.

“I can’t believe it. I wasn’t expecting it again (after the NSW Champs). The 800m is just a fun event for me.”

NSW’s big stars Izzy Louison-Roe and Daniel Williams close their massive Australian Championships campaigns

Daniel Williams and Izzy Louison-Roe have concluded their massive Australian Championships campaigns with two and six medals respectively.

On Friday, Daniel led the middle laps of the under-18 1500m, but looked like he might be challenged by a few of his rivals. But the opposite happened; at the bell he just lifted and casually sprinted away from the field to easily win in a championship record time of 3:48.97 minutes. He broke Jordan Williamz’s 15-year-old record by over a second.

It was an enormous campaign for Daniel with five high quality races in the first five days then another on the ninth day. We will hear in a week or so if he has been selected in the Australian team for the World U20 Championships, a competition he is also age-eligible to compete at in 2026.

Daniel, his Mother Michelle and the family have made a significant commitment in recent years travelling regularly to Sydney for competition. Living at Hyland Park, just past Nambucca Heads (500km north of Sydney) it is a 10 hour round trip for the family. His achievements this year are well deserved.

Izzy Louison-Roe competed on eight occasions across the nine days winning three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. On Friday she added gold in the under-18 triple jump. Izzy won medals in high jump (U20 & U18 gold), triple jump (U20 silver, U18 gold), long jump (U18 bronze) and the 100m hurdles (U18 100m hurdles). By Izzy’s side on the journey is her coached and Mother Karen Roe. As a team they continue to improve across all the events, with Izzy now an automatic selection in the high jump for the World U20 Championships in Peru in August. She should also be added to the triple jump.

RELAY GOLD

NSW claimed two gold medals in the relays on the final day. The line-ups were:

U14 4x200m mixed relay - Ryker Moore, Marnie Laurence, Jacob Ashton Copp and Divine Chukwudi, 1:41.00 (championship record)

U18 4x400m girls relay - Shari Hurdman, Annalise Blattman, Nekea Talaia and Samara Bond, 3:46.43

JAVELIN TITLES

New Australian under-16 javelin throw record holder Tallara Joseph-Riogi had little trouble winning the under-18 title by four metres with a best throw of 49.98m.

The under-18 boys javelin was an exciting battle between NSW’s Ruann Eksteen and Queensland’s Max Jones. Both athletes arrived with bests distances around 60 metres, but on his opening attempt Max launched the javelin out to 62.47m to put himself in the box seat. Ruann had a tentative start with 55.78m, but he got going with a PB in round two of 61.72m. But he was still in pursuit of the title and successfully launched the javelin out to a leading distance of 63.72m in round three. On his last attempt, Max threatened Ruann’s lead, throwing 62.43m. Now confirmed as the National champion, on the last throw of the competition, a relaxed Ruann launched the javelin out to a brilliant 67.52m.

BRIEFLY

• Ava Jacob and Ronia Warszawska provided the crowd with a thrilling under-14 girls 1500m. Ronia lead early by a comfortable margin, but Ava made up a lot of ground on the last lap to take the win, passing Ronia with 100m to go. Balmain’s Ava, coached by Dani Andres, clocked 4:37.97, while Sutherland’s Ronia, coached by Jacinta Doyle, recorded 4:39.87.

• The rising star of NSW junior sprinting, Zavier Peacock, continued his progression in Adelaide in the under-17 100m. Third at the start of the season in the NSW All Schools, he closes his summer campaign as the fastest under-17 in Australia, taking the National title in 10.90 seconds into a strong headwind.

• The medals in the under-18 boys pole vault were all decided on count back with NSW’s Daniel Photios claiming the title. The top-4 all cleared 4.05m, but Daniel compiled a perfect record, without a single miss until 4.20m.

• All-rounder Sienna Vassella had a busy championship winning medals in the jumps and throws and making sprint finals. Sienna won the under-14 long jump on the final day with a distance of 5.44m. Earlier in the championships she was third in the shot put, fourth in the 200m and seventh in the 100m finals.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Izzy Louison-Roe with her six medals (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)