NSW All Schools Preview: World Junior stars and a Paralympian to highlight 2024 championships

12 September 2024

NSW All Schools Preview: World Junior stars and a Paralympian to highlight 2024 championships

With the NSW All Schools Championships entries closing tomorrow (Friday) at noon, already four of our World U20 Championships stars and Paralympian Telaya Blacksmith have confirmed their participation enabling us to celebrate their recent incredible achievements in Lima and Paris.

Joining Telaya Blacksmith will be World U20 Championships medallists - long jumper Mason McGroder and high jumper Izzi Louison-Roe, along with race walker Isaac Beacroft and discus thrower Chelsy Wayne.

The four plus days of the NSW All Schools competition, which commence on September 28, is the pathway event to the Australian All Schools Championships to be held in Brisbane in December.

In addition to the internationals who have worn the green and gold this year, there are so many more highlights to look forward too. Here are a few athletes and events to watch:

·       Five recently crowned Australian cross country champions in Launceston are set to dominate the distance events across their age group: Matthew McLachlan (U18), Piper Simpson (U17), Evan Rowbotham (U15), Eliza Lawton (U15) and Phillip Botonis (U14).

·       Australia’s next up group of world juniors (next champs in 2026) will be featured in the under-18 age group and the depth and quality of the girls in these events is superb.

-Across the 17-years/under-18 sprints we have Commonwealth Youth Games medallists Grace Krause, and Australian champions Shari Hurdman and Holly Rea, joined by Kaitlin Tattersall and Samara Bond. Also with podium potential are incredibly talented allrounders Maia Madden Khan and Tara Hollyoak.

-In the distance events are World Cross Country representative and Australian champion Claudia Meaker, 2022 World Junior qualifier Sarah Baker, Australian champion Annabelle Miller and National medallist Aspen Lambert.

-In the long jump allrounders Madden Khan and Hollyoak, will be joined by Audrey Sutton and junior internationals Krause and Louison-Roe (she will contest the jumps and hurdles). Also watch out is World Junior athlete Chelsy Wayne (throws), Sienna Pitcher (race walk) and Brooke Williams (hammer throw).

·       In March Asquith Girls High student Isabelle Cruickshank, 17, continued her epic 2024 rise with a winning distance of 47.59m in the NSW U20 title. In those championships she defeated Moriah College’s Tali Baltineshter who would go on to take the Australian under-20 title in Adelaide with a PB 48.35m. They will be joined by 42 metre thrower from Woolooware High School - Hayley Blanch.

·       Last year in the 17-years 800m, Jade Kitching just missed the championship record of 1:50.98 (held by Charlie Jeffreson) when clocking 1:51.11 for the win. This year his task is slightly earlier with the 19-year record of 1:51.76 within his grasp. But the race will be far more than just Jade versus the record, as he arrives seeded third on 2024 best times behind SCECGS Redlands athlete Isaac Brook (1:52.93 in 2024) and Trinity’s Ben Moloney (1:53.14).

·       Similar to our 17-years/U18 women, the men are our next World Junior hopes and the sprints are full of excellence. Nepean’s John McDonald is the favourite in the 100m, while the 200m and 400m bolster a few led by Grant Chase who made a major breakthrough last season. The Wollongong athlete, who won the under-18 NSW 400m championship in March, would go on to slash his 400m PB by one second to clock a world junior qualifier of 47.60 at the Nationals. He is also a 200m threat. Another sub-48 quarter-miler is Australian All Schools silver medallists Max McAneney from Dubbo who set a PB of 47.67 in Perth last December. Also strong over the 200m and 400m is Endeavour High’s Taurus Traino.

·       What an impressive series of performances in 2024 Oakhill College’s Isaac Beacroft has compiled. In April, the then 16-year-old, was crowned World U20 10km Road Walking champion, then last month at the World U20 (track) Championships he was fourth just missing the podium as the youngest in the top-25. Along the way he has slashed every race walking record possible and is on target for number five at the NSW All Schools in the under-18 5000m walk.

·       The boys 17-years/U18 400m hurdles feature a trio of talent with less than half a second separating them. Singleton High’s Ethan Williams won the NSW title in March in 55.25 seconds, but would slip to sixth at Nationals before bouncing back in June to win the Oceania title in Fiji with a massive PB of 53.94. Gilroy Catholic College’s Parker Bohman won the National All Schools U17 400m hurdles title in December, then slipped to second at the NSW Championships in March, before claiming the Australian U18 title in April with a significant PB time of 53.63. Just 0.02 second behind Bohman in Adelaide was Scots College’s Christian Kotis with 53.65. We can anticipate a great race between this trio.

This is just a glimpse of the athletes that will line-up at the NSW All Schools in late September.

EVENT PROFILE – NSW All Schools Athletics Championships

When? 28th September to 2nd October 2023

Where? Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre

Entries close? Friday noon 13 September 2023

More information: including tickets, timetable, entries, age groups and rules

https://www.nswathletics.org.au/events/252187

Live results: https://results.nswathletics.org.au/

Daily articles https://www.nswathletics.org.au/home/

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Long jumper Mason McGroder (courtesy of David Tarbotton)