NSW All Schools REVIEW DAY 2: Ada runs back into form

25 September 2022

NSW All Schools REVIEW DAY 2: Ada runs back into form

The sun shone, as did the performances of the hurdles and metric milers on day two of the 2022 NSW All Schools Athletics Championships being held at Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush.

One of the performances of the day was Ada Rand’s superb 17-years 1500m win in a meet record time of 4:22.83. Aged 13 years in 2019, Ada Rand ran the brilliant time of 2:12.69 for 800m. The next year she ran 4:26.33 for 1500m. But in the last 18 months Ada’s great performances went missing.

She really struggled through COVID.

“My times were terrible,” she said. “I would show up and not feel like myself. I felt crap at training.

“I never ever thought about quitting. I’ve been running since I was six, so it has always been a big part of my life and I had confidence I would come out of that. I knew I could get back to how I was running before. My family and coaches have always been super supportive.”

It was not injuries, but low iron diagnosed. She also made a coaching change to Ben Liddy after her coach retired.

“I started working more on her fitness. I did long runs and that has helped me a lot. Ben also improved my pacing.”

The results were obvious today at the NSW All Schools, with Ada breaking her 3-year-old 1500m PB by over three seconds, clocking 4:22.83. It also took nearly three second from the championship record and was the fourth fastest time in the history of the meet.

Shari Hurdman’s stunning progression

After making her 400m debut this school year, Shari Hurdman’s progression has been nothing short of stunning.

Due to trouble with her starts caused by her height, Shari and coach Vanessa Price decided to more up to 400s.

Her progress over the last month has been stunning, starting with 60.6, then 58.41 (at CIS), 56.21 (NSW All Schools heat), then a stunning 54.96 in the All Schools final. In a week she has carved over five seconds from her PB.

Her NSW All Schools win in the 15-years race broke the meet record by one second with a time of 54.96 and defeated favourite Ivy Boothroyd who also dipped under the meet record recording 55.25. Shari also becomes the fifth fastest in the history of the championships aged just 15.

Xavier Perry avoids a walk home from the track

Xavier Perry moved one step closer to a unique sprint treble in the 14 years, adding the 400m title today to his 100m win on Saturday. But Xavier did not just win, he broke the meet record, and ran faster that his dad, Stephen Perry’s winning time 36-years-ago, clocking 50.69.

At breakfast, Xavier’s dad had joked he would be walking home if he can’t better his time from 36 years ago of 52.32.

The performance surprised Xavier himself.

“I was aiming for about 51.8/51.9 - then I saw it was a two seconds PB, I was so happy with that.”

Delta leads hurdle record blitz

Just back from the World U20 Championships, Wollongong’s Delta Amidzovski led an assault on the hurdle record books thanks to the helpful conditions of a warm fast track and tailwinds.

Delta got thing rolling clocking a meet record of 13.82 in her 100m hurdles heat (76cm), ahead of destroying the fresh mark in the final, running 13.49.

“It has been good to come back and into my normal height,” said Delta referring to moving from the World U20 Championships hurdle height of 84cm to her age height of 76cm.

In the 17-years, Alexandra Richards dipped under the 100m hurdles record, with a time of 13.65. The performance, although assisted by an over the limit wind of just 2.3m/s, didn’t void her new championships record effort.

We knew pre-meet the boys 17-years 110m hurdles record was under threat from high hurdling duo Joshua Kalozi and Rashid Kabba. Today, both dipped under the old record of 13.74 with times of 13.68 (Joshua) and 13.72 (Rashid). For Rashid it lowered his recent PB of 13.73 at CHS, while for Josh, it was outside his stunning run of 13.36 at Oceania mid-year, but still a very impressive time.

After the race, they spoke about their duals.

“We are good friends with a good rivalry,” said Rashid.

They both agreed the rivalry started in 2018, when they ran over 90m hurdles at the CHS.

A big improver this season through the school carnivals has been 14-year Oliver Facer. He sliced 0.5 seconds from his PB to win the 14-years 100m hurdles in 13.27 – just 0.02 seconds outside the meet record.

“Last year I finished fourth in most races, so a big improvement,” said Oliver. “My start was a bit wonky. I saw Andy (Andres Hampel) next to me, so put my head down and worked.”

Off the track, he is a keen gamer on Fortnite which he admits “Maybe I play a bit too much.”

16-year-old metric milers on the move

“Coming in I was expecting third behind Jade (Kitching) and Ollie (Oliver Neate) as they are amazing,” remarked Luca Gillard after the 16-years boys 1500m.

But that is not how the race turned out, thanks to Luca himself.

“About 700m into the race I noticed them slowing down and I didn’t want that – I wanted a fast time. So, I thought I may as well get a fast time out of it and I started to go and it seemed to work. I’m happy with it. I knew if Jade was within 10 metres of me near the finish line he’d get me.”

Jade Kitching needed to work hard to cover Luca’s move.

“When Luca went to the front I was thinking I had to go with him or I won’t be able to catch him. Then at 250m to go I thought it’s all or nothing,” said Jade who would go on to win in 4:01.15, from Luca Gillard 4:02.90 and Oliver Neate third in 4:07.05.

More improvement from Tali Baltineshter in the 16-years Javelin

After a winter of change, which included a holistic approach to her sport and several positive changes to her training and technique, NSW’s best emerging javelin thrower Tali Baltineshter has been breaking records galore this school season, including those held by training partner and commonwealth Games silver medallists Mackenzie Little. At the beginning of the week she improved to 48.11m at the CIS Championships and again at the NSW All Schools there was progress hitting 49.68m to win the 16-years Javelin title. This time she let Mackenzie Little retain her meet record of 50.87m set 10 years ago.

Strong Para-athletics sprinting

NSW’s three women’s 200m para-athletics sprinters Mali Lovell (T36 classification), Indi Cooper (T38) and Sybella Warton (T37) all laydown strong 200m times into a headwinds. Mali won the 17-19 years in 31.37, from Commonwealth Games representative Indi Cooper with 29.98. Indi, who competed in the 100m in Birmingham, will switch her focus to the 200m for a shot at selection for the 2023 Paris World Championships. In the 15-16 years 200m, Sybella Warton clocked 31.88 to place second to Warilla High’s Telaya Blacksmith.

14-years 1500m

A massive five seconds PB by Matthew McLaughlin in the 14-years 1500m saw him dip under the new championships record of 4:07.41 set in 2021 by North Coast’s Daniel Williams. Matthew who admitted “I was thinking about the record” was feeling good 600m into the race and moved ahead of the pack, going on to win in 4:06.09, 11 seconds ahead of Nate Ward.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Image: Ada Rand win the 17-year 1500m in a record time (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)