NSW Combined Event Championships Reviews

27 January 2021

NSW Combined Event Championships Reviews

Athletes, coaches, officials and supporters endured stifling heat at the NSW Combined Event Championships held at Campbelltown on January 23-24. Despite the conditions, there were many terrific all-round performances.

Open men and women

UTS Norths all-rounder, Chloe Davis, was a comfortable winner of the open women’s heptathlon title. Chloe had a particularly strong day two, with performances of 5.05m (long jump), 37.32m (javelin) and 2:30.93 (800m). She defeated Sydney Uni’s Brooke East who scored 2608 points.

In the open men’s decathlon, Newcastle teenager Sam Taylor complied an impressive tally of 6460 points to defeat Sydney Uni’s Tom Galvin and Asics Wests’ Donald Ohmer. Sam, who was fifth in the Australian junior championships last year, compiled impressive performances in the sprints/jumps and hurdles. He started with a swift 11.08 in the 100m, then followed with a big long jump of 6.95m. On day two, his highlights were 110m hurdles (16.42) and pole vault (3.70m). Tom Galvin compiled a genuine all-round performance, with the standout a 3.50m clearance in the pole vault. Third placegetter Don Ohmer injured his foot in the pole vault, but still completed the competition with a throw of 42.44m in the javelin and starting in the 1500m.

Under 20 men and women

There were high quality performances by the winners of the junior decathlon and heptathlon titles last weekend.

Ella Koster (UTN) compiled a tremendous score of 4408 points to win the women’s under-20 heptathlon. She outscored the open competition and easily surpassed her previous best of 4330 with the under-18 implements and specifications. Ella’s most significant result was a 1.56m high jump, well in excess of her 1.42m in her last multi-event. She also scored well in the hurdles and long jump.

In the men’s decathlon, Wollongong’s Thomas Noakes scored a terrific total of 6148 points. He claimed gold on the back of a solid second day, after sitting in second overnight to Hills athlete Blake Archer. Thomas Noakes’ highlights were his 110m hurdles (16.22) and pole vault (3.60m) and an impressive all-round performance across the events. For silver medallist Blake Archer, he set up his performance early with a tremendous long jump (6.69m) and shot (13.77m). Overcoming an early setback in the long jump, bronze medallists Joshua Watson sailing home to a medal on day two courtesy an impressive 110m hurdles (16.36) and pole vault (3.30m).

Under 18 girls heptathlon and boys decathlon

In the under-18 girls heptathlon the gold medal was in the balance until the final event. Sprinter/hurdler/jumper Lily Tilt (HIL) was pitted against Trinity’s Karina Bell, a talented thrower and high jumper. The honours were shared on day one with two wins each, Lily in the 100m hurdles and 200m, and Karina in the high jump and shot put. On the tally board, Lily led by 121 points. She extended that lead on day two in the long jump, but an enormous javelin throw of 44.36m by Karina moved her into the lead going into final event. In the 800m, Karina ensured victory, finishing ahead of Lily in a time of 2:30.95. There respective scores of 4485 and 4372 were PB and are competitive nationally. Local Campbelltown athlete, Lauryn Kasozi, won the bronze, with her best marks in the 100m hurdles (15.64) and long jump (5.14m).

Early in the boys under-18 decathlon, there was little difference between the leading four athletes, until the high jump, when Cherrybrook’s Robbie Cullen excelled with a 1.91m clearance. He won the 400m and led after day one with 3166 points, from Raymond Terrace’s Cody Hancock (3094 pts), Singleton’s Saxon Lorenz (2881 pts) and Westfields Jakob Masters (2596 pts). Robbie Cullen extended his lead on day two with a smooth win in the 110m hurdles, then sailed home for gold on the back of a good pole vault (2.90m) and javelin (46.90m). He tallied 5868 points, with Cody Hancock second (5530 pts) and Saxon Lorenz third (5022 pts).

Under 16 boys and girls

The under-16 boys and girls heptathlon were very competitive with a group of very talented emerging athletes in each event.

In the girls heptathlon, Talahn Paki (HIL) got off to a blistering start in the 90m hurdles clocking a slightly wind assisted time of 13.21. That attracted over 1000 points – a rare achievement. But on her home track, Campbelltown’s Damita Betham was going to be competitive and claimed the third and fourth events, the shot put (12.46m) and 200m (26.16), to hold a near 100 point advantage over Talahn Paki after day one. A capable long jumper, unfortunately Damita recorded no points in the first event on day two with three fouls, while Talahn Paki hit a PB 5.43m to regain the lead. Damita rebounded with a tremendous 29.17m javelin and closed the day with a time of 2:39.97 in the 800m. Talahn won the 800m with a tremendous 800m time of 2:30.81, easily securing the gold medal with a prestigious score of 4497 points. Damita’s strong all round performance guaranteed her the silver. There was a close battle for bronze with Hornsby’s Bella Kachel just 31 points ahead of Jaide Almeida (ASW) going into the final event, but Bella held off Jaide in the 800m, by six seconds, to secure the medal with a score of 3301 points.

The boys heptathlon, was a close see-sawing battle throughout. The honours on day one were shared amongst three medal prospects Angus Clues (Blue Mountains), Kurt Rutter (Dubbo) and Liam Coles (Mingara). Central Coast’s Liam Coles enjoyed a solid opening day, with bookend wins in the 100m hurdles (13.83) and 200m (23.81). Kurt Rutter claimed the high jump with a leap of 1.77m, but Angus Clues’ 15.78m win in the shot, was enough to put him in the lead overnight with a score of 2644 points. After a winning long jump effort of 6.05m, Angus looked on a pathway to victory as he still had a strong event, the javelin remaining. After he launched the spear to 46.36m, he closed with a 5:29 1500m to win by 287 points. The battle was on for the silver and bronze medals with Liam Coles starting day two well with a long jump of 5.78m, however Kurt Rutter responded with a 44.02m throw in the javelin. Kurt then needed to beat Liam Coles by 10 seconds in the 1500m, which he achieved to take the silver by nine points with Liam Coles in third.

Under 14 Pentathlon - boys & girls

Piper Todd (BAN) and Jozef Cluff (TRI) were crowned NSW under-14 girls and boys Pentathlon champions at Campbelltown on Saturday.

In the girls event, Piper Todd made a great start in the high jump (1.45m) with a comfortable win. She also won the 200m (27.66), but her win was a strong all round performance.

A feature of second placed Le'ati Moefaauo (WES) was a tremendous shot put of 10.93m.

It was a comfortable win for Jozef Cluff in the boys event, highlighted by an enormous shot put of 12.99m. He also won the javelin and 800m events.

Masters Pentathlons

Seven NSW championships were decided in the Masters Pentathlon events held in very warm conditions on Saturday.

In the women’s 30+ Cora Patriarca (UTN) was a comfortable winner with impressive individual marks in the long jump (5.00m) and javelin (36.09m). The 40+ women’s was decided in the last event with Joanna Davis (UTN) passing event leader Caroline Ellis (EPP) in the 800m. Davis clocked 2:58.37 in the half-mile to win by 240 points.

In the 50+ women’s Vicki Townsend (MAS) was strong throughout her five events – winning three the shot (9.82m), long jump (4.00m) and javelin (20.64m). Runner up, Philippa Wight (SYP) had a great start winning the 100m in 14.61 seconds. Experienced all round athlete, Christine Shaw (WOL) was untroubled claiming the 60+ women’s event. A feature was her 24.67m winning mark in the javelin.

In the men’s 40+ Balmain’s Ryan Catzel claimed gold ahead of endurance athlete EJ Davie (SSR) who unsurprisingly gained good points in the last event the 1500m. For Ryan, a highlight was a fast 26.24 in the 200m.

A large field of six athletes lined-up in the men’s 50+ Pentathlon. Wallsend’s Alan Provenzano was never headed, starting with an outstanding 5.04m in the long jump. He extended the lead with a 40.64m throw in the javelin, holding on to win with 2951 points. There was a battle emerging for the siler and bronze medals and it would come down to the challenging 1500m. Board Member, Andrew Watson (BAL), had shot into a comfortable second place after a tremendous javelin throw of 36.56m, but he would have to hold off the speedy Anthony Howlett (WOL) in the metric mile. In the end Anthony took the silver ahead of Andrew, by just nine points with a strong 1500m time of 5:32.69.

The men’s 60+ Pentathlon was decided in the last event, as UTS Norths’s Zoran Novicic swooped past leader Daryl Ellis (Wyong) for gold. Ellis had compiled strong results in the long jump (4.24m), javelin (23.84m) and 200m 30.31, while Zoran’s highlight was an impressive 27.00m discus.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Start of the open, U20 and U18 decathlon 1500m (courtesy of David Tarbotton)