NSW Junior Championships Days 3 & 4

17 March 2025

NSW Junior Championships Days 3 & 4

The great conditions for good performances continued on days three and four at the NSW junior Championships being held at Homebush.

Malachi dedicates his performance to Lismore people

Overcoming limited access to his training venue due to cyclone Alfred and the following floods, Lismore’s Malachi Canning set a personal best and qualified for the Virtus Global Games. Competing in the T20 para javelin, Malachi nailed a throw of 39.90m, adding 76cm to his PB. This qualifier puts him in a good position to be selected for his second Virtus Global Games. Over the championships Malachi also won the shot (9.57m) and discus (33.94m) and placed second in the long jump (4.71m).

Flooded in 2022, this time Malachi, who lives with his family 10 minutes outside of Lismore on a 50-acre property was not affected. But some of his family were not so lucky.

“Some family members got flooded, it's really sad, so I did this for them,” said Malachi.

However it also affected Malachi’s training.

“I couldn't train in the lead up because the oval was flooded.”

400m breakthroughs, then doubles for Joshua Smith and William Zakis

With enormous depth across all events there is always opportunity for some exciting breakthroughs, and this is what we witnessed across the U20 and U18 400s with four athletes dipping under 48 seconds.

In the under-18s Joshua Smith, from The King’s School continued his progression this season. This season he has taken his best from over 50 seconds to Saturdays’ brilliant 47.81.

So why does he think he has progressed so much this summer?

“Staying consistent with my training has really helped.”

Joshua, who also plays basketball, has been doing athletics since he was aged 8.

But Joshua was not done, when on Sunday he defeated a strong 200m field to clock a very impressive 21.11 – the fastest wind legal time of the day.

In the under-20s William Zakis took his one lap best to a new level clocking 47.64 in the 400m final. It was a high-quality event with less than one second separating the top-5 and another two athletes, Brenton Kerr (47.84) and Taurus Traino (47.87) dipping under 48 seconds. For Brenton it was his fifth consecutive PB (in finals) after commencing the season with a best of 50.06.

Like Joshua Smith, William Zakis was not finished with just one gold in the 400m, when on Sunday he stepped up to the half mile and stunned the field. On the start line in the 800m he was ranked about fourth, some two seconds behind the number one seed, but he rose to the occasion slicing half a second from his recent PB to clock 1:52.56 – easily the fastest time of the day.

Coached by Lewis Squadrito and Ben St Lawrence, William’s story this year has been one of the value of patience. Over the summer of 2022/23 he made good progress down to 1:55 at Nationals.

“Two years ago, it (my PB) just jumped at nationals all of a sudden in the 800m, where I took three seconds off my 800m time that year, but then I plateaued,” said William.

After making no improvement over the summer of 2023/24 and early during the 2024/25 season, suddenly last month he improved a few seconds to 1:52.90.

William analysed why he feels he has made the recent progress.

“I think dedication and consistency and just sticking through it.”

Sienna Latanis – wins a thriller

After four long days in the heat, the last field event on the program was a triller – the 16y/U17 girls shot put. Favourites for the title were the gold and silver medallists from last December’s Australian All Schools – Kaiah Wong and Tallara Joseph-Riogi. Heptathlete Sienna Latanis would also be in the mix.

After two rounds Kaiah Wong was on fire hitting a massive PB of 14.01m, to lead Zhaliya Tanielu-Park (13.33m) and Sienna Lantanis (13.15m) comfortably. But the competition heated up in round three with Sienna nailing a massive 54cm PB of 14.09m, to take the lead over Kaiah by a narrow 8cm. The athletes had just one last attempt and Kaiah was not done, launch the 3kg shot out to another PB of 14.04m, but falling tantalisingly close to the gold – 5cm.

Power sprinting

In the men’s sprints we witnessed some fascinating results with some favourites confirming their status, while others emerged. The Australian under-17 100m champion Zavier Peacock was unchallenged in the 100m clocking the fastest time of the day – 10.58 into a 2.0m/s headwind ! He held off hurdler Ollie Facer with 10.71, as six athletes went under 11 seconds. But in the under-20 100m Camden’s Ben Kelly was a surprise winner in 10.78, narrowly ahead of Isaac Kwan with 10.79. In the under-17 100m Epeosi Ugbomhe continued his incredible rise winning the 100m in 10.90. He shot to prominence when 11 months ago he was second in the Australian under-16 100m championship.

Naomi Krajancic – fastest 400m of the championships

We have to search all the way done to the 15/U16s to find the fastest girls 400m of the championships. National All Schools champion, Naomi Krajancic won in an impressive 54.92 – her second fastest time of her career. Also impressive in the race was Orange’s Adelaide Pittis, the 2023 Australian All Schools champion, smashed her PB by a second to clock 55.72.

Naomi used the presence of Adelaide to help better cope with race pressure.

“When I see someone near me I often feel fatigued as I work harder. So today (when Adelaide was there) I was trying to stay relaxed and focused, so I could use all my energy at the end.”

Naomi is one of the athletes effected by the closed Narrabeen track.

“Training has been going well, although I'm still training on the grass track.”

Pouring medals for Marnie Laurence and Sienne Vassella

A number of young all-round talents, Marnie Lawrence and Sienne Vassella, experienced running their 100m events in front of the large Sydney Track Classic crowd on Saturday evening. They both delivered strong wins, adding to their large medal hauls.

NSW heptathlete champion, Sienna Vassella dominated the 14y/U15 events winning the sprint double and long jump. She also just missed the podium in the 90m hurdles. While in the 13y/U14 Marnie Laurence won the 100/200 double, long jump and triple jump and just like Sienna was fourth in the 80m hurdles, but did take the 200m hurdles title.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Malachi Canning para shot (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)