NORTHERN ATHLETICS CENTRE- ST LEONARDS 

WEDNESDAY 20th NOVEMBER 2024 

 After a couple of initial setbacks (flat battery on the bus and a huge traffic jam in Launceston) our strong team of athletes began their day of activities. We participated in the Division 2A carnival this year, against St Helens, Scottsdale, Port Dalrymple and Lilydale.  

The day was extremely hot and difficult conditions- especially for the longer distance races. Our students represented with passion, pride and determination…..as they always do at Inter-High events . We saw some outstanding individual performances on the day and excellent commitment by some students to pick up extra events for the good of the team. We were the smallest team in Division 2A, but that did not stop us giving our best, brining in ribbon after ribbon and being the envy of other schools (because we had the tunes)!!! 

There were so many fantastic individual performances on the day, with the stand outs coming from: 

• Sienna - five 1st place ribbons and amazing 200m and 400m runs 

• Jaxon – four 1st place ribbons and an inspiring 400m run 

• Lachie W- A brilliant 1500m run finishing 80m in front of the next runner  

• Helayna - three 1st place ribbons and an excellent win in the 200m 

• Wally – not sure how many place ribbons he won, but he looked strong in the sprint events 

• Mathew - 1st in the Long Jump, Triple Jump and 100m 

• Ryan and Harley - placed well in all their events for the Grade 8 boys 

There was one new record for the meet.  

• Jessie Q beat the record for the Division 2A Grade 7 girls Javelin. 

Old record: 22.23m New record: 22.24cm 

CONGRATULATIONS Jessie on this wonderful achievement. 

These carnivals are essentially a team effort, and we could not have achieved the results that we did without all the students who participated on the day. A big shout out to the following students who picked up extra events or had a large programme of events for the day: Harley, Oliver, Sam, Finn T, Mathew, Daniel, Theo and Jessie. And, a special mention to Georgia and Savannah for running up a Grade to fill positions in the Grade 9 girls events. 

The results were extremely close at the end of the day: 

St Marys District School: 5th in the junior shield  

St Marys District School: 2nd in the senior shield (by 7 points- St Helens won) 

St Marys District School: 3rd in the combined teams overall shield  

It was fantastic to be a part of this day and to share in the many successes of our students at this event. Thank you to the staff and parents who supported our SMDS team. It was wonderful to have such a large contingent of supporters to cheer on our team.  

Congratulations to all our athletes and thank you for your commitment to representing our school in such a positive way. We retained our spot in Division 2 and look forward to another great competition next year. 

Laura Swanson