Home
William Fitzgerald takes National X Country B Title
GOLD MEDAL FOR WILLIAM FITZGERALD AT THE JUVENILLE B NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
All Ireland's Cross Country Juvenille B Medalists
Craughwell AC with 3 U17 Girls in the top 12 Medalists; Ailbhe Miskella 5th place, Ciara Sheppard 10th place and Catherine Noonan 12th place
All Ireland's Cross Country Juvenille B Medalists
Craughwell AC with 2 U17 Boys in the top 12 Medalists; William Fitzgerald Gold and Patrick Noonan 5th
The All Ireland Juvenille B Cross Country Championships were held in Kilcornan, Clarinbride on the 11th February. Words will not describe the "Baltic" conditions on this day, so instead here are a few photo's to enable the reader to picture zero degree temperatures, icy winds, poor visibility...blue legs, missing spikes (in thick mud), numb feet, numb fingers and numb bodies.
Emily Miskella running in the U15 Girls Juvenille B National Championships
U17's; Catherine Noonan, Patrick Noonan, Ailbhe Miskella and Ciara Sheppard
Ailbhe Miskella 5th place in Juvenille B National Cross Country Championships
On this snowy, bitterly cold winters day we possibly had one of our largest group of athletes competing in the Juvenille B National Cross Country Championships. One consolation was the "not so early start" for most of our athlethes, who had a short commute to the village of Clarinbridge. I believe the Noonan's could even run from their house through the woods and onto the course.
The course route differed slightly (from the Cross Country Galway's which were held here at the end of last year), however, the course conditions were immensely different and ten times more severe. Poor visibility and thick "slushy" mud made racing incredibly challenging and physically demanding. One of the athletes spoke of the challenge that she faced to keep her feet moving in the same direction, as the entire feet sunk deep into the mud and proved hugely difficult to lift the foot up again for the next stride. Many lost their shoes. Most athletes turned a shade of mild to bright blue. Many wondered why they had ever considered cross country at all. However, despite all these feelings, most were delighted in the end as the overall achievement of Craughwell AC runners at this event was phenomenal.
The highlight of the day was our very own talented William Fitzgerald who dominated the race from gun to tape. It was without question from the begining of this race that William charging out like a "greyhound" could NOT be "taken" at any point. The race was "his". Patrick Noonan also held very strong throughout the race and coming in 5th gained his first ever National Medal.
Patrick Noonan and William Fitzgerald U17
Our U17 Girls ALL medalled in their race with Ailbhe Miskella having a superb race, maintaining her 5th position throughout, Ciara Sheppard running very strong to come in 10th. Catherine Noonan who has suffered with on going injuries over the past few months, and has only really begun training consistently recently, held a fine position throughout the race to medal in 12th place.
In our U15 boys (with 47 finishers), Oisin Davis had a fantastic race and charged to the finish line in 13th place.In the U15 girls (55 finishers) Emily Miskella came 36th and Aoibhinn Keane 50th.
Oisin Davis U15 Boys; 13th place
I missed the U13 races so Mairead Lavan has the following to say in relation to them:
"Three of our U13 girsl defied a cold and snowy morning in Kicornan, and put in exceptional performances in the 1500m. Fauve Aylmer was the first Craughwell girl home in 15th place, followed closely by Clodagh O'Meara 18th and Jade Moorhead in a respectiable 66th pace. Poor Jade lost both her spikes in the wet, mucky conditions.
A team of 6 U13 boys were next to the start line for the 1500m and were feeling the effects of the cold well before the start gun. Despite frozen toes, all 6 struggled through and finished the race. Daniel Galvin had a very strong run and was first hone in 26th position, followed by Ryan McDonnell 46, Evan Hallinan 54, Cian Lavan 60, Luke Flynn 64 and Gavin Keenan (stepping up), 67th."
U11 Boys Team
Below are the results of our U11 boys and girls:
U11 Girls (103 finishers)
Emma O'Donovan 65
Kelly Hallinan 74
U11 Boys (111 finishers)
Darragh Reidy 39
Fionn Higgins 44
Keelan Moorhead 53
Sean Lavan 59
Darragh Kelly 60
ALex Ryan 89
Caelan Coleman 92
Diarmuid Kelleher 108
And for the finale Mark Davis (35 finishers) Masters 45: 10th place....
Well done to each and every one of you who braved the elements and achieved so much.
Another Brilliant Night of Athletics at AIT Grand Prix
High profile interviews after the AIT Grand Prix!
A massive well done to Ciaran O’Cathain and his hard-working team in Athlone IT for pulling together another fantastic night of athletics at the AIT Grand Prix graced by some of the biggest names in athletics and some magic moments on the night.
A packed house witnessed some fantastic spectacles including the historic mile run by adopted local hero John Travers who becomes the first Irishman to break the magical 4-minute barrier indoors on Irish soil. Travers had a number of attempts at the mystic mark while in college in AIT a few years just missing out on a number of occasions. But there was no missing out on this occasion as he blitzed around the track crossing the line in 3rd place in a time of 3.59.40.
The night kicked off with some exhilarating performances in the 3 juvenile relay races including our very own 4x200m relay teams. First into the fray were the U13 Mixed Relay team of Cormac McFadden, Grace Keaveney, Jamie Collins and Muireann Leen who raced to a brilliant 3rd place in their 4x200m. They were followed swiftly by the U13 Girls team who powered around the track to take a brilliant 2nd place with their team of Siobhan Carr, Aoibhe Donnellan, Chloe Hallinan and Niamh Duffy. And the top-notch performances continued the next race where the U13 Boys team swept all before them to take victory in their 4x200m with their team of Eoin Spelman, Conor Gilligan, Eddie Silke and Evan Moran.
Meanwhile the men’s pole vault competitors were warming up where we had the privilege of witnessing the current and previous World Champions in action … USA’s Sam Kendricks and Canada’s Shawn Barber amongst others. Kendricks and Barber didn’t disappoint with massive 5.60m clearances, Barber clipping 5.70m and Kendricks going on to clear 5.70m but just fail to set a new stadium record of 5.80m. An exciting high jump also concluded with Irish Indoor champion Barry Pender sharing 3rd place with a leap of 2.19m – our own Jerry Keary had finished 2nd to Barry a few days earlier at the Irish National Senior Championships.
Kendricks and Barber after the pole vault
There were some incredibly exciting races on both the sprint track and circular track with the highlights being an absolutely cracking 400m race where the great Thomas Barr put his heart and the crowd’s hearts on the line when leading the race into the final 100m before being passed just prior to the final bend and with the crowd willing him forward on every step, he surged again with 30m to go to retake the lead and cross the line in 46.94 to the joy of an incredibly partisan crowd. The excitement of this race was matched in the men’s 800m where Mark English ran an absolutely cracking race to very almost take the victory on the line in an incredible 1.47.48 just 3 hundredths of a second behind the winner. What a talent!
And the night was rounded off by the brilliant mile run by the aforementioned John Travers – who is not only 1 of the most talented Irishmen in athletics but also one of the humblest. I can remember a couple of years ago him unselfishly assisting as an official at a Universities track and field in Athlone, not something you will see many elite athletes do. Its wonderful now to see it all coming together for him.
So another Grand Prix comes to an end, a mighty occasion in front of a full house and hopefully there will be many more to come.
Fifty Years Old Today!
As far as I can determine, the club is 50 years old today !! … with a couple of interruptions in the intervening years.
The following is an extract from The Connacht Tribune, Friday, March 1, 1968.
We will be organizing something later in the year to properly commemorate the club’s first half-century!
Craughwell Athletic Club
At a meeting in Craughwell on Friday night the first ever athletic club in the district was formed.
The election of officers was as follows: Chairman: Mr. Gerry Connolly; Vice-Chairman: Mr. Michael Conroy; Secretary: Mr. Christie Kennedy; Assistant Secretary: Mr Donald Raftery; Treasurer: Mr. Fred Brady; Committee Members: Mr Sean Kelly, N.T., Craughwell, Mr P. Geoghegan, Mr. B. Keane, Mr. Paddy Hynes, Mr. Michael Gilligan, Mr. Tony Hanley, Mr. Paul Dolan, Mr. Dominick Spelman, Mr Bob Casey.
It is hoped to have training sessions in the local G.A.A. pitch later, with Mr. C. Kennedy, Galway Co. Secretary B.L.E., as coach.
Timetable for Connacht Indoors (Amended 22 Feb)
Timetable attached below. Please note that all times are provisional.
Saturday 24th Feb U12/13
Sunday 25th Feb U14/older
ConnachtIndoorsTimetable2018Amended22Feb.pdf
Community Games Cross Country & Marathon
The closing date is coming up for entry to the Galway finals for selection of Galway teams for the following events
- 7k Marathon (over 14 and under 16)
- Seperate boys and girls events
- First 4 in each race will represent Galway in the National finals
- 1200m cross country (over 11 and under 13)
- Seperate races at county level to pick first 5 boys and first 5 girls for county team.
- County team all run in same race at National level (boys and girls together).
- Mixed distance cross country relay (over 10 and under 12)
- Just 1 normal 600m race for boys and 1 for girls at county level but at National, its a relay team of 4.
- First 6 boys and first 6 girls in the Galway races selected for county team.
- Numbers 5 and 6 are usually subs but get to run in a subs race comprising 2 boys and 2 girls on the relay team.
- Mixed distance cross country relay (over 12 and under 14)
- Similar to the under 12 race except the distance is 800m.
- Similar to the under 12 race except the distance is 800m.
The Galway finals will take place on a date to be confirmed shortly while the National finals take place in University of Limerick on the weekend of 26th and 27th May.
Please text me at 087 6591879 if from the Craughwell Community Games area and interested in taking part in the Galway finals. I need the entries by Friday 16th March.
thanks
Mike Tobin
Jerry Leaps to First National Senior Medal
Another great day of athletics at the National Senior Indoors saw Jerry Keary claim his first senior medal at National level when he leaped 1.90m on his first attempt to claim the silver medal and was unlucky not to go higher when just brushing 1.95m off on his final attempt. Jerry becomes the first male athlete from the club to claim a National senior medal indoors and his 7th National Indoor High Jump medal with his first coming as an U12 in 2011 when he won bronze with a clearance of 1.20m. He followed that up with silver as an U16 in 2015 with a clearance of 1.70m, silver again in 2016 with a clearance of 1.89m, silver again in 2017 with 1.96m and bronze in the U20s with 1.90, silver a couple of weeks ago in the U20s with 1.90m and now silver at senior level with 1.90m. Super jumping and a lot more to come in the future from a great athlete.
It was also another wonderful day for Sinéad Gaffney. The ink had barely dried on her new club record of 2.19.56 from yesterdays 800 semi-finals when Sinéad ran another electric race in the final of the womens 800m at the National Senior Indoors and knocked another half-second off her record when crossing the line in 8th place in a time of 2.19.10. To run a PB and a club record is special, to do it twice in less than 24 hours is extra special!
Well done Sinéad and Jerry, the club is proud of you 😊.
NCAA UPDATE: Double Trouble in Alabama
Damian was back on the track again recently, when he competed at the Samford Open Meet, hosted by the University of Samford in Birmingham, Alabama.
After making the 9 hour journey by bus from Lake Charles in Louisiana the day before, Damian lined up in the A-Section of the mile event (1609m) in the morning section of the meet. A very intelligently run race saw Damian sit right in behind the leader for the first half of the race, maintaining an overall pace just under 4:20 for the distance (32 second laps for those who are not knowledgeable about splits). With an early break coming as the lap counter read 4 laps to go Damian held his position keeping his place at the back of a small group of three athletes beginning to pull away from the field. With 2 laps to go and now making moves up into second place the race was now on for our man! As the Bell rang for the final lap Damian, still looking comfortable in second place, edged up onto the shoulder of the leader from Emory University, who surged forward in response maintaining his line and holding onto the lead around the penultimate bend, ultimately to no avail as Damian slipped right back in behind awaiting the Back straight where he turned on the afterburners coming wide to streak away from the field effortlessly all the way to the finish, taking his first collegiate win of the season easily in a time of 4:16.81 only 1.14 seconds off of his PB for the distance set this time last year at the University of Notre Dame. (and currently ranked 12th in the Southland Conference)
Mind and Body well and truly back and firing on all cylinders for the young man, but with the season unfortunately shortened this year due to the earlier injuries, the decision was made to double-up this weekend and so coming off the Track after the mile meant straight into the recovery phase in order to prepare for the 800m only 2.5hrs away. After some light lunch and a quick warm-up it was back on track for the start of the 800m. This time (in the B-section) following along for the ride Damian chased the group through the laps as they clocked off their splits 28, 29, 29 and then through the final lap struggle to cross the line in a close 4th with a finishing time of 1:58.53 again only a second off of his official PB of 1:57.51 (1:55.86 converted) to place him 11th overall in the event. (a very good time considering not being fresh after 9 months away)
This is the leading mark this year from a Craughwell Man, and very close to the indoor record
The Indoor season will conclude with the Mid-Week Southland Conference Championships back in Birmingham, Alabama, before a quick turnover into the Outdoor season where the Cowboy’s will open up at home on March 10, at the Annual Cowboy Relay Meet
History made at the All Irelands X Country
Caron Ryan Bronze U19 Sean Cotter U15 - 5th Place Ben Ryan U17 - 8th Place
NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017
Outstanding performances at the All-Ireland Cross Country Championships in Abbottstown & Waterford
(Firstly, can I apologise for the length of time it has taken to submit this article...intentions were good)
It is always a tough time of year for competition with athletes and parents having to travel significant distances in extreme weather conditions. The first weekend of X Country All Ireland’s in November, proved challenging with Met Eireann weather warnings the night before and black ice on the roads down to Abbottstown that morning. Nonetheless Craughwell had athletes representing ages from U12 up to Junior men/women.
Cross country winter racing is not for the faint hearted and preparing yourself before a race is a huge part of the challenge. There is the extreme cold air to contend with which can literally take your breath away, along with the apprehension of how you will perform; whether you will manage to sprint out from the maddening crowd or take your time at the start to avoid potential injury or getting pushed over and even trampled over. Both the mind and body need to be ready for this onslaught.
Unfortunately, on this morning, this necessary preparatory period was missed by most of our athletes. With the severe conditions of the road causing most athletes to arrive late, racing was delayed by 40mins. There were scenes of athletes jumping from cars to run to get numbers and start their very short or non-existent warm up. With nerves heightened by these experiences our younger athletes coped very well and arrived at the start line a little shaken but nonetheless prepared to do their very best. Mathys Bocquet, (U12) one of our young talented athletes was running both on the Galway and Connacht teams and had a strong run from the gun to storm into the finish in 32nd place. Mathys was the first Galway county runner in and the 4th Connacht runner to finish.
Aoibhinn Keane (u14) found the conditions very tough and yet still managed to score for the Galway county team. (A huge congratulation to Emma Moore (U14) from GCH who during the same race had an incredible 3rd place finish. At All Ireland level this is a remarkable achievement).
Next to run were the U14 Boys where Craughwell on this day had only one brave runner; Ross McGuiness who had a fine performance coming in 70th place.
Unfortunately, due to a recent injury Ailbhe Miskella who held a place on the Galway County team was unable to make the race, which left Ciara Shepard to represent the u16 girls. Ciara also running for the Galway County team has also been battling through injury recently however, faced the challenge with little experience at All Ireland level. Ciara managed to hold her strong position throughout the race and finally finished in 101 position.
In one of the finest performances of the day; Sean Cotter (U15) running up an age in the U16 race battled the mud, cold and hills and at one stage appeared to be around 40th position and out of nowhere with only one lap to go, charged forward and crossed the line in 15th place and the first Galway team member to finish. Kyle Moorhead also ran for Galway and had a fine race.
U18 and Junior men ran together, and as I have mentioned before, it is such a difficult race to watch (never mind run in), as you are never sure who your contenders are until the final results go up. Ben Ryan was competing both in the U18’s race and on the Junior Men’s Galway team (even though he actually age category is U17). Ben’s strong run brought him to a finishing 16th place, falling just a few places off a National medal. Also running in this race and charging to the finish line with only two places between them was Patrick Noonan and Luke Evans. William Fitzpatrick who has trained incredibly hard this season was forced to abandon the race after experiencing difficulties half way through. William not wanting to let his fellow runners down on the day, courageously went to the start line, despite spending the previous two weeks on antibiotics for a chest infection.
For the finale of the All Ireland’s Even Ages; was Ben Ryan’s equally talented sibling; Caron who raced in the Junior Women’s race and coming in 11th place led the Galway County team to 4th place in the All Irelands. All the recent successes of this strong athlete were rewarded when Caron was selected to represent Ireland in 2018 in her debut International Cross Country.
With 3 weeks between the two All Ireland’s our cross-country group continued training relentlessly to see could they better their previous performances. Such energy and enthusiasm were evident down at the field over the following few weeks which saw temperatures plummeting to 1 degree centigrade with ice underfoot around pathways down in renville, oranmore (where they also train).
Hard work and motivation paid off for the athletes who returned to take part in the Uneven Ages All Ireland’s which were held in the WIT arena in Waterford. Again, with the cold weather and distraction of xmas planning it can proof challenging to fit in competitions of such a level. On Sunday the weather was mild, breezy and dry in comparison to Abbottstown, however, the soft conditions underfoot made this hilly course a real challenge for athletes.
On this day in Waterford last Sunday, history was made!
I have looked over the statistics that are so diligently put together by our resident statistician; Mike Tobin, (and unless I am mistaken), Craughwell AC had the finest performances ever, with 3 of our athletes placing 3rd, 5th, 8th.
For the first race of the day, Darragh Reidy, Fionn Higgins and Sean Lavan represented our U11’s and battled hard through very tough race conditions. All three athletes found the All Ireland race pushed them to limits that even the most seasoned of runners would find a huge challenge. Despite harsh conditions they ran extremely well to finish in 100, 102 and 106 positions, Darragh although not medalling was the 6th runner to score on the Galway County Team. A lone runner Fauve Aylmer represented the girls U13’s and in her fine performance was the 3rd Galway team runner across the line and the 5th Connacht runner. She placed 60th.
Next to the start line were are U13 boys; Mathys Bocquet (U12) and Cian Lavan (U13). Mathys replicated his fantastic achievement from the previous weeks All Irelands and finished in a fine position of 43rd. Mathys was the 1st boy to cross the line from the Galway team and Cian the 6th.
Unfortunately, due to last minute injuries/sickness we were unable to send along a full complement of team for our U15 boys. Our duo instead of Sean Cotter and Liam Leen made their way to the start line, where conditions underfoot were now treacherous. We have often mentioned Liam Leen’s ability to turn up to such high calibre races with very little training due to his huge commitment to so many other sports at which he always excels. This young athlete never disappoints and had a steady start and in Liam style worked his way through the field of athletes, in particular in the last lap where he took over several runners and finished in a strong performance to come in 53rd position and 2nd Galway County team runner in.
Sean Cotter has simply gone from strength to strength over the past 3 years, which is shown by the following statistics;
2014 U12-30th. U13-69th
2015 U13-11th
2016 U14-28th U15-70th
Seán ran out a little more aggressively than Liam from the onset and was in the leading pack of 10 athletes for the first 2k. After dropping back to around 19th position going into the final lap Seán dug deep into his residual energy resources and charging on the straight with only 50m to go was “neck and neck” for 4th place. He was “pipped” at the finish line and with the performance of his lifetime had an incredible 5th place position. There are only a small number of athletes who will ever be able to say they achieved this position in All Ireland’s Cross Country. This is a just reward for this dedicated and motivated athlete.
This was the first of our top 3 places.
Second phenomenal achievement was Ben Ryan’s 8th place finish. After achieving 16th place in Abbottstown, Ben was determined to reach his full potential in this nail biting race that saw him sitting back slightly in the group at one stage and then charging into such a high position, where neck to neck with a few other runners he fought incredibly hard to come in and came 8th. Another All Ireland medal for this fantastic runner.
The final race for Craughwell this day in Abbotstown saw Caron Ryan achieving what few athletes ever have! A third place in a National All Ireland Cross Country Final. I have said in previous articles these medals are like “hens teeth”, a medal that many would aspire to but few achieve, due to the sheer volumes in the race, along with the endurance, strength and bravery required.
As stated by Mike Tobin:
“It has been a phenomenal year for Caron Ryan who was recently selected for the Irish Development Team to contest the Celtic Cross Country in Antrim in early January. Caron’s incredible 2017 saw her place 12th in the National Junior Women’s 4000m in Abbotstown and she followed this up with an amazing 3rd place finish in the National U19 4000m in Waterford IT. Her selection for Ireland is richly deserved for a very dedicated athlete”.
Mike's photo from previous article: (unfortunately with all the excitement on the day...photo's were scarce):
New PB and Club Senior Record for Sinead Gaffney
Jack Miskella, Gavin Cooney and Sinead Gaffney
pictured at the National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown
following their brilliant 800m performances
Day 1 of the National Senior Indoors took place today with fantastic performances from 3 of our athletes in the semi-finals of the 800m.
Sinead Gaffney ran a stormer of a race in the women’s 800m semi-final to break the club’s (and her own!) senior record of 2.20.04 which she set in the same race in 2016. Sinead ran perfect splits for the 4 laps, going though 400m in 69 seconds and finishing strongly to take 5th place in an excellent time of 2.19.56. Sinead’s time was good enough to take the last qualification spot for tomorrow’s final – a huge achievement for Sinead. It comes on the back of some excellent performances in the last number of weeks – running 2.22. 62 in the National League in mid-January, following it up a day later with a 2.23.38 to win the Galway Senior 800m title, 2.20.87 in the second round of the National League and 2.20.27 in the National League final in early February. The stars were aligned for a big performance today with so many good times in the preceding month and Sinead’s new club record is richly deserved with the added bonus of qualification for the final.
Sinead’s 800m was swiftly followed by Gavin Cooney and Jack Miskella in the second semi-final of the men’s 800m. Both men have been edging towards breaking the magical 2-minute barrier this season and were looking to the races today to drag them another split second towards that mark. Unfortunately, a tactical race got off to a slow start and went through 100m in 15.5 second making 2-minutes unlikely. The pace wound up a little and Gavin chased the leaders hard throughout to blaze across the line in a new PB of 2.01.32 and only just miss out on qualification for tomorrow’s final – taking 7th place overall with the first 6 making the final. Jack ran a brilliant 2.05.75 just a second outside his PB but a fine performance at the highest level of 800m running in the country.
So a great day in Dublin and best of luck tomorrow to Sinead in the 800m final and also to Jerry Keary in the final of the men’s high jump.
NUIG AC on the up!
A brilliant day in Athlone IT saw a number of athletes from the club in action in the Universities Track & Field. Pride of place went to Sinead Treacy who along with her NUIG teammates blitzed around the boards in Athlone to take the victory in the 4x200m relay in an impressive time of 1.42.70, 2.5 seconds clear of their nearest rival.
It was also a great day for Aisling Keady who made her return to the track in almost a year with a brilliant 4.74m leap to take 5th place in the women's long jump and score valuable points for her NUIG team.
And another athlete on his comeback after injury, Conor Duggan (representing UCD) had a fine run in both the 60m and 200m, recording a time of 22.91 in the 200m and following it up with a 7.18 in the 60m before capping off a great day as part of the UCD team who took the 4x200m relay bronze in a time of 1.31.54.
Also in action, former member of the club Matthew McKernan (representing NUIG) had an impressive performance in the triple jump with his best of 12.15 taking 8th place and following it up with a 12th place finish in the long jump with a best of 5.42m.
The college did exceptionally well over all - placing 7th in the men's points table and 7th also in the women's table. Well done to the head coach and coordinator Brendan Glynn who puts a lot of effort into pulling it all together.
Full results of the competition and a huge history of past performances in colleges athletics is at: https://sindar.net/iuaa/results/meet/345/.
Aisling Keady leaping to 5th place in the Women's Long Jump at the Universities Indoors
Conor Duggan blazing around the track in the men's 200m
The victorious NUIG 4x200m relay team
Photos from the Galway Indoors
A big thank you from the club to Daniel O'Brien who has made the brilliant photographs that he took of the Galway Indoors available to parents to download for free.
If you haven't already, head on over to his Facebook page to take a look at his work and give it a like at:-
https://www.facebook.com/danielobrienphotography/
I'm sure all will agree, the quality and the timing of the photographs made the day even more memorable for athletes and parents and the photos will be a nice momento of the day.
And can you please consider Daniel as photographer for some of your family occasions as the club are very appreciative of his help in the promotion of the sport through his brilliant work.
NCAA UPDATE: Back on Track!
The Club’s very own US Division 1 Student-Athlete, Damian O Boyle, returned to the track, Friday January 26, at home in Lake Charles, LA with the second McNeese Indoor Meet of the season.
This was Damian’s first competitive racing action in just over 9 months, after an extended absence, unfortunately caused by a series of niggling tendonitis injuries, which saw the athlete miss out on last years Southland Conference Outdoor Championship Meet. He also missed the entire Summer season here at home, and was left watching from the sidelines as he attempted to return to fitness, rather than featuring for the Cowboys, during the recently concluded 2017 Cross Country Season. The team notably made an impressive push for the title falling short only to a count back decision as the meet was tied 42-42 with Fierce Rivals Lamar University of Texas, at the end of the a very tough 8k race.
Damian competed in the 3000m at the meet, tacking himself onto the incredibly quick early pace of 8:25 being set by the old guard of McNeese Seniors (Enrique, Fisher and Oliver). Fortune wasn’t to favour the brave on this occasion though as the pace became evidently too much for Damian as the Cowboy brigade thundered toward the 2 kilometre mark. The extended absence and hiccup over the winter rearing their heads (hopefully for the last time!), as he began to labour heavily over the last 800m to finish in a time of 8:59.97. Officially converted by the NCAA for an unbanked (flat) track to 8:53.76, still someway off his Personal Best for the distance set almost two years ago in Santry (8:44), as complications in the early part of last years seaon meant that a new mark was left unrecorded.
Damian had this to say after his performance, “I’m just happy to finally be back running and getting close to 100%. I’m relishing the prospect of getting back to my best and setting some new marks in the coming months!”
The coming weeks will see Damian travel to Birmingham, Alabama to compete in the Mile event (1609m) at the Samford Open, before hopefully making the trip back to Alabama for the Southland Indoor Conference Meet which takes place February 21-22. This should be a precursor for the McNeese Men’s team as they gear up to make a big push in attempting to secure the Outdoor Conference Team Title at this years Championships in May.
We wish both Damian and the Team the very best of luck in the coming months!