Women Div 1 Premiership

Monday 15th February 2010

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Note: Open Women State Relay Training: Will occur after the team photo at the track.

Congratulations have been received from many club officials including former club and AV president, John Higham who said, " 

Senior Women - AV Shield Division 1 Champions

On Saturday 13^th February Athletics Essendon competed at the Victorian State Association Finals at Doncaster. This competition involves gaining points from the events on offer and the club with the most points at the end of the day are the champions. 2 teams from each of the 3 regions in the state competed against one another. Max Warlow, the founder of women in Athletics Essendon, confirmed that we now have made history because this team of girls has won this premiership for the 3^rd year in a row. No other women's team has been able to do this for the long standing history of the competition. This shows that it is an amazing accomplishment from a dedicated and committed group of women.   

2 young talented athletes, Stella McNamara (1:06.70) and Catherine Coventry (1:09.66), came 2^nd and 4^th respectively in the 400m Hurdles, an event that they have just started to focus on this year.

Our 2 hammer throwers, Stephanie Lockhart and Meaghan Hocking threw PB's in the Hammer (23.44m and 20.44m).

Stella McNamara and Nicole Jones performed admirably in the long jump (4.88m and 4.75m).

Stella McNamara and Meaghan Hocking again took to the field for the high jump (1.50m and 1.40m).

Stephanie Lockhart and Meaghan Hocking also threw the shot put (9.86m and 7.26m).

Our major strength was on the track where our women dominated. In the 3km Walk, Anna Wallace (16:40.8) did a PB and won the event and Nardene Hammond (16:47.9) came 2^nd. Justijana Roseman and Donna Elms were very strong reserves waiting in case they were required.

After missing out on last year's finals, Amanda Crook and Stephanie Mollica were determined to do their bit for the team. These women competed at the Hobart Grand Prix on Friday night and the team of girls and the club appreciated the effort that they went to by organising their flights so that they were back in Melbourne safely for this event, with neither girl having much sleep the night before.

Amanda won the 800m in 2:16.77, with Linden Hall 2^nd in 2:17.27, and Elizabeth French 6^th in 2:19.5. We appreciated that Emma Lucas was on standby as a reserve for this event.

Such was Stephanie Mollica's class that she won the 200m in 25.08, with Tamara Hamond 3^rd in 25.39 and Sarah Cotchett 7^th in 26.00.

Sandra Prosenica ran a huge PB in the 5000m, coming 2^nd in 17:46.70, with Krissy Dowlin coming 6^th and also running a PB 18:56.11, and Sue Geard 8^th in 19:10.04. These 3 girls have been the backbone of the distance events for the last 3 years.

One of the highlights of the competition was the last event, the 4x400m Relay. Essendon fielded what we hope to be our full-strength State Relay team, so this provided a good hit out to have these girls perform together. Normally in a decade, a club would have one 55/56sec 400m runner, we are lucky that we have 3 of them. The girls won the event by a massive 50m in a winning time of 3:44.78. The girls are hoping to run even faster at the State Relay Championships, when they will be peaking for that event.

Overall, this talented team of women won the premiership by over 70 points, ahead of Box Hill and Glenhuntly. This is a massive win and such performances require leaders and experience within a team to make sacrifices for the benefit of the points score. There are numerous cases in this team where girls performed in events that were not their specialty to ensure that all events are filled. And this is one of the few competitions in the individual sport of track and field where they can have success as a team. We are always willing to take on new members to help our sport flourish.

Excellent team performances such as this never happen unless there is a sound, committed club committee and we all appreciate their efforts in dealing with the day to day running of the club. And more importantly, without the high quality coaches who work tirelessly 7 days a week, 12 months of the year, these athletes wouldn't have the direction. We would like to thank the following coaches:

Pam Ryan

Mark Donahoo

Max Warlow

Steve Gaffney

Mark Ladbrook

Gregor Gojrzewski

Brad Carter (Coach and Team Manager)

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