The production line of talent that is Orange Little Athletics is showing no signs of slowing down soon, following the state titles at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre.
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The 36-strong group of Orange athletes brought home five podium finishes – between three medallists – along with 13 more top 10 finishes and a plethora of personal best efforts.
Ebony Hay, who is originally from Dubbo but moved to Orange to join the Canobolas High Performance Athlete Program, along with Jackson Willis and Ollie Keegan all brought medals home.
Hay, who claimed the NSW All Schools discus title earlier this year and is away at the Australian Athletics Championships right now, sealed a gold medal in her under-17 girls’ discus event while Willis and Keegan both won silver medals.
In Willis’ case, three.
He won silver in the under-14 boys’ 400 metre sprint, long jump and triple jump while Keegan earned a second placing in his 200 metre spring, in the same age group.
”Ollie and Jackson, at the beginning of March, went to the [State Multi-Event Championships] and placed first and second there (respectively) as well,” Orange Little Athletics committee member Carrie Keegan said.
“Outside the three medallists there was a lot of athletes who did personal bests and plenty who made the finals too.”
“Absolutely,” fellow committee member Jessica Willis, also a coach, enthused when asked if the club was proud of its charges efforts.
“They’ve all worked very hard and now they’ve got the results. They’re training at least once a week, but a lot of them are doing up to three or four sessions a week.”
Hay recorded a competition-best distance of 41.60m with the 1kg discus, more than five metres better than her seed distance of 36.06m.
Willis clocked 53.36 seconds in the 400m, shaving crucial seconds from his seed time and then heat time in the final.
He leapt 5.98m to finish second in the long jump and 12.12m to win silver in the triple jump.
Keegan clocked 22.95 seconds to finish second in the 200m.
Although it would be logical to assume the trio would be eligible to head to nationals, they’re only contested in the under-13 and under-15 age groups.
“Ollie and Jackson went last year in the 13s, which was the first time we’d had anyone there. Their plan is to go through in the 15s next year,” Jessica Willis said.
The next best result was the 12-17 years boys’ 4x100m relay team. The team, which included Willis, Keegan Ricky Bangert and Ben Dennis, ran fourth.