St Abban’s AC fielded both a men’s and women’s team for the first time in the club’s history at the National League Finals last week where both teams competed in division one.
In the National League, points are distributed based on an athlete’s finishing place; the winner taking 9 points, 2nd-7 points, 3rd-6 points and so on all the way down to1 point. The final result is calculated from a club’s best 15 events from a total of 21 events.
In the ladies events, the club performed fantastically under the leadership of team captain Katie Baldwin.
Rachel Hartnett ran a PB in the ladies 100 metre sprint while Chloe Keenan, a guest on the day, won seven points for the club in the 110m Hurdles.
Caitlin McDonald continued her progression this year finishing with 4 points in the 3000m.
Saragh Buggy was one of the stars of the weekend as she claimed first in the long jump and triple long jump.
Aoibhinn Mcdonald who is typically a pole vaulter, tried her hand at the long jump, where she finished second.
The second guest competing for the club Shauna Hoey, finished in second place in both the Hammer and Weight for Distance amassing a total of 14 points.
Sarah Graham took to the throwing circle in the Discus where she finished in 2nd
place. Later in the day she added 6 more points when she finished 3rd in the Javelin.
In the final event of the day Katie Hartnett, Aoibhinn McDonald, Caitlin McDonald and Katie Baldwin combined forces for the 4 x 400 metre relay.
Once the totals were tallied together the club had amassed a total of 105 points which was good enough for silver medals on the day, just behind Tír Chonaill and ahead of Enniscorthy A.C.
In the male competitions the boys finished just below the girls on 103 points and were just 12 away from a medal.
In the shorter sprints, Reuben Plunkett, a guest for the day, gathered 9 points across the 100 and 200m.
In the 400m, James Huland made his debut at senior level finishing in 5th place in the 400 and 3rd in the 400m hurdles.
Brian Kelly made a return to middle distance track events where he gathered 11 points across the 800 and 1500m.
Another athlete who is enjoying a successful year is Cormac Dineen, he placed fifth in the 1500 metre walk to bring home four points to his team.
St Abbans had yet another guest competitor on the day in Eoin Keenan who participated in the long trump and triple jump placing second and third respectively.
In both relay races the boys gathered 4 points, Eoin, Reuben, Do and Mohammad and Reuben, James, Mohammad and Brian.
The last group of juveniles were in All Ireland action on Saturday with Day 3 of the National Juvenile Championships taking athletes to Tullamore for the final time this year.
Katie Baldwin, came home with a bronze medal finishing in 3rd place with a leap of 10.02 in the GirlsU19 Triple Jump.
Also in action was Con O’Reilly in the Boys U14 Shot Putt who threw 6.91m. In the U 16 Boys 1500m Will Duffy finished in 9th place.
Aaliyah Troy came 9th in the U16 Girls High Jump. In the 300mH James Hyland was 4th in Heat 2 of the U17 Boys.
Finn Craig ran 4:19 in the U18 Boys 1500m. Holly Byrne was the final athlete in action finishing just outside the medals in the U19 Girls Shot where her throw of 8.60 was good enough for 4th.
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