Australian All Schools Athletics Memorable Moments

The Australian All Schools Championships have long served as a key opportunity for the nation’s best school-aged athletes to demonstrate their talent, with many of Australia’s current and past stars showing raw potential at the annual competition and soon fulfilling their dreams.

While not all elite athletes were fit and firing in the junior ranks, we take a look at some of the names who have impressed in recent years ahead of the 2022 Australian All Schools Championships in Adelaide from December 9-12. 

Jack Hale vs Rohan Browning – Adelaide 2014

There is no disputing that the 100m is the blue riband event of athletics, and junior showdowns don’t come much better than the rivalry between Jack Hale and Rohan Browning in 2014.

Entering the bout as the Australian Under 18 record holder, Hale was the talk of the town. The Tasmanian was winning every race on the track and almost every long jump competition, but he had a new challenger in the form of Browning.

Browning had done enough to suggest that he could come close to Hale’s crown, and as the decision was made to reverse the final and utilise the tailwind, the fastest 17-year-olds in Australia got even faster.

Leading for almost 80m, Browning was valiant in his bid for glory, with Hale edging out the New South Wales junior to win in a time of 10.13 (+3.4) to Browning’s 10.18 – readings that delighted the crowd and TV camera crews alike and injected a newfound hope that the nation had its next sprinter.

While still rivals, the pair have become teammates on two Commonwealth Games relay teams, with Browning qualifying for last year’s Olympic semi-final and the 2022 Commonwealth Games final where he finished in sixth place – along with two World Championships appearances.

Browning holds the ascendency in the personal best stakes with his 10.01 to Hale’s 10.12, with both men still gunning to be the first man to send Australia back under the 10-second barrier.

Browning’s coach, Andrew Murphy, still holds the Under 18 Triple Jump record with his 15.56m effort from 1986.  

Eleanor Patterson – Townsville 2013 

2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson first appeared at the Australian All Schools Championships one decade earlier, clinching the Under 18 national schools title when clearing 1.87m in Hobart as a 16-year-old.

Hailing from Leongatha, the prodigious talent soon begun harnessing her powers which translated to the 2013 World Youth title in Ukraine with a 1.88m clearance, and then came the 2013 Australian All Schools Championships in Townsville – a performance etched in memories and record books.

The 17-year-old beanpole piled on eight centimetres to her personal best to soar over 1.96m when cruising to victory, rewriting the record books with an equal U18 world record and stamping her presence as Australia’s best ever teenage high jumper with U18 and U20 national records.

The leap qualified Patterson for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where at 18-years-old she became the Commonwealth champion less than eight months after her historic schools performance in Townsville.

The high jumper proceeded to take a break from the sport before returning under the guidance of Alex Stewart to win the 2022 world title, claim silver at the World Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games, and finish in fifth place at the Tokyo Olympics – now the equal Australian record holder at 2.02m.

Matthew Denny – Hobart 2012 / Townsville 2013

Before specialising in the discus, Toowoomba Grammar’s Matt Denny was simply good at throwing things – demonstrated by his six consecutive Australian All Schools titles from 2012-2013.

Competing in the Under 18 age group as a 16-year-old in 2012, Denny outclassed his competitors when winning the discus throw 1.5kg (64.54m), shot put (18.73m) and hammer throw 5kg (74.64m) – setting two Australian All Schools records (Discus/Hammer) as a bottom-age athlete en route to the treble.

Denny returned in 2013 to better his marks in all three events after winning the World Youth Discus title and claiming bronze in the hammer throw in Ukraine, touching down in Hobart to throw 65.46m in the discus, 19.33m in the shot put and 77.39m in the hammer throw – defending all three of his titles and improving his two records from the previous year.

The performances set Denny up for the 2014 World Junior Championships in Oregon where he finished in fourth place of the discus while also competing in the hammer throw, before his senior breakthrough came with an Olympic berth in the discus in Rio. Two Commonwealth Games titles later, with an Olympic fourth place and two World Champions top-six finishes.  

Steve Solomon – Melbourne 2010

Steve Solomon has been on Australian teams for over a decade since his Olympic debut as an 18-year-old, making the final of the 400m to establish himself as an esteemed Australian talent.

Two years earlier in 2010, Solomon clocked a scorching 46.44 to obliterate the field over 400m and claim the Under 18 Australian All Schools title as a 17-year-old. The time was a significant personal best for Solomon who had already attended the World Junior Championships in Canada earlier that year, serving as a steppingstone to his 45.58 run at the Australian Championships just months later.

Within nine months, Solomon landed himself at the World Championships in Daegu as a member of Australia’s 4x400m quartet, advancing to the Olympic Games the next year before immersing himself in the NCAA system.

The quarter miler has been one of Australia’s most consistent athletes over the last decade, capped off by his 44.94 personal best in Tokyo which propelled him to eighth on the Australian all-time list.

Jackson Hamilton – Cairns 2018

During the 2018 and 2019 Australian All Schools Championships, Jackson Hamilton put on a throwing masterclass.

The vision impaired athlete was dominant in the Para throws when competing as a T12 athlete and winning the discus and shot put by margins of 22m and 7.03m respectively, but it was his ability to mix it with the nation’s best able-bodied school athletes that was most impressive.

At the 2018 All Schools Championships, Hamilton claimed silver in the Under 16 Discus, throwing a stunning new personal best of 60.94m to finish behind now World Under 20 representative Etienne Rousseau, and defeating Rousseau’s Cali teammate Darcy Miller who finished fourth.

Hamilton has since picked up javelin and won the 2022 Oceania title with a throw of 55.81m, continuing to develop as strong 19-year-old prospect.

Alex Hulley – Hobart 2012

At the 2014 Australian All Schools in Adelaide, Alex Hulley threw the hammer further than any Under 18 Australian woman in history with her 71.14m effort – a mark that still serves as the national and meet record.

Hulley had already shown much promise in Hobart in 2012 when arriving with the Under 16 national record under her belt, proceeding to adjust the meet record to 60.62m. Clinching silver at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 before making the trip to Adelaide for the national All Schools carnival, Hulley’s massive national record of 71.14m laid the foundations for her World Under 20 silver medal in 2016.

The hammer thrower also won silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in 2018, making a strong comeback in 2022 when qualifying for the World Championships and finishing in sixth of the Commonwealth Games final.

Riley Day – Canberra 2016

Many will remember a fresh-faced Riley Day first emerging on the scene alongside Usain Bolt at 2017’s Nitro Athletics in Melbourne, but the Beaudesert product showed an abundance of talent at the 2016 Australian All Schools Championships.

At 16-years-old, the Queenslander took full advantage of blustery conditions in Canberra when roaring to the sprint double in times of 11.36 (+4.0) and 23.52 (+3.2), stamping her mark as one of Australia’s brightest young prospects – with both meet records still standing in 2022.

Just eight months later, Day had built on the momentum of her All Schools performances and her gold and silver medals in the 200m and 100m respectively at the Commonwealth Youth Games to book her ticket to the 2017 World Championships in London as a 17-year-old – earning a lane in the 200m where she ran a time of 23.77 (+0.5).

Day has since become an Olympic and Commonwealth Games semi-finalist, and the eighth fastest Australian woman in history over 200m with her personal best of 22.56.

By Lachlan Moorhouse and David Tarbotton, Athletics Australia
Posted: 14/11/2022