Crase and Murphy in scorching form | Oceania Championships Day 2

The medal haul has continued for Australia, as juniors and seniors show off their impressive form on Day 2 of the Oceania Athletics Championships in Mackay, Queensland.

The future of Australian sprints is looking strong, with an Australian quinella of juniors asserting themselves in the Men’s Open 200m. 18-year-old Aidan Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) took the win in a slick 20.76 (+1.8), as Queenslander Calab Law (Andrew Iselin) followed behind in 20.90. Oceania 100m champion Jake Doran (Paul Di Bella) completed the podium after crossing the line in 20.91.

Murphy, who is selected for the World Athletics Under 20 Championships said his result was a step in the direction as he attempts to also qualify for the World Athletics Championships just weeks prior.

“It feels pretty good, it’s good to get another race out and to race Calab [Law] and [Jake] Doran again. The wind conditions weren’t quite there but I’m just happy to be here in good shape,” Murphy said.

“I had a bit of an interesting start with the headwind coming in, but I killed the finish. I’m happy to get another heavy run out after a huge block, this is really just a training experience for me every time I run.

“Qualification is looking good to head to Worlds before World Juniors, luckily the Americans can’t bring more than three athletes because I would be stuffed!” Murphy said.

The Women’s Open 200m was won by Kiwi Georgia Hulls in 23.45 (+1.0), with Australian champion Ella Connolly (Mark Ladbrook) and Bree Masters (Ryan Hoffman) rounding out the placings in 23.45 and 23.82 respectively.

Australian champion Taneille Crase (Glynnis Nunn) is Oceania’s best female all-rounder after taking out the Women’s Heptathlon, with a combined total point score of 5,945.  After securing personal bests in the 100m hurdles (13.43) and high jump (1.79m) yesterday, the Queenslander added a third lifetime best of 40.53 in the javelin to finish with an overall best by more than 200 points.

Crase, 27, was overcome with emotion when finishing her final event, the 800m, more than 11 seconds ahead of second-place getter New Zealand’s Christina Ryan who finished with a point score of 5828.

“I had a difficult lead up coming into this competition. I’ve had injuries popping up since nationals and trying to get ready for this competition with the rain in Brisbane and Gold Coast wasn’t ideal, but overall I’m stoked with three PBs and an overall PB, and of course, to walk away with another Oceania title is amazing,” Crase said.

“I really badly jarred my ankle, I only started jumping two weeks ago.  For four weeks I could only do pool sessions, bike sessions, treadmill sessions to take the load off. Being able to do a full heptathlon after a significant injury, I’m really proud of myself.”

Though she was off from the qualifier, Crase said she hoped her consistency demonstrated through the seven events would be enough to impress selectors ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

“We’ve had some discussions about Commonwealth Games and what I wanted to do was show that I can pull out a good performance when I need to and hopefully the selectors can look at that and see I’m worthy for a spot,” Crase said.

“As a junior I never made an Australian team, even as a youth athlete I always missed out due to injuries or missing qualifiers or someone getting picked over me so to represent Australia and compete on the international stage would mean everything to me.”

The Men’s Oceania Decathlon was won by Kiwi Max Attwell, with a collective point score of 7635, while Australian Alec Diamond (Zsuzsanna Olgyay-Szabo) placed second scoring 7582. Australian invitational athlete Liam Gilbert (Eric Brown) finished his third ever open age decathlon with a personal best of 7386.

Tokyo Olympian Sarah Carli (Melissa Logan) became the fastest female 400m hurdler to ever run at the Oceania Championships when clocking 55.98 to take the record away from Australian representative Sara Klein. The Illawarra-based athlete edged out fellow Australian Brodee Mate (Melissa Logan) who took silver ahead of Genevieve Cowie (Lindsay Watson) placed third in 60.47.

Running close to the qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championships (55.40), Carli said it was great to get another win in the bag before her international campaign begins.

“I was really happy with that race. I feel the last couple of races, I know I’ve had to run solo I’ve almost run too fast trying to anticipate that and I’ve just really felt it on the backend. Even though it was windy, I was really happy to push through,” Carli said.

“I head overseas tomorrow night. I have two races lined up there before the qualifying period so I’ll hopefully nab the qualifier there. I’m feeling pretty confident. I’m excited to be in a race where everyone is faster than me. I feel like I’ve done as much as I can here and I’ve been very lucky that the girls have given me a bit of a push but I’m ready to race people that are all faster than me.”

Though Cowie claimed the bronze medal, 18-year-old Isabella Guthrie (Angus McEntyre) crossed the line third in 59.22, racing up an age group as she puts the finishing touches on her preparation for the World Under 20 Championships in Cali this August.

The Women and Men’s Long Jump Ambulatory saw two more Australians win gold, as World Para Athletics Championships bronze medallist Sarah Walsh (Matt Beckenham) and Tokyo Paralympian Ari Gesini (Iryna Dvoskina and Sebastian Kuzminski) became Oceania champions for the first time.

Walsh jumped a season’s best of 5.38m (+3.3) on her fifth attempt to become the Championships record holder, while Gesini’s (Iryna Dvoskina and Sebastian Kuzminski) first jump of 6.17m (+3.1) assisted him from taking the crown from third-place getter Joshua Lush from New Zealand.

Australia’s triple jumpers also made themselves known. Julian Konle (Gary Bourne) finished his Oceania campaign with a 16.21m (0.0) jump, bettering silver medallist Ayo Ore (Allan Jones) by 4cm (+1.5), while Shemaiah James (Stacey Taurima) won bronze after landing 15.94 on his final attempt.

The Women’s Triple jump was also won by Kayla Cuba (Stacey Taurima) with a jump of 13.56m (+1.9) as she added a further 29cm to her personal best.

Full results can be found here

Photos from Day 2 of the Oceania Championships can be downloaded from here. 

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 8/6/2022