Day 3 Preview | Australian All Schools Championships

The final day of the 2022 Chemist Warehouse Australian All Schools Championships has arrived and after two big days of competition, Team New South Wales is currently leading the medal table.

See below the must-watch events for Day 3:

9.00am U17 Girls High Jump

A new meet record is looming, as World Under 20 Championships representative Toby Stolberg lines up for a chance for All Schools High Jump glory.

The season has only just begun but the Queenslander is already 1cm off a personal best, and if we look at her stats from this year, we know she’s capable of just about anything after increasing her personal best by a whopping 11cm. If she’s able to emulate add just 1cm to her best, she will be a chance of toppling the current All Schools Championships meet record of 1.81m

9.00am U17 Boys Javelin Throw

Queensland is currently placed second on the medal tally and if seed marks are anything to go by, another gold medal will be theirs as Lachlan Buckman takes to the All Schools stage.

Buckman won the Australian Under 17 title in March by over 7m and he brings that same margin over the field to Adelaide. Buckman’s lifetime best is 67.40m and with a meet record of 72.58m set by Martin Hesse in 1984, he’ll no doubt be motivated to push himself further again.

Buckman will come against home crowd favourite Evan Heath and Bailey Pfeiffer, as well as fellow teammate Lee Martin.

9.37am U18 Girls 400m

The U18 Girls 400m is finally here. All week Alesha Bennetts has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue, having set personal bests of 54.75 in the lap around the track this season, and the Canberra local will be pushing herself to win gold by daylight to add to her season’s triumphs.

9.52am U18 Boys 400m

North Queensland’s Jett Grundy ran a speedy 49.14 to qualify first in his heat on Day 1 of the Championships, and although the favourite to win after running five consecutive personal bests this year, he’ll be facing Victorian Sam Elvey who sped to the finish line in 48.63. Elvey, who has come back to the sport after being inspired by his sister’s progress, boasts a personal best of 48.28, but Grundy’s seed time of 47.33 puts him in prime position to win gold for the newly created North Queenland team.

10am U14 Girls 3000m Race Walk

Matilda Webb is the favourite to win the U14 Girls 3000m race walk. Faster than her NSW teammate and second-seeded walker Jessica Loring by 20 seconds, Webb holds a best of 14:52.10 and will be looking to make her mark at her first All Schools championships with a gold medal on Day 3.

10.30am U18 Girls Shot Put

She’s the All Schools discus queen and now she’s having her turn in the U18 Girls Shot Put. As the State record holder in South Australia, she’ll aiming to add another medal to her growing collection.

With a best of 16.36m – a mark she achieved only in October this year – the World U20 Championships representative can throw more than 40cm further than her All Schools counterparts, with Emma Polikowski from NSW as her fiercest rival with a seed mark of 15.95m.

11am U17 Girls 100m Hurdles (First Round(

Team NSW almost have this one in the bag. 15-year-old Delta Amidzovski was the youngest on the Australian team at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia and now she’s ready to put her learnings into practise when gunning for gold.

Despite her young years, the all-rounder won the Under 17 national title in March in the event with a blistering 13.63 run, and since then has lowered her time to 13.49 in September. If the stars align, the youngster could break the  meet record of 13.58 held since 2008 by Queensland’s Rosie Lawson.

11.15am U17 Boys 110m Hurdles (First Round)

Victoria’s William Wong is back at the Australian All Schools Championships to add another gold medal to his stash after winning the U14 title at the 2019 edition in Perth.

The leading athlete in the field, the 16-year old from Team Victoria has a legal best of 14.54 and will need to match it with Queensland duo Rhys Evans and Joel Drew, who are hovering around the same times with seed times of 14.36 and 14.54 respectively.

The All Schools title is certainly up for grabs, and with Queensland so far in the lead, the Victorian team will be rallying behind Wong.

11.51am U16 Boys 100m (First Round)

Gout Gout’s two Australian records were undoubtedly the highlight of Day 1 of the Championships and now the Ipswich product is back on the track, for a chance at two more.

Australia’s newest sprint sensation broke Jack Hale’s schoolboy record in October, running 10.57, lowering his best from 11.15 last year, and if he  able to bring the same energy to the track as he did on Day 1, anything could happen.

12.50pm Under 15 Girls 1500m

One of the most competitive races of the day, Team South Australia’s Tessa Ebert will face up against her archrival Piper Simon from Team New South Wales.

The two have faced off across other distances but only once in the 1500m, and it was the home team athlete that took the win by two seconds.  

12.58pm Under 16 Boys 1500m

Daniel Williams of Team New South Wales charged into the history books with a meet record-breaking run over two laps and carved down his personal best to 1:51.95 in the process.

The Coffs Harbour product will be back for a longer journey around the track, but with a seed time of 4:02.60 – less than a second slower than Queensland’s Cru Scott, there will be some serious competition for the two as they vie for gold.

Scott placed 7^th overall in 800m final running 9 seconds slower than Williams, but he’ll be seeking redemption as he looks for a podium finish.

1.30pm U18 Boys High Jump

Another World Under 20 Championships representative will step up to the plate, as 17-year-old Lachlan O’Keefe brings his international experience to Adelaide.

The Victorian lifted his personal best from 2.02m to 2.15m in less than a year and he’s off to a good start this season, with a solid performance in Ballarat last week of 2.05m.

If personal bests are compared, O’Keefe has an 11cm advantage over Bradley Carruthers from the nation’s capital, but already this season, the Canberran has cleared 2.00m, meaning a battle with the ensue for the All Schools title.

1.30pm U18 Girls High Jump

A home state quinella is on the cards in the U18 Girls high jump as Chelsea Friedrich and Tryphena Hewett go head-to-head.

The pair have faced each other 21 times since 2018, with Friedrich taking the win 16 times, however Hewett is slowly closing the gap.

So far this season, Friedrich has cleared heights of 1.75m – just 5cm off her 1.80m personal best that won her gold at the National Championships in April, but so has Hewett, who is just 3cm off her lifetime best so early in the season.

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 11/12/2022