WAIS Stars Dazzle in Sydney Classic
WAIS track sprinter Ben Offereins has highlighted a hugely successful weekend for WA at the Sydney Track Classic meet with four athletes recording Commonwealth Games A-qualifying marks.
WAIS also produced stand out results in the men’s and women’s pole vault, but it was Offereins’ blistering win in the men’s 400m sprint that sparkled most, with the 23 year-old clocking a time of 44.86secs to win ahead of Sean Wroe and the international raiders of David Rudisha (Kenya) and David Neville (USA).
Offereins time was both an A-qualifier and personal best, with the world champ silver medallist looking in ominous form ahead of April’s national titles.
Another of WAIS coach Lyn Foreman’s track stars, Jody Henry, continued her superb summer running second in the 200m sprint in a personal best time of 23.36secs behind Beijing silver medal winner Sally McLellan (23.19secs).
WAIS athletes dominated the pole vault competitions with Steve Hooker claming victory in the men’s and a straight four placing in the women’s competition.
Hooker made his first appearance on the 2010 Australian Athletics Tour and kept the crowd on its feet with a series of lucky escapes before sealing victory at 5.91m.
Opening his campaign at 5.45m Hooker easily cleared that height before stalling briefly at 5.60m then again at 5.70m, clearing both marks on the third and final attempt. The inaugural captain of the Australian Flame then raised the bar to 5.81m and sailed straight over before adding 10 centimetres to that height and pulling off his second attempt. Hooker raised the bar once more to 6.01m but was unable to crack the magical six metre-mark.
“That last jump was pretty good, I felt like I had a massive amount of height there but I’d run out of a little bit of gas by then and I just wasn’t carrying quite enough speed down the runway to get in on that pole,” the 27-year-old Western Australian-based athlete said.
“By the end of the night I’d done a lot of jumps and a lot of run-downs so I probably needed really good conditions to get in on that pole tonight. I felt like things improved technically throughout the competition so that’s the main thing for me.
“5.91m is a great result, 6.01m would have been amazing and that would have been an outdoor personal best for me but it’s still very early in the season and I can’t expect to go out and jump that high every week, especially when I had so many jumps early in the competition but it’s really positive for me to get down there and have such a good attempt at it.”
WAIS vault star Amanda Bisk claimed victory in the women’s pole vault, clearing 4.30m to win on count back ahead of fellow WAIS jumper Liz Parnov. Competing off shorter run ups, Alana Boyd (third) and Vicky Parnov (fourth) cleared four metres and 3.90m respectively to ensure a clean sweep of positions for the WA Institute of Sport.
Both Bisk and Liz Parnov recorded Commonwealth Games A-qualifiers and look set to compete strongly at nationals in the home surrounds of Perth.
The women’s high jump was an entertaining spectacle, with NSW’s Petrina Price edging victory with a best of 1.90m to win from the WAIS pair of Zoe Timmers (1.86m) and Ellen Pettitt (1.86m) who claimed second and third respectively with B-qualifying standards.
Youngster Jared Bezuidenhout clocked a personal best in the 110m hurdles to finish fourth in 14.62, whilst fellow WAIS scholarship holder Lyndsay Pekin was also fourth in the women’s 400m hurdles.
The Australian Athletics Tour now moves south for the Melbourne Track Classic on Thursday, March 4, where the biggest names in track and field will return to action on the final stopover of the 2010 domestic series.
WAIS javelin thrower Kim Mickle will make her long awaited return to competition after a serious thumb injury that had looked set to derail the 25 year-olds charge at nationals. The defending national champion will be hoping to step up her recovery in a bid to push for a spot at October’s Commonwealth Games in India.
– With Athletics Australia