Mid West athletes bring home mix of medals with strong signs for future after State championships

Mid West athletes will have some extra weight in their luggage after another successful weekend at the WA Track and Field Athletics Championships in Perth. Despite some stars not hitting their personal bests, Mid West Academy of Sport athletes still managed another five medals over the weekend. The standout was Christi Bestry, who ran below her best but still took out the gold in the under-18 2000m steeple in a restricted field. However, her coach Gary Clark said despite the result Bestry was hoping for a big improvement come nationals. “She has had a terrible lead up to the State titles, with restricted training due to patellar tendinitis and a dose of the flu over the last three to four weeks,” he said. Under-20 national heptathlete Ella Batten also had success in the high jump and 100m hurdles in the seven-event heptathlon. She managed a silver medal in the high jump with a leap of 1.55m, just missing 1.60m. She followed this up with a third in a blanket finish in the 100m hurdles in 16 secs. Clark said this would hold Batten in good stead for the national under-20 heptathlon in Adelaide in April, where she will be one of the favourites to win. One of the big improvers from the weekend was under-18 competitor Riley Heinrich, who placed second in his first 400m hurdles and won a graded final in the 800m in 2min. 7 secs, only to be relegated out of the medals in a ‘timed’ final. “Heinrich had previously competed in the 3000m steeple and after some additional drill work over the hurdles it was decided to transition him to the shorter events, with instant success,” Clark said. In the field, Wynand Neethling threw 34m in the under-18 discus, some 10m below his best, and still managed to take out the bronze medal but just missed selection for the State team. He went on to qualify for the 100m final with a great run of 11.5secs in the heats and was just 0.18secs off the medals in the final. “Neethling has a bright future in the throws and sprints and just needs to work on his technique and consistency,” Clark said. 14-year-old Noah Brown was another athlete to perform well and one to watch in future years. He finished third in a ‘timed’ final of the 800m in 2mins 26secs in his first state tile tile. Other Geraldton athletes to perform well were Lochie Hadley collecting the bronze medal in the under-14 1500m race walk and his sister Macey showing huge improvement in the 200m, reaching the final and clipping two seconds off her personal best time with a 27.8secs. 100m hurdler Taylah Dean had a good run in the under-18 girls event, claiming the silver medal in 16.18secs, and Tarlah Smith was fourth in the competitive under-14 discus to complete a family affair, with Faelan Smith also finishing fourth in the under-13 discus. Paige Henrich, Trey Horobin, Shiloh O’Reilly, Bonny Dean and Rueben Chapman also travelled to Perth for the titles and performed well. Chapman and Dean both qualified for the national championships which will be held in Adelaide from April 11-19.