Athletics Report 2019

Ballymena Academy pupils took part in NEBSSA, District, Ulster and Irish competitions in what was an enjoyable and successful season of athletics.

NEBSSA
On Wednesday the 15th May Ballymena Academy competed in the NEBSSA Athletics Finals at the Antrim Forum against 31 other schools. Roughly 45 athletes, from years 8 – 11, took part in a range of athletic events achieving some outstanding results and bringing home 11 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals. To add to this Ballymena Academy won 7 trophies:
• The U13 (year 8) boys team finished 2nd overall.
• The U14 (year 9) boys team finished 1st overall.
• The U15 (year 10) girls team finished 2nd overall.
• The U15 (year 10) boys team finished 2nd overall.
• The U16 (year 11) girls team finished 2nd overall.
• This meant that the girls were placed 3rd overall and the boys were placed 2nd overall.
Well done to all who took part. A special mention should go to Etain McGuckian who equaled the competi-tion record for the U15 Girls 200m race, running it in 26.20 seconds.
The trophies will now be presented to the school from each of the year group team captains.

Districts
The district athletics championships took place at the Antrim Forum on Wednesday 8th May with 105 pupils taking part in a range of events from Hurdles to Relay and Triple Jump to Discus. A special mention should go to Jonathan Cochrane, James Wright, Adam Lamont, Joseph Mawhinney, Freddy Young, Conor Drain, Etain McGuckian, Katie Agnew and Adam Kirkpatrick who came first in their respective events.
A total of 25 individual athletes and 6 relay teams have qualified for the Ulster finals on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th May.

Ulster Schools Athletics Championships 2019

This year’s Ulster Secondary Schools Athletics Championships were held on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th May at the Antrim Forum athletics track. Once again Ballymena Academy had an impressive representation of 25 individual athletes and 6 relay teams taking part. The results from the competition are set out below;

Medalists include:
· Etain McGuckian – 1st in the Junior Girls 100m (12.66 secs) and 1st in the 200m (26.16).
· Katie McCullough – 3rd in the Junior Girls 1200m walk (8 minutes 22 seconds).
· 1st in the Junior Girls Relay (53.15). This is the third year in a row that the girls have won at Ulster level
o Rachel Cochrane
o Tory Hopkins
o Elke Hamilton
o Etain McGuckian
· Conor Drain – 3rd in the Junior Boys Triple Jump (10.88 meters).
· Freddy Young – 2nd in the Junior Boys Javelin (33.85 meters).
· James Wright – 1st in the Intermediate Boys Javelin (50.65 meters)
· Jonathan Cochrane – 1st in the Intermediate Boys Long Jump (6.21 meters) and 1st in the Triple Jump (12.87 meters).
· Jamie Paul – 1st in the Intermediate Boys Pole Vault (2.20 meters).
· 2nd in the Intermediate Boys Relay (45.18)
o Taylor Adger
o Adam Lamont
o Jonathan Cochrane
o James Wright
· Joseph Mawhinney – 1st in the Intermediate Boys Discus (34.88 meters) and 2nd in the Shot (11.72 meters)
· Adam Kirkpatrick – 1st in the Senior Boys Shot (12.18 meters)

Overall the athletes collected a total of 14 medals
Gold medals – 9
Silver medals – 3
Bronze medals – 2
Total – 14 medals

Overall awards

The Intermediate Boys were crowned overall champions in Ulster for their age group, winning the Ulster Schools Athletics Cup for the second consecutive year with a points tally of 75 points with second place having 49 points. This meant that Ballymena Academy Boys was placed 3rd overall in Ulster when you com-bined the totals from all age groups.

Irish Schools Athletics Champions 2019

Saturday 1st June marked the end of the schools’ athletics calendar with the All-Ireland Schools’ Track and Field Championships at Tullamore in County Offlay. 7 individual athletes and 2 relay teams qualified for the Irish Schools Athletics Championships at Tullamore Athletics Arena. The results from the day are as follows:

In the Junior Girls age group (year 10) Etain McGuckian came 3rd in the 100m with a time of 12.59sec. She followed this impressive performance up with another bronze medal in the 200m with a time of 25.55secs.

In the Junior Boys age group (year 10) Conor Drain came 3rd in the Triple Jump with a jump of 11.14 meters.

In the Intermediate Boys age group (year 11&12) Jonathan Cochrane (year 12) came 4th in the triple jump with a best jump of 12.95 meters. He improved on this performance by coming 1st in the long jump with a jump of 6.87 meters.
Joseph Mawhinney (year 12) came 7th in the Intermediate boys’ discus with a throw of 33.31 meters and 4th in the Shot with a throw of 12.48 meters.
James Wright (year 12) came 2nd in the Javelin with a best throw of 53.27 meters. Jamie Paul (year 11) came 8th in the Pole Vault with a jump of 2.40 meters.

In the Senior Boys Shot Put Adam Kirkpatrick (year 14) came 6th with a throw of 12.35 meters.

The Junior Girls Relay Team performed exceptionally well coming 2nd, in the 4x100m relay, with a time of 52.43 seconds. This is the second year in a row where this group of girls have come second in Ireland. Well done to Rachel Cochrane, Tory Hopkins, Elke Hamilton and Etain McGuckian.

This meant that the schools overall medal tally consisted of:
Gold – 1
Silver – 2
Bronze – 3

It is also worth noting that both the Junior Girls and the Intermediate Boys came second overall, on points, in their respective age groups. Well done to all who took part.

Well done to all who took part and well done to Etain McGuckian, James Wright, Jonathan Cochrane, Ad-am Lamont, Joseph Mawhinney, Jamie Paul and Christian Drennan who have been selected to represent Ul-ster at the Tailteann Irish Schools Interprovincial Championships at Santry on Saturday 22nd June 2019.

Etain McGuckian – 4x100m relay.
James Wright – 100m, Javelin and 4x100m relay.
Jonathan Cochrane – Long Jump, Triple Jump and 4x100m relay.
Adam Lamont – 4x400m relay.
Joseph Mawhinney – Shot and Discus.
Jamie Paul – Pole Vault.
Christian Drennan – 100m (Reserve)

Interprovincial and International Athletics Competitions

Following the success of athletics last season (2017-18) Jonathan Cochrane, Alice Rodgers and James Wright were selected to be a part of the interprovincial and international schools team. Their achievements are listed below;

Jonathan Cochrane competed as an intermediate athlete last season aged 15 (Year 11 in school).
His achievements last season included:
Ulster Secondary Schools Championships
1st in IB triple jump
2nd in IB long jump
Irish Secondary Schools Championships
5th in IB triple jump
Interprovincial Championships
2nd in IB triple jump
7th in IB long jump
Schools international Championships in Scotland
6th in U17 triple jump
English U17 Championships in Bedford
6th in U17 triple jump
UK school games at Loughborough University
5th in U17 triple jump

Alice Rodgers competed as an intermediate athlete last season aged 15 (Year 11 in school).
Her achievements last season included:
Ulster Secondary Schools Championships
1st in IG 100m
1st in IG 200m
Irish Secondary Schools Championships
3rd in IG 100m
4th in IG 200m
Interprovincial Championships
2nd in IG 100m
1st in IG 200m
Schools international Championships in Scotland
6th in U17 100m
6th in U17 200m
English U17 Championships in Bedford
Competed as part of the Northern Ireland and Ulster team but didn’t qualify for the finals
UK school games at Loughborough University
5th in U17 100m

James Wright competed as an intermediate athlete last season aged 15 (Year 11 in school).
His achievements last season included:
Ulster Secondary Schools Championships
1st in IB javelin
Irish Secondary Schools Championships
9th in IB javelin
Interprovincial Championships
3rd in IB javelin
UK school games at Loughborough University
5th in U17 javelin