Magnificent May as Drogheda & District AC youngsters show their mettle
At the Louth Juvenile Track & Field Championships there were outstanding performances from individuals and relay teams, with more than 60 athletes competing in a range of track and field events.
Drogheda & District AC's final haul was 33 individual medals along with five gold and two bronze medals in the relays.
Junior athlete and Leaving Cert student Louis O'Shea is new to athletics as this is his first full year of training and competing, and at the North Leinster Schools Senior Boys 400m he finished second in 50.6sec (hand-timed).
Louis gained automatic qualification for the Leinster finals in Tullamore where he finished seventh with a time of 51.44sec on a very blustery day, and that run suggests that there is plenty more to come from this young man.
Outstanding individual performances at the Louth Championships came from the Cunningham sisters Beatrice and Hannah.
In the Girls U14 1500m Hannah finished second, running a super time of 5:10.8, while Beatrice also finished second in the U15 1500m in another great time of 5:04.89 and picked up another silver medal in the 800m with a time of 2:22.6.
These were remarkable performances from these very young girls, propelling them both into the top 10 in the current Louth senior ranking list.
The outstanding performances in the relays came from the Girls U11 team of Laura Clarke, Lucy Cooney, Eabha Flynn and Aine McHugh. This team had two magnificent runs when becoming Louth champions and going on to finish seventh in the Leinster final.
The U15 team - comprising Bonnie Breach, Eve Russell, Emily Cooney and Dani Nolan- finished a striking sixth in the Leinster final.
In the field events Drogheda & District AC have a lot of new talent emerging and at the Pre Louths Euan Kirwan finished third in the Boys U14 shot put, while in the Girls U12 turbo javelin Lucy Russell came second and Nancy Clerkin third.
At the Louth Championships Nancy Clerkin continued her fine early season form when finishing second in the U12 Girls shot putt.
In the U14 javelin for boys Cillian Russell placed second, and in the U13 Girls event Isabella Ojo St Paul came third.
In the U15 high jump for girls there was gold medal joy for Dani Nolan, while Cormac Russell scooped third in the U19 Boys category.
Two long jumpers from the club picked up bronze medals, Sam McGinn (U15) and Cormac Russell (U19).
Turning to the 1500m, Aine Carroll had a very good run to win the U17 Girls race in a new personal best, and over the same distance Niamh Carroll was third in the U19 race and Eleanor McMahon (U15) placed sixth.
There was more medal success in the 600m races as Eve Cunningham (U11) came second and Dearbhla Johnston placed third in the U12 event, with two other U12s - Yasman Nuri and Cian Bolton - just missing out when placing fourth.
There were second places for two of Drogheda & District's 100m sprinters, Michael Iloduba (Boys U16) and Ruby Berrill (Girls U17), with Bonnie Breach third in the Girls U15 race.
Over 60m Aine McHugh came second and Eabha Flynn fourth in the U11 Girls final and Dearbhla Johnston third in the U12 race, while turning to the boys there was silver for Semi Johnston (U9) and two medals in the U10 race as Jack O'Connor stormed to victory and Rocco Kermode placed third.
Last but not least, Drogheda & District;s Eve Russell, Emily Garvey and Emily Cooney placed second, third and fourt respectively in the Girls U14 200m.
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