Athletes on track

By Marc McGowan
CASEY little athletes continued the club’s stunning recent success with three medals at the State Cross Country Championships in Bundoora on Sunday.
Perennial winner Sam Prime breezed in the girls’ under-13 3km by almost 10 seconds, while her older sister Jessica and Rachel Bullard won bronze medals in the girls’ under-15 and under-14 3km events respectively.
The medal haul matched last year’s club-best result.
Other strong female performers included under-seven athletes Matisse Lazzari (fifth) and Amy Lawton (eighth) and under-12 competitor Jessica Cox (sixth).
Brothers Nicholas (10th in under-12s) and Daniel Sheridan (eighth in under-13s) and under-15 runner Tom Watson (seventh) impressed for Casey’s male contingent.
Casey cross-country coordinator and coach Rod Prime, father of Sam and Jessica, was delighted with the athletes’ results.
“It was a fantastic effort from all the kids who went to Bundoora,” he said. “As I said to them on Thursday (before the championships), there are some kids who are going to win medals and there’s going to be some who get top 10 or 20 and some who come 40th or 50th.
“The main thing is they’re out there enjoying their running and hopefully they’ve learned a lot of skills over the season.
“It doesn’t really matter where you come as long as you enjoy yourself and can say at the end of the race that you’ve done the best you could.”
Prime tipped Matisse Lazzari as ‘one to watch’ and was thrilled with the improvement of Nicholas and Daniel Sheridan and sister act Jade and Taylor Vasiljevic, who finished 14th and 16th in the under-eight and under-10 age groups respectively.
Meanwhile, eight current and former Casey athletes have qualified to compete in the Australian Cross Coun-try Championships in New South Wales from 29 to 31 August.
Jordan Nelson, Siobhan Jagusch and Lauren Grant will join current Casey runners Jessica and Sam Prime, Bullard, Charlie Jagusch – Siobhan’s younger sister – and Jessica Cox at the national showcase.
Nelson and Siobhan Jagusch also have the added incentive of gaining a spot in the Australian squad for next year’s World Cross Country Championships if they can produce strong performances.
Nelson is already competing for his country in the World Mountain Running Championships in Italy on 6 September.
Prime believes the club’s success is due to a positive training atmosphere that encourages athletes to improve themselves.
“When the kids actually train as a group, they’re bonding with a lot of other friends who share the same goals in a way with their distance running,” he said.
“They just try to get the best out of each other as well as having fun along the way.”