Runners shine for gold

By Jarrod Potter
CRANBOURNE Little Athletics Club brought homethe gold at the State Relay Championships held at Lakeside Stadium in Albert Park lastweek.
The 800m boys under nine sprint medley team, featuring Keenan O’Hanlon, Connor MacDonald, Caleb Whittam and Justin Ott, won their race in which the athletes run individual legs of 100m, 100m, 200m and finally a 400m lap, which was run by MacDonald who ran across the line to win gold for Cranbourne LAC.
The Cranbourne boys won their their race in 2.19.61 ahead of Altona and Sandringham.
MacDonald said the last leg he ran was exciting as he helped catch up some time on the other teams and get the win.
“We were in fourth when I was running.
“I kicked around and we were coming fourth, then third, the second and then we won,” MacDonald said.
“Cranbourne is the best.”
“It was a real surprise to win,” O’Hanlon said.
“There were a few kids who ran really fast in the long distance, but we fought back to win.
“We were really excited because we had never won a state medal before,” Whittam said.
“It felt really good to win,” Ott said.
The other success from the event for Cranbourne came from the under-15 mixed 200m relay, who finished third in 1.45.82 behind Nunawading and Ballarat.
The runners in the mixed relay team were Ethan Singleton, Rhys Sherlock, Kristy Watson and Kayla Ripari with three of the runners having to compete up an age group.
Ripari said to come in third despite being younger than all the other athletes was a great achievement.
“It was great to win a medal as a young team,” Ripari said.
“We’re proud to come in third as we ran up a race division.
“If we were racing against other under-14s, we probably would have won it.”
The little athletes nowprepare for the Regional Track and Field event in Moe andthe state championships in Bendigo.