Athletes excel at WCR Regional Championships

SWAN Hill’s best nineteen athletes competed in a cold Warrnambool at the WCR Regional Championships on February 15 and 16.

Little Athletics organiser Steve Colombo was pleased with the results.

“All of our 19 athletes represented the club well,” he told The Guardian.

“Out of the 19 athletes, 14 made it to the next stage which is the State’s Championship which will be held in Casey Fields.”

He was impressed with those who managed to beat their personal bests.

“Conditions made it hard for the athletes to compete,” Colombo said.

“So with that being said, for those who did get a personal best it was a very solid PB.”

Warrnambool’s fantastic regional facilities offered the chance for more than 100 country athletes to compete and realise what it’s like to compete on the big stage.

“The facilities in Warrnambool are very clean, not only that but the facilities are state of the art,” he said.

“They relay their surface once every two years, so it was a fantastic surface to run on.”

With States coming up, nearly 200 athletes from all over Victoria will come down to Melbourne to compete, usually those who finish first in their event will qualify.

The State Championships was traditionally held at Albert Park, but recently it was moved to the freshly laid Casey Fields track, with brand new state of the art facilities there for young athletes to compete on Olympic level facilities.

“Our season will be wrapping shortly after States,” he said.

“On March 21, we have our end of season ceremony before we go into a three week break.

“During the winter we have a small cross country season but that is about it.

“Our plans for the 2025/26 season has already commenced.”

Some stand out performers at regionals were Jack Barry and Kade Wells in the Male 14 group who won four and three events respectively. They both will proceed to States.

Hunter Wells in the Male 17 group won two of his events, and Eve Murray won three of her events in the female 13 age group.

Kayla McInerney and Sienna Colombo both had good spells in the Female 14 group with Kayla winning three events and Sienna winning the 80 meter hurdles, so they both proceed to States as well.