Galway athletes produced some fantastic performances on day two of the Connacht Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Sligo IT on Saturday.
Galway Athletic Club's Emma Moore and Roisin Flynn were two stars at the event. Both claimed triple gold, with Moore winning the U13 sprint hurdles, 60m and 600m races, and Flynn winning the U18 100, 200 and 400m events.
Top sprinter Cillin Greene claimed double sprint gold over 100 and 200m at U19 level. Robert McDonnell won the U14 200m, Zoe Moore took the U15 sprint hurdles, while Seren O'Toole took two wins over 200m and the long hurdles.
At U16 level, Eadaoin Langan won the 800m girls, while the talented Aaron Brennan won both 800m and 1500m titles in 2.12 and 4.37 respectively.
There was another double victory at U17 level with sprinter Kacper Poniatowski winning the 100m and 200m, while Laura Nally claimed the girls' 400m and Lydia Doyle took the sprint hurdles.
In the U18 events, there were wins for Jack Dempsey in the 100 and 200m, Peadar O Flatharta in the 400m, and Aoife King in the 1500m. At U19 level Ann Moroney won the 1500m in 4.53 and Nicole King claimed 200m gold. In the field events, Daragh Jennings took the U13 shot putt title with a throw of 10.78 metres.
Craughwell AC athletes claimed a huge haul of medals - the highlight being Jerry Keary’s 2m high jump clearance to win the U17 boys' event, a jump which would rank him in the top two of his age in Ireland and the UK.
At U14 level Craughwell took the boys' 4x100m relay with Pascal Walsh, Robert Urquhart, Padraic Martyn, Shaun Gilligan, and sub Ludaigh Morgan, while Jack Farrell won the sprint hurdles, Conor Trehy took the discus, Sean Cahill won the javelin and Ellie Cronin won the high jump
Ryan Gallagher won the U15 high jump, while Conor Roberts took the honours in the long jump. In the U15 girls' events, Freya Bohan claimed the high jump gold and Leanagh Gilligan won the long jump, while Chloe Casey won the shot. Craughwell also won the U15 Girls 4x100m relay.
At U16 level Siona Lawless took gold and silver in the 100m and 200m respectively, while in the U17s Laura Cunningham won double gold in the high jump and triple jump, and Daniel Callanan Forde and Aoife Walsh secured victory in the long jumps.
Other Galway winners on the day were: Chloe Farragher, who won both the U14 80m and long jump for Loughrea AC; Jack Farrell, who claimed the U14 hurdles, and Tiernan Conneely of Corrib AC, who won the U14 walk and shot putt. David Brown of Loughrea won the U19 400m, Brian Burke of Ballinasloe won the U18 3k, Aine O'Farrell took the U18 3k, and Aisling Keane of Athenry won the U18 800m.
Loughrea AC swept the boards in the jumps with wins for Brendan Lynch at U18 in both triple and high jumps, while Conor Leahy claimed U16 gold, also in triple and high jumps. Yasiri Kiriweldeniyage won the U15 boys' triple jump, and Nesta Yanga took the U16 girls' triple. In the throws, there were wins for Elaine Nee of Conamara AC in the U16 shot putt and javelin, and Ryan Mcnelis of Athenry at shot, and Colin Naughton, also Athnery, in the javelin.
At senior level, there were wins for Brendan Staunton of GCH in the shot, discus, hammer and javelin throws events and Henrique Nvokolata won the triple jump, also conmpeting for GCH.
