Director of Sport | Mr Damian Wright

Track and Field

A record number of boys attended the Metropolitan North Regional selection trials last week at the University of Queensland. A good number of boys qualified on the Metropolitan North team and will go on to compete at the upcoming Queensland Secondary Schools State Athletics Championships in late October. Well done to all the boys who attended, with many recording stand out personal bests in a variety of events. Those who applied themselves at training showed great improvement in their performances.

Special mention to Declan Madden (Year 11) who competed in the Open Triple jump and produced a personal best, jumping over a meter further than his previous best in 2017.

Nick Beall (Year 12) also produced an outstanding performance in winning the Open 100m comfortably and backing this up with a personal best in the 200m to gain silver.

Oliver Seawright (Year 10)not only won the Under 16 - 1500m in what was one of the most exciting middle distance races of the Metropolitan North Trials, but also eclipsed a longstanding record which was set back in 1999. Oliver also finished with a silver in the 3000m.

Track and Field Meet #2 – BSHS

The Track and Field program entered more athletes at an early season meet than previous years, with over 70 boys making the effort to attend and compete against our associated schools. Coach Grigorieva was blown away by the enthusiasm and commitment shown by the boys, and was extremely pleased with the boy’s efforts.

Performing in racing conditions, under pressure enhances an athlete’s development. Giving your best at training is great, but having the opportunity to give your best with competitors from associated schools and rehearse your race strategy coupled with race execution is the ideal path for improvement.

Keep note of your distance and time – identify the athletes around you and see if you can get one step ahead of them.

A lot of good athletes will identify mini battles/competition s within their events. If you’re coming 7^th, try as hard as you can to come 5^th and if you get there, get to 4^th.

I love watching the track races where you can see those boys who can identify their place and then set themselves a small personal goal to get one place better, then another, then another. The great Sebastian Coe – Olympic Gold Medalist – raced in exactly this manner. He would make every placing a personal challenge to better his opponent – every place mattered, every position mattered. In the end, he would find himself near the top of the pack and from there he could make a choice – his destiny was in his hands.

One of the most outstanding features from the Track and Field Meet on Friday evening was the leadership shown by the Seniors. There is a lot to do at a Track and Field meet and the Year 11 and Year 12 boys certainly stood up and took the lead. Peer leadership – boys mentoring and leading has the greatest impact upon the boys. Great to see! So, let’s aim for more from the top this Friday evening.

Cross Country

The 2017 Australian Cross Country Championships descended on the City of Wollongong last weekend with the Kembla Joggers welcoming the nation's best distance runners to their purpose-built cross country facility. Terrace was fortunate to have our 2017 Cross Country Captain, Nick Erzetic representing Queensland in the Under 18 men’s division.

Wollongong provided the perfect setting for extremely fast and great racing and a very successful end to Nick’s incredible commitment to school Cross Country, which commenced as a Year 4 student. Nick finished the Under 18 - 6km event in 12^th place (6^th place for the 17 years’ competitors) and a bronze medal in the team’s event, with Queensland finishing 3^rd.