More success for Dromore High School athletes

Over the last few weeks boys and girls from the school have competed in the Co Down and Ulster Schools’ Athletics Championships. In the U14 team event, Dromore have also fielded teams that have achieved more than a fair degree of success.

In particular Matthew Martin broke both Co Down Schools’ IB javelin and shot put records. The intermediate boys finished fourth in Co Down and an amazing second place in the Ulster Schools’ Team placings.

Held at two different venues for the different age groups, the Down Schools’ is probably the most competitive of all the five qualifying areas for the Ulster Schools’ to be held at the Antrim Forum. Qualification to the Ulster Schools’ is achieved by a top three performance in the ‘Districts’.

The Inter/Senior age group had the use of the Mary Peters Track for their event - intermediates include the Year 11 and 12 year groups from the school. This day of competition produced much success for Dromore HS, particularly in the inter boys section where the boys had a good day.

Matthew Martin undoubtedly had a day to remember with victories in the IB javelin (53.51m) and shot put (13.40m) – in both events he produced record-breaking performances to post an early warning to rivals for the Ulster Schools’ titles.

Tom Jess, a colleague on the Irish throws squad, also hit his mark, winning the discus with a throw of 35.27m – he also just missed out in the shot put.

Matthew Rowan (second, 400m) and Mark Cunningham (third, triple jump) joined Matthew and Tom in qualifying for the ‘Ulsters’.

Not to be outdone, the girls got in on the act with Julie Boyd (shot) and Demi-Louise Davis (300m) also on their way to Antrim. Demi-Louise, in an event in which she had little experience, performed with no shortage of bravery whilst Julie just missed out in going through in the Discus as well.

The minors and juniors had a little further to travel on their day of competition with Bangor Sportsplex hosting this Championship. This change in venue did little to stem the tide of Dromore achievement.

The boys again led the way as Dromore completed the ‘clean sweep’ of shot put titles available to the school with Curtis Jackson (MB) and Peter Cowan (JB) crowned as Co Down champions to join Matthew Martin in that clean sweep of shot put titles – an unusual feat to achieve.

Peter also produced an impressive throw in the discus to match Matthew Martin in qualifying for two throwing events. Unfortunately the girls, with the exception of Oksana Jasinskaite, failed to live up to the high standard set by the boys.

In an event new to her, Oksana threw extremely well to achieve a fantastic third place finish. Mention must also be made of Zoe Campbell, a Year 9 competing against athletes a year older, who finished a very credible 8th place in the Shot.

The ‘Ulsters’ is probably the biggest event in the schools sporting calendar with athletes from all types of schools competing for the medals. The Dromore HS representation was again sizeable with nine athletes competing in 11 events.

Highlights of the day came from Matthew Martin, Tom Jess, Matthew Rowan (IB) and Peter Cowan (JB). Matthew lived up to his favourite billing with a comfortable win in the javelin, but his victory in the shot was a deserved bonus for a very dedicated athlete.

Tom has also worked very hard during the winter and produced a ‘pb’ of 38.69m to win the discus by a clear margin. Peter continued his run of impressive performances over the last three years, again winning a medal (silver) in the JB shot.

All three of the boys have qualified for the Irish Schools’ Championships to be held at Tullamore, Co Offaly. The final performance of special mention came from Matthew Rowan in the 400m, who has lowered his pb from 56.7s to 54.0s in the last three races. In the final Matthew produced a storming run to finish just outside the medals.

This is an event specifically organised for Year 9s in an enjoyable team format - a team of seven competes in six individual events (100m, 800m, high jump, long jump, shot, javelin) and a 4x200m relay.

In the area final against Banbridge HS, Banbridge Academy, Newry HS, New-Bridge IC both Dromore HS teams (boys and girls) finished in the top two places to ensure safe passage to the County Down final – the boys won their area with the girls in second place.

Individual victories came from Zoe Campbell (shot), Christopher Wilson (shot), David Pyper (long jump) and Ashley Boyd (javelin).

In the Co Down final the boys produced the best ever performance by a Dromore team to win bronze medals, with the girls in sixth place against the best grammar schools in the county. Zoe Campbell again won her shot put event (7.48m) with an almost identical throw to that of her win in the area final.