Records tumble at St Killian’s College Sports’ Day

His sister Róisin holds both the Year 10 Girls’ record set in 2010 and Year 11 (2011), while his father Brian set the Year 8 Boys’ standard of 18.20m away back in 1980, when he was a student at St MacNissi’s College on the same Garron Tower site. Caillin recently finished fifth in the All-Ireland Schools’ final in Tullamore, with a personal best throw of 37.95.

Second place in the discus went to Aidan Murray, but he picked up the long jump and high jump double – setting a new standard of 1.60m in the high jump. The Larne athlete had gained a bronze in this event in the All-Ireland Schools’ finals recently, clearing 1.65m. Both marks are short of his PB of 1.71 however.

Iin the Year 11 shot another record tumbled as Sean McCann threw 10.94m, beating Paul Heggarty’s 31-year standard of 10.80m. Sean also completed the long jump and high jump double.

There were two other doubles recorded for Year 11 boys with Ryan McDonald winning the 800m and 1500m and Matthew Devine combining the 200m with the discus.

In Year 10 Boys, Larne’s Corey Beggs collected no fewer than three firsts (the sprint double and the shot), while Carnlough’s Darius Halasa (100m and Shot) and Larne’s Sean Murphy (200m and 400m) collected doubles in Year 9.

Ross McDonald was the only boy to achieve a double in Year 8 with his long-distance running seeing him top the charts in both 800m and 1500m.

Ellen Hynds was the top Year 8 girl athlete with four golds. She won the 100m, 200m and high jump and led her class home in the relay. Clodagh McCann doubled up with 800m and high jump, while Ellen’s cousin Laoise McKenna won three events in Year 9 (400m, 800m and high jump). However, Larne’s Georgia Crawford bettered that with four golds – the sprint double, discus and class relay.

In Year 10, both Sinead Convery (high jump and javelin) and Jade Bradley from Carnlough (800m and discus) achieved double gold and Cairncastle’s Rachel O’Boyle was the top girl in year 11 with four golds (the sprint double, shot and discus).

The Sports’ Day got under way with the arrival of an Olympic Torch carried to the pitches by Miss Fiona Delargy. All the winners had their photograph taken with the torch on the podium. Indeed, the torch proved a very popular addition to the annual event with many students and teachers lining up to have their picture taken with it.