Seaford Little Athletics have celebrated a most successful Region Track & Field Championships with a bumper haul of 25 medals.  The bag of medals consisted of 10 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze from the 27 member team.  Along with the medals, U/11 Elli Symonds added 2 pending Victorian Best Performances in Triple Jump and 60m Hurdles.

The race walkers from Seaford proved a powerhouse with 7 athletes earning a podium finish.  U/9 Harli Lennon started the medal run for the Centre with a gold medal in the 700m girl’s event with teammate Patrick Staines taking silver in the boy’s event.  2 more medals were added to the team collection in the U/11 1100m races with Alannah Upson winning gold for the girl’s event and Aiden Smith walking his way to a bronze in the boy’s event. U/12 pair Emily Smith and Shannon Delaney proved too strong in their age group taking gold medals in the girls and boys events respectively.  U/15 Alex Hayes closed out the successful walk events for Seaford with a silver medal in his age group’s 1500m walk.

In the field, U/9 Tessa Symonds dominated with a gold medal in the shot put hurling 6.82m to earn a resounding victory.  Harli added a second gold medal to her collection with a tie for first place in the U/9 High Jump before adding a silver medal at Long Jump.  U/15 Elyssia Tallon Rosas placed second to earn a silver medal at High Jump and then added a bronze medal for Triple Jump.  U/11 Elli Symonds nabbed silver at the long jump and then added another gold medal to her collection on day 2 with a first place at Triple Jump and her second pending VBP for the meet.  Bronze medals went to U/15 pair Justin Ott and Jacob Barry at triple jump and shot put respectively and U/9 Patrick at discus.  Jacob Barry also scored a come from behind win at the Long Jump to score gold on his last jump in the final round.  Justin added a second bronze on day 2 to his personal collection with a third place at Javelin.  U/15 Maddison Staines secured a silver medal at shot put for her only appearance of the meet.

Back on the track, Elli Symonds won a gold medal at the 60m Hurdles in spectacular form equaling the Victorian Best Performance in a time of 9.81.  The pending VBP is Elli’s second of the season after her Multi’s performance last month.  Harli Lennon added a third gold to her collection when she won the 60m Hurdles for her age group on day 2.U/11 Ben Hayes added a bronze medal to the team tally with a strong finish in the 800m event and backed up with a silver in the 1500m the following day.  U/14 Ethan Buchanan scored a silver medal in the 1500m also.  For full results, see SEAFORD REGION RESULTS.

The celebrations continued at Seaford this week with the announcement of preliminary qualifications for the State Championships.  Twenty of the Seaford athletes have qualified through to the State Championships to be held over the long weekend from 10-11th March at Lakeside Stadium. 

Harli Lennon and Elli Symonds have qualified through to the Championships in all 4 of their contested events while Jacob Barry, Benjamin Delaney, Alex Hayes, Ben Hayes, Justin Ott, Patrick Staines and Elyssia Tallon Rosas have qualified for 2 events each.  Ethan Buchanan, Shannon Delaney, Mali Goggin, Erich Holohan, Sean Riddex, Aiden Smith, Emily Smith, Maddison Staines, Tessa Symonds, Alannah Upson and Shkyiah Upson make up the Seaford team with 1 event each.   

Seaford joined in the relay season with 16 teams competing at the Southern Metropolitan Region Relay Championships held at Springvale LAC on the 25/11/2017.  The Seaford Centre were represented at the Championships by Patrick Staines, Jame Bolt, Harli Lennon, Grace Mills, Bailey Thompson, Aidan Smith, Len Harrington, Bailey Kalogerinis, Shaun Laird, Brodie Tallon, Edward Barnard, Shannon Delaney, Ryan Welsh, Scarlett Manning, Emily Smith, Mali Goggin, Erich Holohan, Ethan Buchanan, Alex Hayes, Ryley Stephenson, Justin Ott, Lachlan Smith and Jaycob Roberts.

Seaford’s relay teams finished with a haul of 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals for their efforts.  The Under 9 mixed team of Patrick Staines, James Bolt, Harli Lennon and Grace Mills booked an automatic qualification for the State Championships in December with their gold medal in the 4 x 200m event.

The senior boy’s teams celebrated their events with 4 medals.  The U/15 team of Ethan Buchanan, Lachlan Smith, Jaycob Roberts and Justin Ott started the medal haul for the Seaford boys with a silver medal in the 4 x 200m event.  Smith and Roberts then backed up their medals teaming with Alex Hayes and Ryley Stephenson to take bronze in the 14-15 Multi age medley.  2 more silvers were to come when Hayes, Stephenson, Buchanan and Ott combined in the U/15 4 x 100m event and the U/15 medley.  4 more teams finished with a final berth during the Championships.

State Championships saw three Seaford teams compete at Lakeside against the best from around the State.  Congratulations to Harli Lennon, Annie Murphy, James Bolt, Patrick Staines, Lachlan Smith, Jaycob Roberts, Ethan Buchanan, Justin Ott, Alex Hayes and Ryley Stephenson on their efforts at the State Championships.

The Cross Country season finished with a Presentation Day on Saturday August 26.  The final event of the season was the ever popular stern chaser.  This year's race added an extra twist with some of the keener race walkers electing to walk the course rather than run.  The hill proved a challenge for techniques but all competitors crossed the line to a round of applause.  Congratulations to all competitors on a fantastic season.  A list of the award winners can be found on our cross country page.  An updated list of cross country records can also be found in our cross country section.  Congratulations to Maddix, Jordyn, Riley, Swayde, Shkyiah, Liam, Alex, Lan, Tania and Katie on setting new records this season in their respective running divisions.  Congratulations also to Lan and Emily on new Centre records in their respective walk age groups.

Seaford’s athletes continue to go from strength to strength with U/12 athlete Emily Smith taking Bronze at the Victorian Junior Track & Field Championships over the weekend.  Smith contested the U/14 3000m race walk on Saturday at Lakeside and enjoyed a third placing in her debut at the Championships.  Emily competed as a member of the Junior Development Squad.