THE future of Williamstown Athletics Club is in winning hands after three of its young athletes secured gold medals at the Victorian Junior Athletics Championships last month.
Known in the western suburbs for his skills with a hockey stick, Sweeney Preston proved to be a master of multiple sports on his way to victory in the Boys Under 16 200 and 400 metre finals.
His time of 52.44 for the latter was a personal best.
In the girls’ competition, rising star Celeste Mucci wasn’t daunted by her busy schedule, claiming four medals over the three-day carnival.
Mucci won gold in the Under 15 high jump and 90 metre hurdles while adding two silver medals to her collection in the long jump and in the 100 metres.
Also decked out in gold was Daniela Roman, who easily won the Under 18 100 metre hurdles in a club record time of 14.04.
Williamstown Athletics Club coach David Jamieson said it was great to see the athletes perform so well.
“For the ones that medalled, they have shown themselves to be up in that range over the past couple of years and it is a great effort from them,” he said.
“Sweeney was a bit of a surprise given it is his first full season. He just performed better with every race he went into.
“He has been a quick developer and a good learner and has a really good competitive instinct.”
Other great performances throughout the competition included silver medals to Brad Ticehurst and Catie Hardeman while Ryhan Thomas was third in the 1500 metres.
Williamstown Athletics Club will now send a squad of six athletes to Perth to compete in the Australia Junior Championships in March.
Jamieson said a key aspect of the preparation is to maintain high-level training so the star trio can peak on the big stage.
“We will mostly be working on development in training,” he said.
“They are going from one level of competition and stepping up but it is really just the on-going training and the development of their skills and their knowledge of their sport that we will work on.
“Once they are on the track, it is all up to them. There is no one standing beside them saying do this or do that. It all needs to be done before they get there.
“What you like to see is them competing to their best level and performing to their best on the day when it counts.”
The championships begin on Tuesday 12 March.
