By Stuart Teather
RISING athletics star Maggie-May Quinlan is July’s Don Deeble Sports Star Award nominee, following a string of successes at major athletics meets around Australia.
Fourteen-year-old Maggie-May is the Little Athletics 100m and 200m Australian champion, and holds the Little Athletics 100m record of 11.98 seconds.
To put the blistering 100m record into context, the time needed to qualify for the Olympic squad is 11.42 seconds — just 0.56 seconds faster than her best.
In 2007, she competed in the Victorian under-20 championships, and came fourth in the 100m and 200m events, despite being just 13-years-old at the time.
She also competed at the Australian All-School Championships, coming fourth in the under-15 division for both events.
Despite her successes, dad Peter said she was a very modest girl.
“She’s not lost in her own ability, even though she could be. She’s well grounded,” he said.
It is little surprise Maggie-May is excelling in her field, given her family’s success on the athletics track.
Sister Millie-Rose is the state champion in the girls 11-year-old 80m hurdles, while brother Madigan is state champion in the boys 10-year-old 800m.
Peter said the athletics obsession was born out of a visit to the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
“My wife took the girls to the Olympics in 2000, (Madigan was too young). Then they went to (the local) athletics and she just excelled in everything they put in front of her.”
Maggie-May’s coach at Athletics Essendon, Jim Currell, said she was an incredibly focussed athlete.
“She’s a very private sort of person, but she’s very driven. She has a real sense of direction for what she wants to do in athletics.
“She’s a very, very hard worker — she’s a little bit bullet proof, in that she works very hard. She’ll try and train through adversity, whether it be simply feeling sore or whether it be trying to recover faster than she should”.
Currell said he was taking a long-term focus to Maggie-May’s training and development, and said during the last summer season they had less of a focus on results.
“She had a ‘fallow’ season — we effectively put her out to pasture and let her run around. It’s just to give her time to grow and develop physically and emotionally.”
Both coach and dad said they would like to see Maggie-May qualify for the 2009 Junior World Championships, which will be held in Italy.
Currell said her training was focussed on making sure she had the best possible chance of qualifying for the tournament.
Maggie-May Quinlan is this month’s Don Deeble Sports Star Award, which is supported by Star, the Sunshine and Western Region Sports Club and Yarraville Club Cricket Club.The award is incentive-based and nominations will be made monthly, with the club announcing an annual winner.
The award is open to young sportspeople across the western suburbs performing at state or national level.To nominate someone, send details to Don Deeble Sports Star, c/o Star News Group, 17 Assembly Drive, Tullamarine, 3043, or email starsport@starnewsgroup.com.au.Alternatively call our sports reporter on 9933 4810 during business hours.
