Morgan Mitchell has been named the April nominee for the Don Deeble Rising Star Award. 79958 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By MICHAEL ESPOSITO
WERRIBEE’S Morgan Mitchell has fantasised about representing the Australian netball team and running the 400m at the Commonwealth Games.
And the 17-year-old girl doesn’t like entertaining the thought that she might have to choose between athletics and netball.
At the moment she’s excelling in both sports. In fact, her netball training is benefitting her running, and vice-versa.
But the inevitable clash of schedules has forced Mitchell to think about her priorities.
The Australian Under-19 netball squad training camp is being held days before Mitchell is booked to head to Barcelona for the World Junior Athletics Championships.
Naturally, her running coach Peter Burke doesn’t want her to get injured before the world championships, but Mitchell would love to honour both commitments.
If she was forced to make a decision, Mitchell said she could not pass up the opportunity to go to Barcelona.
Her qualification for the World Championships came somewhat as a surprise. She shocked even herself by running a time of 54.66 seconds to win the Under 20 women’s 400m event at the Australian junior athletics championships.
“I wasn’t expecting it actually, I was hoping just to run 56 because I just started back running. I thought I’d be happy with 56, and to make the final I’d be happy, and somehow I ran that time,” Mitchell said.
“I was just running really well because I wasn’t as stressed as anyone else, I wasn’t really expecting much to happen, and If I had the opportunity to win of course I was going to take it, and running down the last hundred I saw the opportunity, so I took it.”
Her form suggests she has plenty of improvement in her. She was clocking 58 seconds when she returned to running in late December, and four competitive runs later had dropped almost four seconds by March.
Right now I just want to cut down my time and make the final (of the world junior championships), 52 seconds is my goal,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said her intensive training with Victorian Netball League side City West Falcons has helped her running
“Its an advantage because we’re always doing weights always doing hard runs … then I just come to athletics, do a bit of a light run and go home,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell’s netball career is also flying, having been selected for the Australian Under-19 squad after some superb performances at the National Under-19 championships in Launceston.
A final squad of 12 will be selected after the mid-year training camp, and Mitchell was confident of making the cut, partly because she was one of only two wing defenders in the squad.
• Morgan Mitchell is this month’s Don Deeble Rising Star Award nominee. The award, run by Sunshine and Western Region Sports Club in conjunction with Star News Group and Yarraville Club Cricket Club, recognises young sportspeople from the Western Suburbs who have excelled in their chosen sport, or in Mitchell’s case, sports. Mitchell will receive $1000, donated by Yarraville Club, a voucher for New Balance runners and membership to Sunshine World Gym. The annual winner of the Don Deeble Rising Star Ward, announced in June, will receive $5000.
