29.03.2010

Five on fire on big weekend of track and field

Australian Flame athlete David McNeill has smashed his personal best time to take out the men’s 5000m at the Stanford Invitational meet in California (USA) at the weekend and become one of five Australians to record Commonwealth Games A-qualifying performances on a big weekend of track and field.

McNeill was joined by fellow world championships representative Aaron Rouge-Serret (100m) and Commonwealth Games hopefuls Kathryn Mitchell (javelin throw), Dale Stevenson (shot put) and Julian Wruck (discus throw) in posting A-qualifying results ahead of the Games in New Delhi, India, in October.

McNeill, racing for Northern Arizona Unversity, clocked 13:25.63 to better his previous career-low mark of 13:30.63 recorded in Walnut, California, in April last year and saw the world championships 10,000m representative cross the line a massive 10 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

The result follows McNeill’s win over 5000m in a new national indoor record time (13:36.41) and second place over 3000m (8:10.96) at the NCAA indoor championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas (USA), earlier this month, continuing a huge few weeks for the 23-year-old Victorian.

Closer to home, world championships 4x100m relay representative Aaron Rouge-Serret turned on the standout performance of the Western Australian state titles, clocking the fastest 100m on Australian soil in three years and fifth-fastest of all time to post his first Commonwealth Games A-qualifier in the men’s blue riband event.

Slashing nearly two tenths of a second from his previous best (10.36, w:1.0m), the 22-year-old’s breakthrough bolt sees him join track stalwart Patrick Johnson as one only two Australians to have secure the coveted A-standard over 100m.

In Melbourne, rising shot put star Dale Stevenson recorded his fifth Commonwealth Games A-qualifier of the year with a heave of 19.30m.

The 2009 World University Games representative claimed the Victorian state title in emphatic fashion and will now enter next month’s Go for 2&5 88th Australian Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games selection trials a real chance to claim his first senior national crown.

Also in action at Melbourne’s Olympic Park, javelin specialist Kathryn Mitchell threw her name into the hat for a ticket to Delhi with a personal best performance en route to claiming the state javelin title.

Following her B-qualifier (56.34m) at the Melbourne Track Classic earlier this month, 27-year-old Mitchell surpassed the A-standard with her almighty fifth attempt of 59.68m, eclipsing Cecilia McIntosh’s previous state record set in 2002.

Rounding out a big weekend of track and field action across the globe, rising star Julian Wruck posted his first Commonwealth Games A-standard result at the Texas Tech Invitational meet at Lubbock, Texas (USA).
Wruck sent the disc 61.02m to stitch up the A-qualifying mark and stake a claim for selection to his first senior international meet.  

In other top results from across the weekend, Gabrielle Neighbour set a personal best and new Victorian record in the women’s hammer throw with a heave of 64.38m.

Overnight 16 Australians took to the start line of the 2010 IAAF world cross country championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where eight-time world cross country representative Benita Willis was the highest ranked of the Aussies, crossing the line in 17th place. For details, click here.