The Antrim Forum played host to Ulster’s top schools athletes on Friday and Saturday.
As the mercury topped 20 degrees on both days, the athletes of Lifford Strabane AC were prominent on the podium throughout as they amassed a total of 15 medals and two new Ulster Schools Records.
Picture: Lifford Strabane AC athletes Jude McCrossan and Cormac O’Donnell who took gold and bronze medals respectively in the Junior Boys Hammer at the Ulster Schools Athletics Finals in Antrim at the weekend.
Meanwhile on Saturday afternoon Adrienne Gallen set a new record of 10.63m in the Minor Girls Shot Put eclipsing the mark of 10.53m set by Kathryn Coombs in 2016. Indeed this was Gallen’s second gold medal of the championships having won the Junior Girls Hammer the previous evening when throwing a hugely impressive 47.20m.
Indeed Lifford Strabane AC athletes dominated the hammer events at these championships winning five of the six hammer titles available. Apart from O’Donnell and Gallen, three more hammer gold medals came the way of Lifford Strabane AC athletes courtesy of Jude McCrossan in the Junior Boys event (44.74m), Ryan Henderson in the Intermediate Boys event (43.72m) and Olivia Cuskelly in the Intermediate Girls (40.90m).
The hammer medal stash didn’t stop there, however, as Ross Henderson added a silver medal in the Intermediate Boys (38.98m), Una O’Donnell took silver in the Junior Girls (30.51m) while Cormac O’Donnell took Lifford Strabane AC’s eighth hammer medal when winning bronze in the Junior Boys (32.94m).
There were further medals in the throws on Saturday afternoon as Sarah Crawford took a silver medal in the Intermediate Girls Javelin, Aine Marie McBride also took silver in the Junior Girls Shot Put while Xavier McCann threw over 41m to take a silver medal in the Intermediate Boys Javelin.
Shannon Craig leaped to 1.55m in the Senior Girls High Jump to round off her highly successful Ulster Schools career with a silver medal.
There was success on the track too with up and coming young sprinter Harriet McCrossan taking silver in the Minor Girls 100m and then stepping up in age group to take a sensational silver in the Junior Girls 200m.
The focus now turns to the Irish Schools Athletics Finals in Tullamore in two weeks time.
