Leevale travelled in strength to compete in the first round of the national league which was held in a cool but dry Tullamore last Sunday, May 18th. Leevale men competed against Crusaders, West Waterford, Menapians, DSD, Tullamore Harriers and Meath. From the outset Leevale men started racking up serious points with David Quilligan winning the Long Jump and Dennis Finnegan winning the 110m hurdles. Chris Murnane finished strong in the 400m hurdles to take second place. It was great to see Mark Hanrahan back from serious injury to dominate the 1500m from start to finish. James Grufferty admirably volunteered to compete in the steeple chase, after two laps he settled into the event and finished a very strong third, definitely capturing the spirit of the event with his attitude and performance. Derek Duff won the 100m and Dennis Finnegan racked up his second win of the day in triple jump. Joe Nagle totalled 12 points by finishing third in both the shot and 56lb. Brendan Dennehy took second in the high jump and was matched by Darren O’ Donovan & Thomas Maunsell in the 200m & 5000m respectively. The men’s team won the division with a total of 112 points to Meath’s 98 points.
Leevale women team were a little under strength, so the travelling athletes had to double up is some events that were not familiar to them. However they scored well and are in strong position for the next round which will be held at CIT. On the first track event Katey Byrd appeared to be cruising to victory in the 100m hurdle when she clipped a hurdle and fell. She did recover to finish third. Katey subsequently won the triple jump and finished third in the discus. Niamh Cremin dominated 400m hurdle. Imelda Morrison entered her first high jump competition in a long time to take third place and 6 points for the club. In the long jump Imelda finished fourth, taking her points contribution to 10. Alanna Quinn finished third in the 400m, while Louise McArdle finished third & fourth in the 200m & 100m respectively. Carmel Parnell competed in the 3K to take forth while Jessie Van Hatten covered the 1500m & 800m events scoring a total of 8 points. The women’s team finished in fourth place on 91.5 points. The other teams in their division were DSD, Wexford, Borrisokane and Bandon.
LEEVALE RESULTS:
| EVENT | MEN’S TEAM | WOMEN’S TEAM |
| Sprint Hurdles | 1 Denis Finnegan Leevale 16.0 1 | 3 Katey Byrd Leevale 19.0 |
| Walk | 4 Aisling Gould Leevale 10.56.5 | |
| 400m Hurdles | 2 Chris Murnane Leevale 57.9 | 1 Niamh Cremin Leevale 63.4 |
| 4x100m Relay | 1 Leevale 42.9 1 DSD 49.6 | 2 Leevale 50.5 |
| 1500m | 1 Mark Hanrahan Leevale 3.53.9 | 5 Jessica Van Hatten Leevale 5.04.7 |
| 400m | 4 Greg O’Leary Leevale 51.1 | 3 Alana Quinn Leevale 61.3 |
| 3000m S/C | 3 James Grufferty Leevale | |
| 3000m | 4 Carmel Parnell Leevale 10.39.6 | |
| 200m | 2 Darren O’Donovan Leevale | 3 Louise McArdle Leevale 26.0 |
| 800m | 7 James Grufferty Leevale 2.12.1 | 5 Jessica Van Hatten Leevale 2.37.2 |
| 5000m | 2 Thomas Maunsell Leevale 15.55.5 | |
| 100m | 1 Derek Duff Leevale 10.4 | 4 Louise McArdle Leevale 12.40 |
| 4x400m Relay | 2 Leevale 3.27.7 | 2 Leevale 4.03.2 |
| Long Jump | 1 David Quilligan Leevale 6.78 | 4 Imelda Morrison Leevale 5.02 |
| Discuss | 5 Brendan Dennehy Leevale 25.51 | 3 Katie Byrd Leevale 19.88 |
| High Jump | 2 Brendan Dennehy Leevale 1.75 | 3 Imelda Morrison Leevale 1.45 |
| Shot Putt | 3 Joe Nagle Leevale 10.28 | 5 Alana Quinn Leevale 6.30 |
| Javelin | 7 Cathal Owens Leevale 26.60 | 5 Kate Humphries Leevale 13.68 |
| Triple Jump | 1 Denis Finnegan Leevale 13.71 | 1 Katey Bird Leevale 10.10 |
| 56lb Weight | 3 Joe Nagle Leevale 5.09 | |
| Premier Men | ||
| 1 | Leevale | 112 |
| 2 | Meath Athletics | 98 |
| 3 | Menapians | 95 |
| 4 | West Waterford | 93.5 |
| 5 | DSD | 91 |
| 6 | Tullamore Harriers | 83.5 |
| 7 | Crusaders | 66 |
| Premier Women | ||
| 1 | DSD | 116 |
| 2 | Borrisokane | 103 |
| 3 | Bandon | 102 |
| 4 | Leevale | 91.5 |
| 5 | Athletics Wexford | 88.5 |