The first of this summer’s graded T&F leagues took place at CIT last night and incorporated county championships in the 100m, 400m, LJ, and 4x100m relay events.
It was a good night overall for Leevale athletes, the club heading the points rankings at the end of the night. Louise Shanahan, who is still underage even in the junior category, stepped down in distance to tackle the 400m. She took victory comfortably on the night in a very fast 58.01 That is a great turn of pace from Louise, who will be focusing on her favourite event, the 800m, this season. Behind her, the senior title went to Lorraine Carr in 65.55, and she also took the senior 100m title in 13.41.
David Quilligan had a double on the night, taking gold in both the LJ (7.16) and the 100m (11.10) county championship events. Neil Heffernan took silver in the 100 in 11.78. Another Leevale county gold went to Thomas O’Sullivan in the 400m, with a 2s winning margin in 50.94. Jessica Sheehan was the only competitor in the women’s LJ and had a good jump of 5.40 to take the gold that was on offer. Also in the field events, coach Brian Hayes won the javelin event in 39.67.
Laura Crowe and Clare McSweeney mixed it with the men in the open mile event. Victory in the women’s category went to the An Riocht athlete in 4:37, with Clare next in 4:57.
To round off a great night for the club, both relays went to Leevale, the men taking victory by only a narrow margin from Bandon.