The Sydney University Athletics Club (SUAC) put forward a list of strong individual performances on Saturday night in near perfect conditions at the Sydney Track Classic, as stand out performers Nick Hough and Anneliese Rubie smashed personal best times in the blue ribbon sprint events.
SUSF Elite Athlete Program scholarship holder Hough (10.45) broke a 17 year SUAC 100m record formerly held by Andrew Richardson (10.49) when he finished sixth. Also in the 100m was SUAC’s Justin Merlino, who also ran a personal best time of 10.54 to finish in eighth position. Piyush Kumar finished fifth in the B race, running a seasons best time of 10.71.
Backing up for the 200m event later in the evening, Hough (Bachelor of IT/Bachelor of Laws) started slowly before finishing fifth in a time of 20.86. The race was the best 200m on Australian soil for many years, with the first six athletes all breaking 21 seconds.
In the women’s 200m fellow SUSF scholarship holder Anneliese Rubie (Bachelor of Liberal Arts & Sciences) ran an outstanding 200m to finish hot on the heels of 2012 London Olympic representative Melissa Breen (23.12). Rubie’s time of 23.54 was a personal best as she narrowly missed breaking the SUAC 200m record held by Nick Hough’s mum Sue Hough, which stands at 23.42. Rubie looks to be in great shape to run a big 400m (her preferred event) personal best when she next contests the distance. Lizzie Jenkins finished eighth in the same race.
Ian Dewhurst, who ran a cracking 400m hurdles in Hobart two weeks ago, finished strongly in an event that contained three Olympians on Saturday night to place third and record a personal best time of 51.14.
SUAC’s three competitors in the men’s 3000m steeplechase experienced mixed results. James Nipperess (Bachelor of Health Science {Physiotherapy} finished second as he narrowly missed his personal best, but achieved the World Uni Games qualifying standard for this event. Sadly Jack Colreavy (Masters of Commerce), who finished fourth in the event and smashed his personal best, was later disqualified after stumbling out of the water jump and stepping on the inside of the track, while Lachlan Chisholm ran a strong race but fell with just over a lap to go and could not complete the event.
In the women’s 1500m Jenny Blundell (Bachelor of Exercise Physiology) just missed her personal best to as she finished in eighth position, while Milly Clark (Bachelor of Applied Science) produced another personal best to finish 13th. Clark’s time at the 1500m distance is sure to translate into a promising 3000m steeplechase result in the next few weeks.
Other SUAC performances included: Joshua Ralph (Bachelor of Arts {Psychology & French}) who finishing sixth in the 400m; Ross Jeffs seventh in the long jump, Ruby Hackett eighth in the 5000m, Andrew Giltrap (Bachelor of Science) seventh in the shot put; Chrissie Grun (Bachelor of Education {Secondary Human Movement Health Education) fourth in the javelin; and Alix Kennedy (Bachelor of Commerce/Law) continued her impressive charge back from injury as she finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 51.85.
This week’s athletic action moves to Perth for the Perth Track Classic and Sydney for the NSW Masters Championships.
