Athletes from Connaught, together with Longford, travelled to a wet and windy Claremorris recently to compete in the Connaught juvenile U9-U11 team and U12 individual outdoor championships.  Westport AC had a very successful day qualifying for the All-Irelands in four team events and in five individual events. The first medal of the day was in the U9 boys 60m sprint where Jack Sweeney teamed up with Kyle O’Malley sprinting their hearts out in an excellent combined time of 19.94s resulting in a silver medal.  Later in the day they teamed up once more in the U9 boys 300m storming home in a combined time of 1.58.92, an amazing performance from this very talented pair resulting in the gold medal.  Jack and Kyle were joined by Shane Brennan and William Noonan for the U9s relay where they came home in 5th place in a fine time of 1:13.31.  The U9 girls were well represented by Kelsey O’Donnell and Rebecca Hastings in the Turbo Javelin taking 6th place on the day with a combined throw of 11.92m.  Next up were the U10 boys Daniel O’Malley and Connor Reynolds who had a fantastic combined jump of 5.93m in the Long Jump, leaving them just shy of a medal in fourth place.   In the U11 Girls the team of Leila O’Malley and Sarah Mulroy, jumping a combined total of an incredible 7.64m, took the gold – a fantastic team.  Leila and Sarah paired up again in the U11 girls 60m sprinting home in style in a combined time of 19.02s and winning the silver medal.  They also teamed up with Olivia Costello and Claire Conway in the U11 girls relay just piped at the post, coming fourth, in a fine time of 1:06.63, less than a tenth of a second away from the bronze.   In the U11 boys Lorcan Silke and Ciaran Murphy teamed up, running well in the 60m sprint coming home in a combined time of 19.88s.  
The U12 girls saw Maggie Chambers taking double gold, throwing an excellent 8.40m in the Shot Putt and 20.97m in the Turbo Javelin.  Laura Moran took the silver medal in the U12 Shot Putt with a fine throw of 7.95m.  The U12 girls also saw some fine performances by Katie O’Grady in the sprints and 600m (9th) and Roisin O’Brien in the 600m and Long Jump, despite feeling unwell on the day.  Laura, Roisin, Katie and Aoife Staunton also teamed up for the U12 girls relay and just missed All Ireland qualification coming home in 5th place in a time of 1:04.51.
In the U12 boys Harry Sheridan won the gold in the Shot Putt with an incredible throw of 9.55m and a bronze in the Turbo Javelin with a throw of 24.44m.  Other fine performances in the U12 boys came from Conal Dawson, James Marrey, Sean Heaney, Niall McGreal, Colin Hastings, Ciaran Kilcoyne and Danny Brennan.
The U9 and U11 winning teams now qualify for the All- Ireland championships which will be held in Tullamore on June 27th.  The U12 individuals will compete in their All-Irelands in Tullamore on July 4th and 11th.

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