Academy athletes shine in Irish finals

Elizabeth Little (Minor 100m & Long Jump), Robbie Mathers (Junior Discus) and Rebekah Nixon (Intermediate 800m) had all won the right to compete by finishing in the top three in the Ulster Schools Championships a fortnight ago.

Elizabeth had a good day finishing sixth in the 100m in a time of 13.11, just 0.1 seconds off her school record, and finishing seventh in the Long Jump with 4.68m, just two centimetres off her record in that event

This was Elizabeth’s first Irish Championships and she has shown she is a talented athlete with a big future.

Rebekah also had a strong day finishing sixth in her highly competitive 800m race.

The top seven athletes all finished within five seconds of each other and Rebekah raced to a good time of two minutes 26.26 seconds, which considering the dreadful wind was a pleasing performance.

Conditions were also difficult in the Discus where Robbie Mathers did well to maintain his form and throw 29.52m to finish ninth in the event and just miss out on a new Personal Best.

So while no medals were won, it was still a successful day as it represented the first time in over 20 years that the Academy had three athletes who qualified for these prestigious championships.

With these impressive displays in difficult conditions, the school are hoping their very promising athletics careers will blossom from here.