STATE LEAGUE ROUND 7
19 JANUARY 2002

The Box Hill Men's State League team again put in a solid performance to finish either second or third (final results not available) in yesterday's seventh round of State League competition at Ballarat.

Despite having no-one in the shot, hammer, discus, high jump, walk and high hurdles, the athletes that did compete all performed well to enable us to hold on to seventh place and a spot in the finals.

Ned McLeod continued his impressive form over 400 m hurdles to win the first heat in a time of 55.39, however Cameron Baker unfortunately failed to qualify, running 59.4.

Tim Williams ran impressively in the 200 to finish second in the first heat, while Braden Fraser also finished second in the second heat in 21.81 and Mary Duke won the third heat in a time of 21.93.

David Featherstone again threw a qualifying distance in the javelin with a throw of 48.13 m for fifth place while Joel Pocklington placed at least second in the pole vault (the competition had not completed when I left).

Braden Fraser had his first attempt at long jump since high school and jumped a big PB of 6.62 for third place while the Box Hill athletes dominated the 800 with Michael Jones winning the first heat in 1:52.0 and Tim Cherry winning the second heat in 1:52.5 from Trent Hartshorne in 1:54.7.

In very hot conditions, Dale Bickham ran a sensible 5000 m race to finish 6th in 16:08.1, with Sam Hassett hanging on for eighth in 16:35.9 (the qualifying time was relaxed by a minute because of the conditions). Unfortunately, Andrew White found the conditions a bit tough and had to retire after 3000 m.

The 4x400 relay team of Ned McLeod, Marty Duke, Tim Cherry and Trent Hartshorne ran well to win our division of the relay.

The women's team had their worst performance for several years to finish fifth and slip down the ladder. They will need to show improved form over the coming weeks to consolidate their place in the finals.

The next round of State League competition is on Thursday 31 January 2002. There is interclub competition at Box Hill this Wednesday evening.