All Schools PSA Perth Cross Country 3km Event

The phrase, ‘Let the games begin.’ certainly rings true for the 2015 PSA Cross Country Season as of Saturday’s race at Aquinas. This event marked the start of the All-Schools competitions and while Guildford placed 7^th overall they again picked up bonus points.  

As a coach and as an athlete, winning is important, however, the most important aspect of the competitive arena is leaving the field knowing that you have left nothing in the tank. The Guildford Cross Country Team certainly epitomised this on Saturday. 

The 3km event is a new race on the All-Schools calendar and being such a short event it required a different mindset. In this event, the team knew that they had to go out hard because in a field of 250 runners, wherever they established themselves in the first 800m would determine the position they spent the rest of the race trying to hold.

Declan White, Bailey Gillam. Ben Armstrong, Liam Stacey, Marcel Niutta and Cameron Adams all put themselves in the 50 from the very start and all these lads did extremely well in holding this in one of the biggest fields I have seen in a PSA Cross country event.

Pos	Race No	Name	Time	Pace
12	340	Declan WHITE	00:11:14.53	3:44 min/km
13	326	Bailey GILLAM	00:11:14.73	3:44 min/km
29	333	Benjamin ARMSTRONG	00:11:41.23	3:53 min/km
34	332	William STACEY	00:11:53.13	3:57 min/km
36	321	Cameron ADAMS	00:11:55.23	3:58 min/km
49	338	Marcel NIUTTA	00:12:08.24	4:02 min/km
88	302	Heath COLLINS	00:12:47.64	4:15 min/km
93	300	Rory ADAMS	00:12:51.83	4:17 min/km
111	335	Dylan FOPPA	00:13:08.44	4:22 min/km
118	305	Jack SPARK	00:13:20.51	4:26 min/km
123	315	Henry VAN DEN WALL BAKE	00:13:26.44	4:28 min/km
131	303	Jake MANOLINI	00:13:33.48	4:31 min/km
138	324	Sebastian BOYD	00:13:42.11	4:34 min/km
142	318	Aiden MCLAUGHLIN	00:13:51.49	4:37 min/km
144	327	Jack GRANT	00:13:52.71	4:37 min/km
146	330	Samuel SIBMA	00:13:54.34	4:38 min/km
152	308	Cameron MILES	00:14:06.74	4:42 min/km
160	323	Bailey BARTHOLOMEUSZ	00:14:19.23	4:46 min/km
161	328	Jack MCLEAN	00:14:26.23	4:48 min/km
178	325	Liam COWIE	00:15:36.30	5:12 min/km
180	307	Gabriel BOYD	00:15:41.19	5:13 min/km
184	314	Jean-Louis HANSEN	00:16:03.60	5:21 min/km
190	319	Thomas SCHOENAUER	00:16:26.92	5:28 min/km
199	316	Caden ALEXANDER	00:18:41.74	6:13 min/km
200	317	Gabriel LITTLEFAIR	00:18:43.16	6:14 min/km
201	322	David ASHENDEN	00:18:47.60	6:15 min/km
206	301	Daniel BRECICH	00:20:43.14	6:54 min/km
207	342	Guildford 342	00:22:25.82	7:28 min/km
208	320	Jasper SHARP	00:23:17.24	7:45 min/km
210	346	Guildford 346	00:25:36.74	8:32 min/km
211	347	Guildford 347	00:25:36.75	8:32 min/km
212	312	Ryan BRODERICK	00:25:36.76	8:32 min/km
213	375	Guildford 375	00:25:36.98	8:32 min/km
214	311	Jesse POLLOCK	00:26:03.74	8:41 min/km

On what was an extremely tough course, Declan White and Bailey Gillam both managed to finish within the top 15. This was an outstanding achievement given that many of the boys in front of them not only run at state level but have also represented that state at a national level. As the lead group made their way up the long climb at the back of the course White and Gillam were almost in each other’s pockets however, at the 2.1km point of the race White made a small break, along with a larger group of runners, and managed to Gap Gillam. Coming into the final 500m White was in 12^th and Gillam was holding strong in 19^th. Gillam put the hammer down on the run for the line and while White was able to hold his charge the Hale, Trinity, Christ Church and Aquinas runner couldn’t and Gillam finished over the top of them to see Guildford go 12^th , 13^th.

Armstrong was again very consistent and while chasing hard in the closing stages was unable to close on the Wesley runner but held of a fast finishing Trinity and Scotch runner to hold on to 29^th place.

Liam Stacey and Cameron Adams were again impressive as a duet of runners whose personal rivalry have pushed each other to higher levels of achievement. Both worked the back end of the course very hard and finished ahead of a very tightly contested pack with Stacey taking 34^th in 11:53 and Adams 36^th in 11:55 with a Hale runner (11:54) splitting the pair. 

Vice-Captain, Marcel Niutta, put in a fantastically strong run to become the 6^th Guildford runner to get into the top 50 with a 49^th place in 12:08. This was quite an impressive feat given that  from the 12 minute point through to 12min 18seconds there was a runner crossing the line very second. This meant that, like the other boys in the team, Niutta had to earn, fight and hold his place in the final 500m over the course.

Once again our year 7 runners were incredible in terms of the determination they demonstrated in not wanting to let the team down. Heath Collins was the first of this group over the line in 88^th (12:47), Rory Adams was next in 93^rd (12:51). Further to this, young Jake Manolini , the moment he crossed the line ‘fed the crows’ and this image epitomsied the effort that every Guildford runner put into the race today.

The courage award for this race had to go to young Jesse Pollock. He started the race under a cloud and in discomfort, with instructions from his physio to test his injury in an effort to make a final diagnosis. Jesse, despite being instructed by the the coaching team to step off the track if things became to bad, still crossed the line and despite his obvious discomfort still place 214^th in a field of 250.

The top 15 place getters and their times can be found below. Next week we take on the first relay event at Trinity College.

Pos	Name	Time	Team	Pace
1	Benjamin DAVIDSON	00:10:26.44	Aquinas	3:28 min/km
2	Michael MARTIN	00:10:31.10	Trinity	3:30 min/km
3	Oliver GREEN	00:10:42.67	Scotch	3:34 min/km
4	Asad YUSOFF	00:10:50.78	Christ Church	3:36 min/km
5	Henry LOUDEN	00:10:54.26	Christ Church	3:38 min/km
6	Luke BATE	00:10:56.86	Aquinas	3:38 min/km
7	Nathan BAILEY	00:11:04.20	Aquinas	3:41 min/km
8	Ethan WILLIAMS	00:11:04.37	Aquinas	3:41 min/km
9	Luke BURROWS	00:11:04.98	Wesley	3:41 min/km
10	Patric BEAVEN	00:11:09.59	Scotch	3:43 min/km
11	Jake MASON	00:11:13.11	Hale	3:44 min/km
12	Declan WHITE	00:11:14.53	Guildford	3:44 min/km
13	Bailey GILLAM	00:11:14.73	Guildford	3:44 min/km
14	Jack HAWKESFORD	00:11:15.48	Christ Church	3:45 min/km
15	Thomas MOORCROFT	00:11:15.49	Trinity	3:45 min/km

The full race results for this event can be found at AquinasAll-Schools times and places

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