AV Shield Round 9

The AV Shield Final beckons for MUAC’s Division 1 Men and Women, with both teams on top of the ladder with one round remaining and with a secure finals berth.  As Saturday’s dusk fell at Lakeside and with one event remaining, the MUAC men were 29 points off the lead.  Fine running by Nick Earl, Sam Blake and Max Ueda, taking the top three spots in the 3000m Steeplechase saw MUAC’s Men collect a last ditch victory over Essendon by 46 points.  Blake had earlier won the 1500m in 3:56.55 and will take this fine form into a stacked A 800m at Vic Milers Club on Tuesday.  Other Division 1 victories came through Robert Vidler in the 100m (11.52), Seamus Hayes  (Discus, 35.10m) and Elite Athlete Program member Mate Zahtila in the Javelin (49.32m).  Super coach Warren Hill won his show down with protege Mark Burgman to get the Division 1 Pole Vault win with 2.65m and a beer from Burgman. Also of note was Martin Mashford’s 6.21m javelin, a model of athletic efficiency and technique. The MUAC men set more than 10 points clear on top of the ladder with a round remaining with the Zone Premiership secure and a tough selection discussion to come for AV Shield Final.

MUAC’s Division 1 Women will take to Round 10 in two weeks at Aberfeldie with a spot in the AV Shield Final secure, but the Zone Premiership on the line. Sitting on top of the ladder, only one point clear of Round 9 winner Essendon, a strong team performance will be needed to keep the team on top.  On Super Saturday at Lakeside Cath Macrae continued her recent resurgence to jump 3.55m and win the Division 1 Pole Vault from team mates Kath Iannello and Dawn Hartigan. Kaitlin Morgan won the Division 1 100m in 13.61 and jumped well in the Long Jump for 3rd place.  Valiant efforts by the MUAC women at Lakeside collected solid points, but the team slumped to an uncharacteristic 4th place.  The team will be out in force in two weeks, focused on securing the Zone Premiership.

A big thanks to Kath Iannello, Warren Hill, Tim Thomas, Phil van Dueren, Charlie Blanch, Hari Konchada and others for helping out at the Pole Vault as part of MUAC’s duties.

Results

MUAC is back in action on Tuesday at Vic Milers Club 3, next weekend at the Victorian Country Championships in Geelong and AV Knockout 2 on Sunday at Lakeside.