Tom Walker spearheaded the attack for Stawell Secondary College at Monday’s School Sport Victoria track and field championships.
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Walker was one of four students from Stawell Secondary to make the trek to Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium which saw some of the best and most promising young athletes from across Victoria compete and represent their school.
Dakota Cosson, Crystal Summers and Isabella Simmons joined Walker from Stawell secondary while Bianca Kettle, Paddy Turner, Ugo Obi, Eugene Read-Spinks and Keelan Perry from Ararat’s Marian College also traveled for the event.
Turner was the standout for Marian, finishing third in both the 18-20 year old 100 metre and high jump events to go with his fourth in the 200m and fifth in the 400m. Read-Spinks also picked up a bronze in the boys 14-year-old 400m race.
St Arnaud Secondary College’s Alicia Myers added another bronze to the tally of a West Victorian school, finishing third in the 14-year-old girls long jump.
Stawell’s Cosson proved one better, winning silver in the 14-year-old girls shot put with her effort of 9.84m.
When you need to you can find that extra bit
- Tom Walker
It was Walker who stood out most however, winning the boys open age 3000m and picking up silver in the 17-year-old boys 1500m.
The 16-year-old’s 3000m victory was one of the highlights of the day, clinging on to win by just 0.05 seconds.
The Stawell athlete had a comfortable lead with 250m left to go in the 3000m race but Echuca’s Archie Reid applied the pressure to overtake Walker and force him to dig deep to cling to the lead.
“I thought I’d give it all and go early so I could get away without a sprint finish because it’s not my strongest suit, but I had to do one anyway,” he said.
“When I got caught with about 150m to go I got a bit of a shock. I got slungshot around the corner with 100m to go and was able to hold on.”
Walker said he the motivation of people watching helped him edge across the line first.
“When you need to you can find that extra bit,” he said.
“I had a couple of people on the sidelines I knew and some of my family were there too. I didn’t want to let them down.”
2017 has been a big year for Walker, having won the 17-20 year old School Sport Victoria State Cross Country Championships as well as the 1600m backmarkers handicap at the Stawell Gift.
He will now set his sights to the All School state titles also at Albert Park on November 6 where he will be looking to repeat his effort in the 3000m race.
