At this year’s Irish Life Health National Senior Indoor Athletics Championships, UCD’s athletes were out in force and had some brilliant performances. UCD’s Olympian Mark English came over the line for his seventh national title in the 800m final in a time of 1:49.09. UCD’s Mark Milner came in fifth in a time of 1:52.27.
In the Men’s 3000m, UCD picked up another medal as Darragh McElhinney was third, with a time of 8:06.18. In the 60m, UCD’s Israel Olatunde finished sixth in a time of 6.93.
In the women’s events, UCD ladies competed very well against a very strong, competitive field. Claire Mooney came away with bronze in 800m in a time of 2:08.06, with Ellie Hartnett finishing fifth in 2:10.34. Ciara Everard led throughout in the 1500m final, only to be pipped at the line, finishing with a fantastic silver in a time of 4:40.78.
At the Irish Universities Athletics Association Intervarsity Indoor Championships, the best performer of the UCD College Athletics Team was Sports Scholar Lystus Ebosele. On her debut in the Weight for Distance Shot Putt event, she finished with a silver medal with her best effort of 7.73m, setting a UCD record in the process. In the Women’s Shot Putt, she also won a silver medal with her best throw of 11.75m, again coming in the final round, setting another UCD record.
Also competing for the Bears in the Weight for Distance was John Joe Kelly. He placed fourth with his best effort of 7.85m which was another new UCD record. Then, despite carrying a hamstring strain going into his second event of the day, the Kilkenny man managed to finish fourth in the Shot Putt, just missing out on a medal with a best throw of 11.90m.
In the Women’s Pentathlon, Diana Markina picked up a bronze medal for the Bears, finishing third after five events with a points total of 1,829 from her performances in five events: 60m Hurdles, 800m, Long Jump, High Jump and Shot Putt.
In the Men’s 60m, Ad Astra scholar Israel Olatunde dipped on the line for joint-third place in the final in 6.91. In the Women’s 1,500m, Rose Finnegan produced a great performance in a time of 4:40.46; five seconds clear of her nearest competitor. Lucy Barrett also put in a good performance in the same final, finishing seventh in 4:56.
UCD alumnus and former Ad Astra Scholar, Ciara Mageean was getting in the zone for Tokyo as she set a new PB and a new track record in the final of the 3,000m at the AIT International Grand Prix, with a time of 8:48.27. This took Mageean to number three on the Irish all-time list indoors. Mageean also set a new national record in the 800m, with a time of 1.59.69.
In August, Mageean set a new national record for the 1,000m, with a time of 2.31.06, beating the record previously set by Sonia O’Sullivan in 1993.