On Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May, the MAAA organised the National Championships for Youths (Under-16) and Cadets (Under-14). The two-day Meeting also included a number of events for other age-groups and in all 230 athletes were registered for competition. The encouraging number of new Championships Records set confirmed that the current crop of youngsters includes a number of highly talented athletes.
One athlete who definitely caught the eye was La Salle athlete Nina Zammit Moore who set two new Championships Records (CR) in the Youths (U-16) 800m and 1500m. On Day 1, she won the 800m in a convincing time of 2:20.69 to beat Josefa Marie Micallef (Rush AC) and Maria Fenech (All-comers Aloysians) while on the second day she won the 1500m with an impressive performance of 4:55.40.
Another athlete who was very much in evidence was Sarah Chouhal of Rush AC. In the Youths Hammer (Under-16) Girls, she improved upon her past CR with a winning throw of 46.06m and as part of the 4x100m Rush AC relay team (which also included Kayleigh Chetcuti, Kimahri Charles and Josefa Micallef) she helped her team to a convincing victory in 50.74. In addition, Sarah Chouhal dominated the 400m from start to finish to win in a time of 59.96
Amongst the Boys, Kurt Zahra of Rush AC set the crowd alight with some exciting performances. In the Youths (U-16) 200m, he set a new CR of 23.22 and had a convincing victory over second placed Daniel Borg Ferando (San Anton School) and third placed Kyle Caruana (Rush AC). In the 100m, Kurt Zahra then made it a double by clocking an enviable 11.67 ahead of Daniel Borg Ferando who was second in 12.09.
Kurt's twin sister, Mariah Zahra (Rush AC) also had a positive outing as she set a new CR record of 31.37m in the Youths (U-16) Discus. In another throwing event, the Youths (U-16) Shot Put, Mireya Cassar won the event in 12.06m. Her performance which was a new CR and personal best was a full meter ahead of second-placed Kimahri Charles (Rush AC).
In the Youths (U-16) Long Jump, Rachela Pace (Pembroke Athleta) retained her title and improved upon her former CR with a very strong jump of 5.50m. Despite her excellent performance, she had to stave off strong opposition from Rush AC jumper Kayleigh Chetcuti who was a mere 1cm behind. Shazney Spiteri (Zurrieq Wolves) placed third.
Apart from the Championships Records, there were other strong performances by a number of other athletes. One of the outstanding athletes of the Championships was without doubt Alessia Cristina (Pembroke Athleta) who won the 200m in convincing style in 25.50 and missed out on her own CR by a mere-seven hundredths of a second. She was followed by the Rush AC duo of Kimahri Charles and Sarah Chouhal who proved their worth and consistency by clocking 26.24 and 26.74 respectively.
Alessia then achieved an admirable double by also winning the 100m in a swift time of 12.54. Rachela Pace was a close second in 12.73 while Kayleigh Chetcuti placed third in 13.06.
In the Youths U16 there were interesting performances by Daniel Borg Ferando (San Anton School) who won the 400m race in 54.07 and Jeremy Zammit (Pembroke Athleta) who clinched the long jump title with a leap of 5.78m.
Finally, in the Youths U16 Middle Distance events, Matthias Fenech of La Salle proved his worth by winning both the 800m and 1500m races handsomely in excellent times of 2:08.99 and 4:45.37 while in the 3000m Jacob Greengrass (Pembroke Athleta) confirmed his superiority by notching yet another victory in 9:59.59.