Max Stevens wins Thomas Wright Memorial Mile at final SA Athletic League meet of season
MAX Stevens made up for his second place finish in last year’s Thomas Wright Memorial Mile by winning the coveted sash on Sunday.
MAX Stevens made up for his second place finish in last year’s Thomas Wright Memorial Mile by winning the coveted sash at Sunday’s Pulteney / McKinnon Parade Carnival.
The former McKinnon Parade athlete, now running for Team Tempo, ran 4 mins 00.96 secs at Pulteney Grammar Oval to claim the title in the fastest time in the event’s 14-year history.
Running off 110m, Stevens beat AFL umpire Shane Thiele (135m) and Tim Earle (120m) in an emphatic display.
He said he had benefited from training with several high quality middle distance athletes in coach Adam Didyk’s stable.
“I was playing catch up and needed to find myself as an athlete,” Stevens, who will run the 3000m steeplechase at the national championships in Melbourne in a fortnight, said.
“The biggest improvement has been mentally, working to prove myself in the squad.”
The mile is named in honour of former McKinnon Parade athlete Thomas Wright who died in a car accident nine years ago.
It is the feature event of the carnival, which was the last of the SA Athletic League season.
Promising Coastals athlete Ben Syrus (6.5m) won his first open sash taking out the 70m from veteran pair David Miller (9.5m) and Ross Nitschke (10m).
TMS athlete Hayley Openshaw (6.75m) finished her best ever season with her fourth sash when she won the women’s 70m from Hettie Driscoll (9.25m) and Yasmin Openshaw (8.25m).
Driscoll (26m) later won the women’s 200m from front markers Demi Axford (29m) and Aimee Lane (38m) in 23.78 secs.
State junior hurdles champion Connor Verrall enjoyed a winning double, becoming the first athlete to take out the 200m novice and under-20 400m at Pulteney.
The 200m was Verrall’s first win in the SAAL.
Running from 16m, the Coastals athlete defeated Grange’s Ryan Atkins (14m) and Camden’s Ashley Brown (20m) in 21.44 secs.
Verrall (20m) followed it up with a huge come-from-behind win in the 400m, weaving his way through the field to beat Corey Watkins (30m) and Joshua Biggs (48m) in 48.77 secs.
McKinnon Parade’s Kostya Khudoshin won his second consecutive sash, adding the 400m open title to his Flagstaff Hill 550m sash from a fortnight ago.
Off the back mark, Khudoshin reeled in the field to win impressively in 48.62 secs from stablemate Jarrad Dartnall (32m).
In the veteran’s events, Camden’s Trudy Schrapel won the over-35 200m, while McKinnon Parade’s Mark Howson won his seventh sash for the season, taking out the over-45 800m.
The junior events saw Zayn Butcher easily win the under-17 800m from the diminutive Natassia Messent.
Lachlan Burrows scored his second sash in the under-14 200m.
The Pulteney Grammar students’ 400m races were won by Victoria Cirocco and Matthew Vandersommen.