State long jump champion Tim McGuire wins 70m at Brighton Athletic Carnival

STATE long jump champion Tim McGuire and in-form sprinter Neil Thomas were the stars of Sunday's Brighton Athletic Carnival.

STATE long jump champion Tim McGuire has won the Keith Patching Memorial 70m, the feature event of Sunday's Brighton Athletic Carnival.

Running off the back mark of 4.5m, McGuire quickly gathered in the field to win from the two front markers Reynella's Daniel Flesfader (8.5m) and Western District athlete David Miller (9.5m) in 7.72 secs.

Having not previously run with the SAAL this season, McGuire was not sure of his chances when he arrived at Brighton.

"This is a big surprise, I didn't expect this today" he said.

"I've been running well, being injury free, so I was hoping to do well, but I wasn't expecting this."

The Western District athlete had won two gold medals in the sprint relays and jumped a reduced run up personal best of 7.5m at the state championships the previous day.

McGuire has not entered the 120m Bay Sheffield as he feels he is not suited to the distance.

"I've only entered the 70m - I find the 120m too far," he said.

In-form sprinter Neil Thomas collected his fifth win of the season taking out the 120m Gift.

It was the 27 year old's most impressive victory to date and places him among the top SA contenders for the Bay Sheffield in a fortnight.

Thomas (10m) defeated Pembroke's Jake Jervis-Bardy (8m) and 17 year old Sebastian Baird (7m) in 12.76 secs.

Coastal's Yasmin Openshaw made it back-to-back sashes after winning the 120m women's event.

Last week, Openshaw won the 70m at the Pre-Bay meet and has joined her sister Hayley, who finished third, as a genuine contender for the women's Bay Sheffield.

Openshaw (12m) had a metre to spare to Ali Trewartha (10.75m) in 14.66 secs.

Sisters Amy and Katherine Robb fought out the final of the women's 300m with Amy (28m) holding off her elder sibling by half a metre in 39.57 secs.

Michael Buckler's McKinnon Parade stable once again dominated the distance events with Corey Watkins (78m) winning the open 1000m from stablemate Steven Jelfs (65m), while Mark Howson (205m) won his third consecutive race, taking out the over-35 1000m from stablemates Andrew Wright (65m) and Steve Wilson (38m).

Flinders' Nadia De Bellis (100m) won her second her sash of the season, when she stormed away from Jemma Nguyen (75m) and backmarker Bridgid Connolly (52m) to win the women's 1000m in 2 mins 56.54 secs.

Western District Athletic Club's junior athletes made it a clean sweep of the under age events with the diminutive Natassia Messent winning the under-14 120m, the Debbie Meich coached Oliver Callahan scorching away with the under-20 70m and 16 year old Riley Bonner working his way through the traffic to win the under-17 300m.

In the over-35 120m, Peter Biggs finally broke through for a well-deserved win beating backmarkers' David Miller and Ross Nitschke.