Success for DCU at IUAA Track and Field Championships

The DCU ATHLETICS team retained all the overall team titles at the 2016 IUAA outdoor Track & Field championships at the Morton Stadium in Santry, hosted by DCU. In winning all 8 team trophies, our athletes established 4 new DCU club records in addition to 2 new IUAA records!

The Ladies team accumulated a total of 156.5 points with 10 individual event winners. Sophie Parkinson Brown (16lb Weight) and Saragh Buggy (Triple Jump) both established new IUAA and DCU club records.  Sarah Mc Carthy won the long jump title with 6.00 before setting a new DCU 200m record of 24.25. Other winners of university titles included Catherine Mc Manus (60mH), Grainne Moynihan (400m), Katie Mc Gowan (400mH), Kayleigh Cronin (Discus) Megan Moynihan (Hammer), Jennifer Murphy (Javelin) and the ladies 4 x 100m relay team of Browyn Keogh, Sarah Mc Carthy, Sarah Murray and Katie Berney. In addition, we won 5 individual silver and 7 individual bronze winners over the weekend.

The Men’s squad dominated with 12 individual winners, 4 silver and 9 bronze winners. Individual winners included Matthew Behan (110mH), Evan Mc Guire (400mH), Conor Duncan (800m), Kevin Kelly (1500m), Keith Fallon (5000m), Marco Pons (Discus), Nicholas Dunphy (Walk), Conor Durnin (Triple Jump), Colm Bourke (Long Jump), Brendan Hyland (Javelin), Adam King (Hammer), Michael Bowler (Combined Events) and the Men’s 4 x 400m relay team.  Adam’s winning throw of 59.38m was a new DCU record – not bad going in your first IUAA championships! The men’s squad accumulated our greatest haul of individual medals (25), many of whom were won by first year students!  Our winning 4 x 400m relay team of Brandon Arrey, Paul Murphy, Eoghan Buggy and Michael Quilligan brought a fitting winning climax to a great championship.  

Final tallies in the various disciplines saw the DCU team retain all titles - Middle Distance, Sprints, Jumps, Throws and the Combined Events. After 2 days of impressive action, DCU were crowned the IUAA overall team champions for the 10th consecutive year – the Men’s 10th in a row, surpassed by the ladies with their 11th in a row! The weekend was a magnificent success for our Athletics Club and Academy and great thanks must go to the Organising Committee for all their hard work in ensuring the hosting of this IUAA event. The hard work and commitment from all our coaches was a key factor in ensuring DCU could accumulate 47 individual medal winners at these championships.

Finally, a major highlight at the end of the first nights action occurred in the Open ladies 1500m when Greta Streimikyte (pace assisted by our Olympian Linda Byrne) ran a sensational new PB of 4.56.33 – well inside the Rio Paralympics qualifying mark. This time also qualifies Greta for the European Paralympics championships in Italy in Mid June where Great will wear the Irish green internationally for the first time.   

To view all the results, check out www.iuaa.org and www.sportsfile.com for numerous pictures!