Simplot Games - Competition Wrap

The best of America saw what the best of Maribyrnong Sports Academy can produce on any given weekend thanks to some amazing performances by our team of 8 Athletes at the 2019 Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho.

Led by joint captain Angus Woods who won the Gold Medal in the Triple Jump the Marby team took it right up to the Americans in every event they competed in.

Day 1 of Competition saw the heats of the distance races. Both our 1600m runners Bianca Puglisi and Abigail Thomas were shuffled around a fair bit in their respective races with both girls finishing extremely well in positions 13 and 29 based on overall times. This qualified Bianca for the B final just missing the top 12 times required for the A final, while Abigail qualified for the C final. Angus Wood ran in the heats of the 60m dash and improved his time on last year by 0.14 of a second but missing the finals by 11 hundredths of a second. Meanwhile Janae Mackrell qualified for the A final in the 800m with a time of 2.24.29. A very successful first day of Competition.

Day 2, and the rest of the team got their chance to prove what they could do. 200m runner Matt Payne was first up and ran a blistering 200 metre race, finishing with the 10th fastest time of the morning, winning his heat and qualifying for the final. Ella Nickolaus was next up and she also won her heat of the 200m race with a time of 28.12. Ella finished in the top third times of 120 runners and while her time was not enough to get her through to the final, it does put her in great form for the medley relay. Kelera Ratu and Georgia Muller we're next up with the heats of the 400m. Kelera and Georgia both did extremely well in their respective heats with Kelera winning her race and Georgia finished second in hers. Their times of 31st and 37th fastest were not enough to get them through to the finals. Angus Wood qualified for the Triple Jump final with his first jump of the day and will now look to improve on his second place in the event of 2018. Janae Mackrell finished second in her heat of the 800m and in doing so qualified for the final with the 7th fastest time of qualifying. The last event for day 2 was the Girls Sprint Relay with Ella and Kelera running the 200m legs, Georgia the 400m and Abigail the 800m. Their time of 4.32.7 qualified them for the final with the 10th fastest time overall.

Day 3 and the final day of competition, and for the first time in our 5 year history at the event, all athletes competed on the final day. Abigail and Bianca won both the B and C finals for the 1600m events improving their time from day 1 by around 5 seconds. Next up was Angus in the Triple Jump. His first 3 jumps had him sitting in second place before a 13.96m 4th jump put Gus in the lead. He then recorded 14.17m on his final jump to ensure the Gold medal was his. An amazing effort by the co-captain of this team and our first Gold medal of the competition this year winning by nearly a foot. Our Girls Medley relay team also ran a spectacular race finishing in the 5th in the A final and medalling. Matt finished 7th overall in the 200m final missing a medal by 0.02 of a second while Janae finished 8th overall with a great run on the 800m final, topping off a great day for team Marby.

Coach Dave Battistella gave us his thoughts on the final day of competition. “I can’t say enough about today and this whole competition. Janae makes an A final and runs 8th, Bianca wins a B final, Abigail wins a C final, Georgia, Kelera and Ella who all ran strong races and then team up with Abigail first to qualify and then Bianca to come 5th in the medley relay. Matt finishes 7th overall and misses a top 6 podium by 0.02. Lastly, Gus, improves his silver medal from last year to win gold in triple jump. What a great team! These athletes/students have made us so proud and they should make you so proud too by the way they competed, by the way they conducted themselves and supported each other and by the way they represented themselves, their families and Maribyrnong Sports Academy. I am thankful and honoured that I have been able to play a small part in their success and experience.

MSA Sports Director Mark Mcallion who was a part of the Simplot team this year, spoke of his first experience at the Simplot Games. “ I am so proud of our students & the MSA staff that were on this trip. We have seen terrific performances at the track, some fun off it, some very interesting food including potatoes at every meal, and overall some experiences that we’ll all never forget. Special thanks to the MSA staff, Leigh and Amy Holmes & Coach Dave Battistella who led the group superbly, gave a shoulder to cry on at the right times & provided wonderful guidance to the team.

Congratulations to our team who are enjoying a couple of days of wind down time before making the 14 hour trip back to Melbourne later in the week.

Once again Maribyrnong Sports Academy would like to thanks their partners Simplot Australia, Linfox Australia, Oliver Wight and Orora for their support of this team.

Simplot Games 2019 Update

Our 2019 Simplot Games athletes have arrived in Pocatello, Idaho, in great spirit ahead of the largest indoor Track and Field event for High School students in the States.

After a 14 hour flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles, the teams connecting plane to Utah was delayed due to the icy conditions being experienced in America. The team spent a day in Salt Lake City, the home of the 2002 Winter Olympics, training at the University of UTAH, before making their way up the highway to Pocatello, Idaho, and the home of the Simplot Games, the Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.

200m Runner Matt Payne spoke about training at altitude for the first time. “ It’s so hard to breath, you really have to work hard on your recovery breaths and make sure you take in as much air as you can. The weather is amazing up here, it’s so cold outside and it hasn’t stopped snowing since we arrived which is great.”

Distance runner Bianca Puglisi who along with Abigail Thomas will start of Maribyrnong’s campaign on Friday afternoon with the 1600m heats says she is so excited to be back and running on the indoor track. “ It’s freezing outside, so coming into the stadium to train has been great, because it’s so much warmer in here.” Bianca competed in the 3200m event last year and says she is looking forward to the challenge of the one mile run. “ I haven’t done the 1600 before, I’m really excited to try a new event and to do it here at the Simplot games will be amazing.” Abigail also says she is looking forward to her first competitive run on a sprung wooden indoor track. “I’ve never ever run a mile even back at home. I’m loving running on the wooden track. It’s so bouncy and nice.”

Sprinters Georgia Muller and Kelera Ratu say they are also so excited to be in Pocatello. “ The track is really good. It so bouncy and light. It’s a noisy track but I don’t think that will bother me during the race because I am able to block that stuff out during a race normally. Being in such a big stadium is like foreign to me, and while it’s sort of scary it’s also like really exciting at the same time.” says 400m runner Georgia who is at the games for the first time.” Meanwhile Kelera is at her second Simplot Games, “ Having been here before I can say the noise is nerve racking on the day cos there is heaps of people, but when you're running you really don’t pay any attention to it, you just focus on your race.” Both girls will be competing in the 400m event, something they have been doing since they were 9 years old.

Ella Nickolaus who is also at her second Simplot Games is competing in the 200m and says it’s great to be back, “ I pretty excited and confident and really looking forward to what’s to come in the next few days. I’m feeling good about my race but am a little nervous about the bends as I didn’t run them last year, so that’s new for me. I’m in lane 4 for my heats so I’m happy about that as it’s in the middle of the tack. Racing against the older girls can be intimidating but it’s a great challenge for me to see where I am at in this event.  I’m finding it harder to deal with the altitude this year, having just done training it so much harder to get your breath back, you can definitely notice the change but I’m coping ok with it. I would really like to thank my parents and coach for getting me ready for this and also Simplot Australia who have helped to make it all happen.

Competition in the Simplot Games runs for 3 days starting with the heats of the 1600m and 3200m on Friday Afternoon.

Simplot Games 2019

For the 5th consecutive year, Maribyrnong Sports Academy has sent a team off to Pocatello, Idaho to compete in the 41st edition of the Simplot Games.

The Simplot Games is the largest indoor Track and Field event for students in the United States at a high school level. Maribyrnong has medaled numerous times in the past, and we look forward to our student athletes once again performing at their best and doing themselves, their families and the school proud.

Our athletes this year are:

Angus Wood competing in the Triple Jump and 60m events

Bianca Puglisi in the 1600m and Medley Relay

Abigail Thomas in the 1600m and Medley Relay

Janae Mackrell in the 800m and Medley Relay

Matt Payne in the 200m

Ella Nickolaus in the 200m and Medley Relay

Georgia Muller in the 400m and Medley Relay

Kelera Ratu  in the 400m and Medley Relay

We once again acknowledge the support given to this program by Simplot Australia and it’s partners Linfox Australia, Orora and Oliver Wight.