Medals To MWAS Athletes

Midwest Academy of Sport athletes achieved outstanding results at their first Decathlon state championships in Perth last weekend.

Both Wynand Neethling and Reuben Chapman set national standard levels with 5702 in the under 20 men’s and 5536 in the under 18 men’s divisions.   Both results would have won the open division over the weekend.

Gary Clark, MWAS track and field coach and former state decathlete, said both athletes have a bright future in this multi-disciplined event.  He said Neethling contested against four other potential national-level athletes in a tough field and still managed to take out the bronze medal.

A fall at the ninth hurdle in the 110m hurdles event cost him valuable points and with still a lot of improvement in the pole vault, he could well have exceeded the 6000 points barriers, putting him well into national contention.

Neethling had a number of excellent performances across the ten disciplines with an extremely good pb in the javelin of 49.57m, a competitive 51.92 in the 400m and a first-up 2.9m clearance in the Pole Vault.

Reuben Chapman's results, according to Clark, were exceptional, winning every discipline across the ten events and with PB’s in nine of the events to take out the gold medal.  This is an extraordinary result, he said. For an athlete, we have transitioned from the 400m hurdles to the decathlon with just a 3-month lead, is quite remarkable.

Chapman achieved an 11.75 in the 100m, 52.06 in the 400m, 15.87 in the 110m hurdles 1.75 in the high jump, finishing with a 1500m time of 4min .45secs, where he defeated all age divisions.

The third MWAS athlete to contest the decathlon was under-18 competitor Kian Smit, who commenced well with an 11.98 100m and a 10.29 shot put.  He unfortunately strained a hamstring on the first day in the 400m and on day two suffered from shin soreness.  He did, however, contest and finish the ten disciplines to collect the silver medal. Clark said he showed a lot of courage and, with a longer preparation, should improve across all disciplines in 2027

The future looks bright in this multi-sport event, according to Clark, with two other local athletes expected to contest the event next year.

Both Neethling and Chapman will now be working to improve their performances across all disciplines over the next few weeks before they contest the National titles in Sydney, 9 – 12 April