Wagga athletes returned with a swag of medals from the recent Regional Little Athletics Championships in Wollongong, headed by Daniel Okerenyang's three gold medals from three individual events.
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Okerenyang's highlight was a record-breaking leap in the U15 boys triple jump.
Daniel soared 13.32m, taking him past the old regionals record of 13.24m set by his own older brother Godfrey back in 2017.
The Kooringal-Wagga Club star blitzed his opposition. His record-breaking jump was more than three metres futher than his nearest rival.
Okerenyang also took out the long jump with a 6.12m effort, winning by more than a metre.
His gold rush continued with success in the U15 boys 100m sprint, where Okerenyang stopped the clock at 11.87s. (That one was outside the record - a remarkable 11.00 seconds run by former Wagga junior Michael Rayment back in 1989).
His three golds were among 20 victories shared by athletes from Kooringal Wagga and the Wagga Wagga clubs at the carnival.
Charlotte Priest, Harry Wheatley and Cooper Dabin were also multiple gold medallists.
Priest claimed the middle distance double in the U17 girls, winning the 1500m in 5.25.32 and the 800m in 2.21.91 from fellow Kooringal-Wagga athlete Holly Roach.
Harry Wheatley took out the U13 boys high jump with a 1.38m best and the 400m (in 1.07.63).
His Wagga Wagga Athletics club teammate Cooper Dabin won the U13 boys shot put, throwing 11.39m, and dominated the discus. His 40.30m effort ensured he won that event by a cool 16 metres.
Other regional champions from Wagga clubs were Roach (U17 girls triple jump), Matilda Cole (U15 girls 3000m), Teigan Dummer (U10 girls 1100m walk), Mark Walker (U17 boys 1500m walk) Charlie Harper (U14 boys 200m), Ben Field (U12 boys 100m), Lachlan Tracey (U12 boys discus), Ethan Hilton (U11 boys high jump), Nate Schofield (U10 boys long jump) James Grant (U10 boys 60m hurdles) and Farrah Conteh (U9 nboys 60m hurdles).
Priest, Wheatley, Harper, Field, Tracey, Schofield and Conteh also picked up minor medals, along with a host of other athletes from the Wagga clubs including Zephania Suamili, Ty Mooney, Karl Clements, Jagger Davey, Abdul and Elvis Conteh, Olivia Bailey, Talia Rose Fanning, Harrison Fanning, Te-Wai Kahuroa, Jameson Elliott, Kipruto Langat, Indiana Cole, Elsie Mae Kahuroa, Isabelle Schofield, Halle Mitchell, Matilda Cook and Xavier Wade.
The Temora Little Athletics Club also had an outstanding carnival headed by a record-breaking long jump from Grace Krause in the U15 girls.
Krause propelled herself 5.55m, breaking a 13-year-old record by 7cm.
She also took out the 200m in 26.08s, was second in the 100m, and won the triple jump, with a 12.12m effort.
Grace McCrone came home with four gold, winning the U10 girls 70m sprint, 60m hurdles, long jump and high jump.
Lani McCrone won the U12 girls 80m hurdles, Sasha (5.12.47) and Lara Curry (5.11.93) took out the U12 and U14 girls 1500m respectively, Rube Wiencke won the U12 boys triple jump (8.99m) and long jump (4.00m), Lachlan Manwaring claimed the U11 triple jump (8.08m) and Zac Clark the U12 boys javelin (22.93m).
The next stage is the NSW state championships in Sydney on March 19-20.
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