MORNINGTON teenager Geena Davy won the under-18 women’s long jump championships with a 6.11 metre jump at the Australian Athletics Championships in Adelaide in April. It was a consecutive win for the 17-year-old Balcombe Grammar School VCE student who won the under-17 event in Brisbane last year and has been competing in athletics since she was 10.
The Mornington Peninsula Athletics Club member has been winning medals at a national level since she was 13 and juggles her year 12 studies with three track sessions a week, and gym, daily stretching and recovery sessions.
This schedule saw her fly in and out of Adelaide in 24 hours to miss as little school as possible.
Coach Jason Hodson said that as a result she had not competed in the 100 metres, despite winning a medal, qualifying at the state championships and making the final at the Australian All Schools Championships in Perth in December with a time of 12.12 seconds.
Davy’s success at this year’s championships and her achievement of a qualifying distance multiple times has led to her being selected in the Australian team for the Oceania Athletics Championships in Fiji in June. Hodson said the Oceania championships were a major milestone for young athletes as their first chance to represent their country.
Following the Oceania Championships Davy’s next goal will be the World Junior Championships in the USA in 2026.
“With the qualifying jump distance being 6.20 metres, she is well on the way to achieving that goal,” Hodson said.
First published in the Mornington News – 14th May 2024
