Several of Dollar Academy’s most elite young athletes enjoyed great success over the summer months.
After medalling at the Scottish Schools’ Track and Field Championships in June, Emma Mailer (Form V) and Sarah Coutts (Form IV) were selected to represent Scotland at the Scottish Schools’ International against England, Ireland and Wales at Grangemouth Stadium on Saturday 21 July.
Emma competed in the 300m hurdles where she not only finished in 5th position but, in so doing, beat the current Scottish champion.
Sarah finished 4th in the 800m in a splendid time of 2minutes, 11.87 seconds. At the same event, Emma stepped up to 400m hurdles and finished in 2nd position and Sarah achieved 3rd place in the 800m event– both commendable results in themselves.
As a result of these fine performances, Emma was selected to compete for the U18 Celtic Games team and Sarah for the U16 Futures team. The Celtic Games (against Ireland and Wales) took place on Saturday 4 August at Grangemouth. Emma (representing the U18 team) competed in the 400m hurdles, whilst Sarah (representing the U16 Futures team) ran in the 800m. Scotland won with 195 points to Ireland’s 167 points and Wales’ 133 points.
More recently, Sarah also won the 1500m in the national U17 Club Championships, whilst Emma brought home two bronze medals after competing in the 300m hurdles and the 4 x 300m relay at the UK School Games in Loughborough.
Paige Stevens (Form II) competed in the U15 Northern Ireland and Ulster Combined Events Championships in Belfast on Sunday 26 August. She performed exceptionally well and improved her P.B. times in several of the five events. She was in gold-medal position going into the final event of 800m but, unfortunately, she was beaten into second place overall. ‘She should be justly proud of achieving a silver medal in this arduous event, held in challenging weather conditions,’ said Mrs Galloway (PE teacher).
Mrs Galloway (PE teacher) went on to say that, ‘These girls are very focused and diligent athletes who will no doubt continue to achieve the accolades they so deserve.’
