Three of Lithgow’s best young athletes — Tai Denicaucau, Jenna Heath and Tamika Bostock from Lithgow High School — attended the NSW Secondary All Schools Track and Field championships at Homebush and did their school proud by returning excellent results.
Tai finished the meet with a gold and silver medal, Jenna a silver and bronze while Tamika qualified for the nationals and took bronze and again showed she is among the top high jumpers in the state.
Tai’s first event was in the shot put and she was up against her close friends who usually fight out this event at the various meets.
She rose to the occasion and on her last throw Tai sent the shot put sailing through the air for a throw of 13.06 metres to take the lead.
Good friend and strong competitor Palentina Lemi edged Tai out with a throw of 13.65 metres with Tai finishing with a silver medal.
Gold was not far away for the talented Lithgow athlete when Tai entered in the discus.
On her way to gold, Tai smash the existing record of 40.17 metres with a throw of 42.00.
A tired Tai summoned all her strength for her final throw and send the discus 43.54 metres to break the record she had just set and the gold was hers.
Jenna added to her already collection of trophies when she entered in the 12 years 100 metres sprint against the State’s fastest.
In a close finish, Jenna took third with a time of 13.45 seconds.
She then entered in the 200 metres and flashed home to take silver with a time of 27.14 seconds.
Jenna’s efforts were outstanding considering she has been out of training for some time through illness, but showed her big heart by again being in the medal allocations.
Tamika was all class and qualified for the NSW athletic team after jumping a national qualifier at the championships.
She finished with a bronze medal on a count back, after all jumpers finished on the same height at these titles.
Tamika competed also competed with the athletics state relays on the weekend and her team finished with a silver medal at this competition.
She flies out for Hobart on December 4 and competes on December 5.
She thanks her coach, Marilyn Pearson very much and also the Western Region Academy of Sport for her dual scholarship for athletics and hockey.
The girls are the daughters of Deni and Heather Denicaucau, Kathryn and Terry Heath and Michelle and Warren Bostock.