St Mary’s College student, Callum Dear competed in his final event as a schoolboy last week at the NSW All School Athletics Championships held in Sydney.
Entered into the under 19 boys triple jump, Dear finished third behind Laud Codjoe from Trinity Grammar and Jelle Van Der Ham from Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College.
St Mary’s sports coordinator, Tim Kennedy explained to the Gunnedah Times the work put in by Dear to compete and succeed at such a high level.
“He has been training hard for many years now,” Kennedy said.
“It has been both frustrating and disappointing to see COVID take away opportunities for Callum to compete over the last two years.”
With many missed opportunities in his final two years of schooling, Dear has recently finished his HSC and was presented with an opportunity to compete for St Mary’s one last time.
The third place finish showed Dear’s ability, recording 12.23 in his third and penultimate jump.
Codjoe in second finished 12 centimetres in front of Dear on 12.35 along with Van Der Ham in first on 12.60.
Fellow St Mary’s students and siblings, Hayden Sawyer and Bella Sawyer, also featured at the championships and both collected a bronze medal to follow in Dear’s footsteps.
Hayden competed in the under 12 boys, while Bella was in the under 15 girls.
Kennedy was proud of the achievements despite the lack of training heading into the events.
“Considering they couldn’t train much leading into the event due to the recent flooding, it’s a remarkable achievement for all three athletes,” he said.
