Sport
20 February, 2026
Local athletes star at regional carnival
Nine local athletes from the Maryborough Little Athletics Centre dominated at the recent Western Country Region Track and Field Carnival, winning a combined 19 medals.
The event, which took place at Brauerander Park in Warrnambool on February 7 and 8, pitted the finest rising stars hailing from the 20 centres located in the region, including Ballarat, Beau-fort, Colac, Kerang and Portland.
Alongside their staggering hoard of medals, local athletes earned 16 personal bests (PB), with six now qualified for the Little Athletics State Track and Field Championships to be held at the Knox Park Athletics Centre on March 7 and 8.
Sprinting phenom Charlie Sullivan was the standout of an extremely successful bunch of local athletes, winning golds in the under 16 boys 100 m, 200 m and 400 m to go along with his two silvers at the recent Victorian Country Athletics Champion-ships.
Sullivan followed his triple treat of golds last fortnight by adding even more silverware to his expansive collection, coming second at the highly touted Victoria Junior Track and Field Championships last Saturday in the under 17 men’s 100 m.
After running a PB in the heats, the 15-year-old went even faster in the final, clocking in an exceptional time of 11.42 to take the silver medal by 0.01 seconds.
With that time, Sullivan is now qualified for the Australian Athletics Junior Championships in Brisbane this April, with hopes of also qualifying for the 200 m with his PB just 0.16 seconds off the required time.
Young Xavier Brasser also made his trip to Warrnambool a golden one to remember, finishing first in the under 12 boys 80 m hurdles with a time of 14.23.
Xavier wasn’t done cracking the podium, coming second in the long jump and triple jump.
Max Brasser and Stevie Cooke would’ve had trouble taking all their trinkets back to Mary-borough, winning four medals each.
Max won silvers in the under 10 boys 60 m hurdles and long jump, as well as bronzes in the 100 m and 200 m, while Stevie took home silvers in the under 11 girls 80 m hurdles and shot put, along with bronzes in the long jump and triple jump.
Under 15 boys sprinter Nathaniel Jacobs was second and third in the 100 m and 200 m respectively, while Jomal Nicholson took home silver in the under 14 boys high jump with his attempt of 1.35 meters.
Rounding out the local medals were Jay Blievers with a bronze in the under 15 girls 800 m and Grayden Jacobs coming third in the under 15 boys 100 m.
Quinlyn Nicholson put in a good showing with a fourth place in the under 11 girls javelin and sixth in the high jump.