An eight-strong team from Maribyrnong Sports Academy won over the crowds as they bagged a bundle of medals at the recent Simplot Games in Idaho, USA.
Celeste Mucci, 17, led the charge by streaking to gold in the 60-metre dash, leaping to another gold with a personal best 1.78 metres in the high jump and snatching silver in the 60-metre hurdles.
The talented all-rounder from Seaholme backed up with a gold medal in the 4 x 200- metre relay and was pipped into fourth place in the long jump.
The 4 x 200-metre team of Mucci, Mareelou Boyle, Meg Cairns and Jessie Andrew collected their gold with an Australian indoor record time of 1.42.34.
Mucci says she will never forget the roar of the crowd as she raced to her 60-metre win.
“It’s so loud competing indoors; the adrenaline really makes you step up,” she said. “Americans really get into their sport and we got a lot of support from them.”
Mucci said the meet was a great preparation for the nationals coming up next month where she hopes to make her mark in the 100 metre hurdles and heptathlon. “I’m definitely looking at the 2018 Commonwealth Games for heptathlon; I’ll be 18 then.”
Coach Darren Clarke praised the team for exceeding all expectations. “There were some outstanding individual performances and some great team efforts as well,” he said. “The crowd really got behind the team.”
Clarke said the performances had been the talk of the school and younger students were now focusing on getting to next year’s Games.
