2024 State Combined Event Championships

Pembroke’s Christine Gayen won her eighth consecutive Open Women’s Heptathlon with a personal best score of 5,183, finishing ahead of teammates Maya Lange (4,035 points) and Ruby Sulicich (3,528 points), who finished in second and third respectively. 

Gayen would start off strongly, recording a PB of 12.21 metres in shotput, alongside a time of 14.74 in the 100m hurdles (a PB in a heptathlon) to finish Day 1 with 3079 points. Gayen would then carry this form into Day 2 with a personal best time of 2:28.67 in the 800m, as well as another PB in a heptathlon (5.88m in long jump) to secure the gold medal. And it was this consistency across all seven events that allowed Gayen to break the 5,000 point barrier for only the second time in her athletics career. 

“I was really happy with today finishing up with an overall points PB,” Gayen said. 

“It’s only the second time I’ve been over 5,000 [points]; at Nationals last year I just cracked it with 5,008.” 

Gayen hoped her result in the Open Women’s Heptathlon would set her up for a strong Nationals performance. 

“I’ve had a pretty good season so far with quite a few PBs,” Gayen said. 

“Hopefully I can continue that and come out and improve my score again at Nationals.” 

The Open Men’s Decathlon saw Western’s Zachary Washington recorded a personal best score of 5,770 to take first place. This was a significant improvement from his previous points score of 5,180 during last year’s State Combined Event Championships, with Washington describing this as a “massive PB”. Saints’s Tyler Ford finished in second with a score of 5,630, with Flinders’s Fraser Western rounding out the top three with 5,581 points. 

Going into Day 2, Washington would find himself in fourth place with 2,850 points, trailing first place Ford’s score of 3,048. However, consistent performances across the final five disciplines allowed Washington to steadily close the gap to claim the gold medal, finishing the decathlon with five PBs (three on Day 1, and two on Day 2). 

“It was a really big two days,” Washington said. 

“I was just trying to do my best in every event and just hoped it went well. 

“This [result] will put me in a nice position [for upcoming events]. Training is going well so hopefully I can continue that and get some more PBs.” 

In the under 20 Women’s Heptathlon, Western’s Leila Croker won six of the seven events to take first place with a score of 5,047. Tea Tree Gully’s Tryphena Hewett finish second with 4,297 points and recorded a 1.80m high jump, a World Athletics under 20 Championship qualifying result, with Pembroke’s Grace Stevens taking third place with a score of 3,292. 

Croker would start off positively in only her second ever under 20 Women’s Heptathlon, winning three of the opening four events to finish Day 1 in first place with a score of 2,921. Croker would then build upon this form heading into Day 2 with a personal best time of 2:27.28 in the 800m, as well as an equal PB in javelin (41.19m), to record a personal best points score in the under 20 Women’s Heptathlon of 5,047, beating her previous best score by five points (5,042 points recorded at the 2023 Queensland Combined Event Championships/Glynis Nunn Shield). 

“I got off to a better day 1 in Brisbane but my day 2 was stronger today, so I brought it back to end up being a PB which I was really happy about,” Croker said. 

Maintaining a consistent performance across both days was also something Croker was striving to improve upon. 

“I’ve got a couple of events in day 1 that I’m trying to work hard at, so hopefully once I get them working I can hit the World Junior Qualifier, so that’s my aim at the moment,” Croker said. 

“This [result] definitely gives an indicator of where I’m at and what I need to improve on, so I’ll work on that heading into Nationals in a couple of months.” 

Northern District’s Logoh Tligi took out the under 20 Men’s Decathlon with five PBs to finish with a personal best score of 5,832 to take first place. Western’s Jevan Phillipou finished in second with a score of 5,492, with teammate Lachlan Rudd rounding out the top three with 5,358 points. 

Tligi’s score of 5,832 was a significant improvement from his previous points PB, beating it by over 800 points. 

“I think I’m good where I am [right now],” Tligi said. 

“I think I’m on track right now, so hopefully I can build on this [result].” 

\

In other results, Pembroke’s Lucy Allen scored 3,997 points in the under 18 Women’s Heptathlon to take first place. Saints’ Sophie Rodgers finished in second with 3,614 points, with Southern’s Matilda Gourlay taking third place with a score of 3,118. 

Pembroke’s Ashley James scored 4,400 points to take first place in the under 17 Women’s Heptathlon, finishing ahead of Saints’ Ava Barton, who took second place with a score of 4,107. 

Flinders’ Maeya Robinson from Flinders took first place in the under 16 Women’s Heptathlon, facing a competitive five athlete field, finishing with a score of 3,519. Saints’ Zoe Redin finished in second with a score of 3,417, with Pembroke’s Grace Marin rounding out the top three with 3,384 points. 

Northern Districts’ Ashleigh Heggie scored 3,131 points in the under 15 Women’s Heptathlon to take first place, finishing ahead of Tea Tree Gully’s Layla Young (2,622 points) and Saints’ Charlize Izzini (2,267 points), who finished second and third respectively. 

In the under 18 Men’s Decathlon, Southern’s Zayden Kamish broke the 6,000 point barrier to take first place, finishing with a final score of 6,014. Pembroke’s Christian Whitwell finished in second with a score of 5,237, with Salisbury’s Jackson Eastwood rounding out the top three with 4,359 points. 

The under 17 Men’s Decathlon was hotly contested with Pembroke’s Benjamin Shearwin recording a score of 5,307 to take first place, finishing just ahead of Saints’ Harrison Clark (5,281 points). Salisbury’s Jack Howard rounded out the top three with 4,538 points. 

Tea Tree Gully’s Dane Wood scored 3,543 points to win the under 16 Men’s Heptathlon ahead of Northern Districts’ Hamish Green, who finished with 3,397 points. 

And in the under 15 Men’s Heptathlon, Saints’ Hamish Gordon scored 2,849 points to take first place, finishing ahead of teammate Hugo Gwynne (2,193 points). Southern’s Ashton Wall rounded out the top three with 1,525 points. 

The Men’s PA Ambulant Pentathlon saw Western’s Brayden Davidson (T36) claimed the gold medal with a final score of 1,128, while in Women’s PA Ambulant Pentathlon, Western’s Mikaela McCarthy (T/F38) scored 255 points to take first place, finishing just ahead of teammate Lillie Wakefield (F20), who finished with 230 points. 

In the Women’s over 50 Pentathlon, SA Masters Athletics' Donna Palmer took first place, scoring 1,896 points to finish ahead of second place Felicity Alexander (Saints), who scored 395 points. And in the Men’s over 50 Pentathlon, Western’s David Pfitzner claimed the gold medal with a final score of 1,362. SA Masters Athletics' Dean Mortimer finished second with 1,307 points, with Flinders’ Graham Catt rounding out the top three with a score of 998. 

In the Women’s over 35 Pentathlon, Western’s Reine Hobbs claimed the gold medal with a final score of 1,718, with Tea Tree Gully’s Cassie Neubauer taking second place with 1,581 points. And in the Men’s over 35 Pentathlon, Flinders’ Tonny Hobbs took first place with a score of 2,116, finishing ahead of Tea Tree Gully’s Scott Hewett (1,416 points). 

Saints’ Jack Doney won the Open Men’s mixed invitational 100m final with a time of 10.77, finishing 0.01 seconds ahead of Flinders’ Cailen Hejka (10.78), with United Collegians’ Taylah Spackman winning the Open Women’s 100m in 12.72 seconds, and in the Open’s Men mixed invitational 200m final, Saints’ athlete Aidan Murphy stormed to victory in a time of 21.13 seconds, with Pembroke’s Charlotte McAuliffe winning the Open Women’s 200m in 24.62. 

SA Athletics would also like to thank our amazing volunteers and officials. Without their commitment and dedication, events like the State Combined Event Championships could not be run.  

Authored by Harry Damokas