National selection for Sandon athlete
National selection for Sandon athlete
August 24, 2006
Section: Sport
The Gregson family: Ryan, Danni and Jordan at their Sandon Point home.
RYAN Gregson' name has appeared regularly in sports news lately and all for the right reasons.
To cap off a brilliant 2006, the Year 11 Illawarra Sports High School student has received news of his addition to the National U17 Athletics Development Squad.
The Bulli 16-year-old's achievement comes after the following stellar performances:
" Australian U20 mountain running champion;
" NSW ALL Schools cross country champion;
" NSW U18 cross country champion;
" NSW U18 short course cross country champion;
" NSW U18 road racing champion ;
" NSW All Schools cross country champion and;
" Regional Athletics champion in the 800m, 1500m and 3000m events.
He remains unbeaten in his age group in all events.
Following his success at the All Schools titles , Ryan was selected in the NSW team to contest the Australian Cross Country Championships to be held in Tasmania . He is also off to the World Mountain Running titles in Turkey September 7 to 11. Ryan is also a state hockey rep.
But he is not the only outstanding athlete in the Gregson family.
His older sister Danni (18), a Year 12 student at Illawarra Grammar School, is also a superb all-round athlete , excelling on the track and in hockey where she is a regular state representative.
However she suffered a cruel blow at the recent Australian U21 Hockey Championships when she received a terrible injury competing for NSW, which resulted in a total knee reconstruction that will keep her out of action for quite some time.
The youngest of the three is Jordan, 9, who attends Waniora Primary School. She also has recently taken to athletes and plays hockey in a Albion Park U11 team. Eventually Jordan hopes to become a tennis player, which will add further variety to the family's current busy sports program.