Athletics Australian Selection - Ginger Gleeson and Mason Watkins
Mason Photo credit - MTSportsPhoto
It has been a huge week for the Great Southern Academy of Sport, with Mason Watkins and Ginger Gleeson both proudly representing Australia for the first time at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin.
To have two GSAS athletes wearing the green and gold on the international stage is an incredibly proud moment for the academy and a reflection of the exceptional talent coming through the Great Southern Region of Western Australia.
Both athletes arrived in Darwin in outstanding form as current WA State Champions in their events.
Ginger Gleeson, from Denmark, has put together a phenomenal season, claiming state titles in both the Under 17 400m and 400m hurdles, before going on to dominate at the Australian Athletics Championships.
At nationals, Ginger was outstanding, claiming:
Gold – Under 17 Women’s 400m (55.81)
Gold – Under 18 Women’s 400m Hurdles (1:01.79)
Silver – Under 18 Women’s 4x400m Relay
Fellow GSAS athlete Mason Watkins, originally from Albany, has also enjoyed a remarkable rise through the athletics ranks.
A current WA State Champion in Under 17 Triple Jump, Mason impressed at the national championships, medalling in both jumping events:
Mason was one of GSAS’s inaugural scholarship athletes and spent more than two years developing through the academy program before recently relocating to Perth to continue pursuing his athletics ambitions through boarding and higher-level training opportunities.
While Mason may now be based in Perth, he remains very much part of the GSAS family, and seeing one of our original athletes progress to Australian representation is something we are incredibly proud of.
For both Mason and Ginger, pulling on the Australian uniform for the first time marks a major milestone in what are already exciting careers.
These are two exceptional young athletes with bright futures ahead, and to see regional athletes from Albany and Denmark stepping confidently onto the international stage is exactly what high-performance pathways are all about.
Congratulations Mason and Ginger for an incredible achievement, and hopefully the first of many green and gold appearances.