Australian Cross-Country: Juniors and teams success

25 August 2026

Australian Cross-Country: Juniors and teams success

NSW depth was on show at the Australian Cross Country Championships in Ballarat, where our NSW teams placed on the podium in all but one of the 21 events. Seven athletes were also crowned individual Australian Champions.

U20 MEN & WOMEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

NSW won two medals in the under-20 events courtesy of Harry Boyn with silver in the men’s and Olivia O’Kelly claiming bronze in the women’s.

Men 8km

Two kilometres into the men’s 8km event, the lead pack comprised nine athletes, including the favourite, Victorian Lucas Chis and three NSW athletes – Harry Boyn, Joel Harlor and Harrison McClusky. The race started to take shape by half-way (4km), with a lead pack of three now - Chis leading from NSW’s Boyn and Kiwi Coban Holmes. NSW duo of Harlor and McClusky were in the second pack of three.

Over the last 4km of the race, Boyn did a fantastic job of maintaining the 14 seconds gap behind Chis, only losing another three seconds as they finished in times of 27:48 (Chis) and 28:05 (Boyn).

While the bronze medals were out of reach for NSW pair of Harlor and McClusky, they did run home strongly for 5th and 6th respectively in times of 28:38 and 28:43. They were both in sprint finishes to hold their places. Their strong finish ensured NSW comfortably claimed under-20 team’s title.

“I’m overall pretty happy,” said the silver medallist Harry Boyn. “I can't be unhappy with second, especially with Lucas Chis placing first.

“The amount of mud made the course extremely tough. There weren't many sections you could stride out, and most of the time you were just trying to stay on your feet.”

Boyn has had a terrific year, including in January finishing as the leading Australian in the under-20 event at the World Cross Country in America.

“It was definitely above and beyond what I was hoping for, so yeah, extremely happy with how that went.”

Under the coaching of Ben Twoomey, what does he put his improvement down too?

“Just consistency and ticking the weeks over, and also just having fun with it.”

Women 6km

NSW had two very strong hopes in Olivia O’Kelly and Claudia Meaker, but they ran into very tough competition from two Queenslanders - Isabelle Valinoti, the defending champion, who also placed a brilliant 19th at the World XC in January, and last year won this title by 50 seconds and Milla Roberts, who was coming off an outstanding performance at the World U20 Championships where she made the 1500m final.

From the gun Valinoti, Roberts and Kiwi Denika Clooney were away, passing the first 2km, 10 seconds ahead of a pack of three including NSW’s Olivia O’Kelly.

“My plan was to go out hard and stick with the front pack - it’s tough to make up ground when it is a slow muddy course,” O’Kelly said.

Over the next 4km, from 2km to 6km, O’Kelly and Victorian Amy Boote were in a battle for the bronze medal as two Kiwis around them would not count for the Australian Championship.

“I was behind the Kiwi in third and I managed to catch her halfway through the second lap but as I caught her I slipped on the mud on one of the hills, then the gap opened up again,” recalled O’Kelly.

“The legs were pretty dead on the third lap, but I couldn’t really catch her again, but held on for that third Aussie spot.

“I gave it everything I could on the day, especially on that last lap I really had to dig deep.”

Up front, Milla Roberts (23:47), held off Isabelle Valinoti (23:52) for the title, with Kiwi Clooney third. Another Kiwi was fourth and Olivia Kelly was fifth across the line, but third Aussie, in 24:49. Victorian Boote was fourth Aussie in 24:55.

“I was happy with the race as last year I was 13th. I managed to push myself pretty hard on the day.”

How does she account for the progress?

“Definitely my squad and coach Gary Howard at Run Crew have helped. I’ve improved a lot since I’ve moved to him. I have had a good training block and lucky not to be sick or get injured.”

Just 18 seconds from the podium, was UTS student Claudia Meaker – the sixth Aussie to finish.

O’Kelly, Meaker and Mia Coker, placed second in the team’s battle, just one point behind Victoria.

TEN TEAM TITLES

NSW teams finish on the podium in 20 of the 21 events, claiming 10 titles, seven silver and three bronze medals.

The 10 titles NSW won were: senior women, U20 men, U16 girls, U15 boys & girls, U13 boys & girls, U12 girls and U11 boys & girls.

SEVEN INDIVIDUAL TITLES

Seven NSW athletes were crowned Australian Championships.

We know how competitive cross country is with fields as many as 80, so to defend your title is a high achievement. Archie Herb, who won the U12 last year, was the only NSW athlete to win again in the U13s this year.

Note also Viktorie Trebulova and Phillip Botonis, moved up from second last year.

NSW MEDALLISTS

Senior Men 10km

3rd Luke Hince 32:27

Teams – Vic 15, 2nd NSW 34 (Hince, Jack Millar, Logan Campbell, Liam Hinchcliffe), SA 46

Senior Women 10km

1st Holly Campbell 38:18, 3rd Jaylah Hancock-Cameron 39:11

Teams – 1st NSW 16 (Campbell, Hancock-Cameron, Olivia Sivills, Bridget Lunn), Vic 23, Qld 39

Para Men 3km

3rd Kyle McIntosh 11:04

Teams – Vic 3, 2nd NSW 7 (McIntosh, Joseph Feather)

Para Women 3km

2nd Tamsin Colley 17:04

Under-11 boys 2km

1st Benji Mackay 7:22, 2nd Jake Green 7:25;

Teams – 1st NSW 7 (Mackay, Green, George Lines), Qld 18, Vic 20

Under-11 girls 2km

1st Isla Bates 8:05

Teams – 1st NSW 10 (Bates, Indi Freeman, Aliska Reitano), Vic 15, Qld 20

Under-12 boys 3km

Teams – Qld 17, Vic 20, 3rd NSW 26 (Archie Cole, Zachary Cooke, Jacob Kurniadi)

Under-12 girls 3km

2nd Miller Austin 12:07, 3 Harlow Campbell 12:10

Teams – 1st NSW 10 (Austin, Campbell, Lucia Winter), Qld 14, Vic 21

Under-13 boys 3km

1st Archie Herb 10:43, 2nd Oscar Elliott 11:08

Teams – 1st NSW 14 (Herb, Elliott, Alexander Hanrahan), SA 20, Qld 21

Under-13 girls 3km

1st Azzuri Felix 11:56, 2nd Scout Koernig 12:04

Teams – 1st NSW 11 (Felix, Koernig, Asher Simpson), Qld 16, Vic 23

Under-14 boys 3km

3rd Alexander Miller 10:55

Teams – Vic 10, Qld 17, 3rd NSW 22 (Miller, Zachary Bartrom, Elliot Webster)

Under-14 girls 3km

1st Viktorie Trebulova 11:45

Teams – Qld 14, 2nd NSW 14 (Trebulova, Liya Dagher, Beatrice Emanuel), Vic 17

Under-15 girls 4km

2nd Kyah Ryals 15:25

Teams – 1st NSW 17 (Ryals, Ayla Baraniak, Beatrice Garnys), VIC 17, SA 19

Under-15 boys 4km (79)

3rd Matthew Faulkner 14:34

Teams – 1st NSW 13 (Faulkner, Zachary West, Isaac Robinson), Vic 17, Qld 18

Under-16 Girls 4km

Teams – 1st NSW 18 (Keira Atkin, Olivia Kalamvokis, Pixie Hanson), SA 18, Vic 22

Under-16 Boys 4km

1st Phillip Botonis 13:56, 3rd Benjamin Case 14:04

Teams – Vic 12, 2nd NSW 12 (Botonis, Case, Beau Adams), Qld 27

Under-17 Girls 4km

Teams – Qld 7, Vic 19, WA 28, 4th NSW 32 (Taylor Tracey, Ruby Cameron, Emma Walton)

Under-17 Boys 6km

Teams - Vic 9, Qld 18, 3rd NSW 23 (Edwin Alder, Xavier Arnold, David Begovski)

Under-18 Girls 4km

Teams – Vic 13, 2nd NSW 19 (Pippa Schwarz, Eva Gawel, Sarah Hussey), Qld 26

Under-18 Boys 6km

Teams – Vic 9, 2nd NSW 20 (Keeden Harrison, Alexander Eason, Alton Freeman), Qld 25

Under-20 Women 6km

3rd Olivia O’Kelly 24:49

Teams – Qld 14, 2nd NSW 15 (O’Kelly, Claudia Meaker, Mia Coker), Vic 16

Under-20 Men 8km

2nd Harrison Boyn 28:05

Teams – 1st NSW 8 (Boyn, Joel Harlor, Harrison McClusky), Qld 22, Vic 23

David Tarbotton for NSW Athletics

Image: Joel Harlor and Harry Boyn U20 8km XC (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)