Interesting…
S. McClellan 11.14PB (11.39 this season)
M. Breen 11.34s
L. Whaller 11.46
J. Boyd 11.49s
looks like that would be a reasonably competitive team in the CWG.
Actually just did some research and the mens team selected was…
AR - 10.17 (A Qual)
PJ - 10.18 (A Qual)
MD - 10.23 (B Qual)
JG - 10.44
versus the women
MB - 11.34 (A Qual)
SM - 11.39 (B Qual)
LW - 11.46 (B Qual)
JB - 11.49 (B Qual)
Not sure the selectors did their research???
Both teams definitely worthy of selection.
The selectors did their research pretty thoroughly…
Jacinta has been unable to train properly for the last three months, had two epidurals in the back prior to the nationals and will have another soon. Submitted medical report declaring herself unable to sprint. But she entered the long jump and not surprisingly failed to clear 6m.
A further potential issue is that Sally’s 100 hurdles final is currently scheduled just 20minutes before heat of the 4x100m. If she is injured, if her back plays up again, that could reduce the team to two quality sprinters.
The selectors’ feeling was that the next two girls over the line in the National 100m final were not fast enough, and perhaps not young enough to fit the criteria of pushing them as “development projects” toward London 2012.
There are also timetable clashes apparently mitigating against using any members of the women’s 4x400m for the 4x100m race.
Eric Hollingsworth is trying to negotiate a change of the Delhi timetable with the Com Games Federation et al. with all these issues in mind.
I feel sorry for Laura Whaler. She definitely deserves to be in the CG team when you consider she has run a B qualifier and won medals at the nationals.
Others such as Ntiamoah (4x100) & Moore (4x400) haven’t run any qualifiers nor won a medal. They’ve basically been able to get in on the coat tails of others.
The women’s 4 x 100m at the CG has been so lacking in depth that in the past it has been a straight out final and a time in the low 44’s wins a medal. It might have heats this year but the Aussies could throw in hurdlers Lauren Boden and Hayley Butler in the heat and still qualify for the final.
There’s still six months and surely girls like Jacinta Boyd or Charlotte VanVeenedal could be added to a team that includes Breen, McLellan (final only), Whaler & Henry. This team is probably stronger than the team that won bronze in 2006.
Seems short sighted.
Bet Olivia can still run a hot 100m and she is the right age, everyone is happy and good PR.
And Jasinta Doyle was at the last ANSW event, don’t know her time but if it’s too slow, CF has already improved it once, cant see why it can’t be done again…
You may have trouble fielding a relay team if you require them all to win medals in the event at nationals 
No surprise here, the decision makers at AA have a long history of excluding 4x100s men and women, it was part of their strategic plan to focus on technical events - however take away the sprinters then the flow on numbers to jumpers and vaulters will be impeded.
Posted by KK when AA excluded a qualified 4x100 team for the OG in 08
Drawing a long bow, Dazed if you interpret my comment to mean that.
I didn’t say that at all.
Put it this way - With 4 clear stand outs in the men’s 4 x100m - Rouge-Serret, Johnson, Davies & Groth, the fifth option (Ntiamoah) is probably going along for the experience and possibly a heat run only; he is not in the likely four for the final.
Likewise with Moore in the 4 x 400m - Offereins, Steffenson, Milburn & Wroe will be the final team with Moore possibly running the heat only.
They are still important in the scheme of things in case something goes amiss with the top 4 and I’m not suggesting at all they should not be selected; only that I think relatively speaking Whaler is a better athlete and very unlucky to miss out.
Laura Whaler is clearly in the top 3 sprinters in the country…and with Melissa Breen, Sally McLellan & Jody Henry would form a very good team, just as capable of winning a medal as the men’s 4 x 100m.
The selectors went with only 3 athletes as part of the initial squad for the women’s 4 x 400m; so why not do the same with the women’s 4 x 100m?
ie: Why couldn’t they announce an initial 3 of Breen, Whaler & Henry?
Only really needs McLellan for the final and one of the hurdlers for the heat and they are a genuine medal prospect.
With her versatility, Jody Henry seems to be the key athlete in that like Tania Van-Heer (at KL in 1998) she could easily double up in both the 4x 100m and the 4 x 400m.
PS: Last year (an underdone) team of Breen, McLellan, Henry & Wrench-Doody ran 43.95 in Japan in May. Take out Wrench-Doody and replace her with Whaler and with the improvement in Henry & Breen, the team is quite capable of going sub 43.8 which would probably win a medal at the CG.
By the way, this will be the first time in Commonwealth games history, that Australia will not be represented in the women’s 4 x 100m relay since the event was added (initially 4 x 110 yards) at Vancouver in 1954. Incidentally Australia won gold in 1954 with a time of 46.8.
I would bet anything that if we were represented in the final by a team of Breen, McLellan, Henry & Whaler they would finish higher in the final (of their event) than 75% of the rest of the athletics team.
It’s a very narrow minded view by the selectors if it is based purely on the lack of depth for 5th & 6th options…
If enough people rang the talk back radio stations, don’t point the blame on anyone just ask the question no relay why?? this would maybe give Mike Hurst a hand, as he said newspapers print what people are talking about.
HERE IS A NOTE TO ME FROM SHARON HANNAN, COACH OF SALLY PEARSON (FORMERLY MCLELLAN, AS OF HER MARRIAGE LAST WEEKEND):
There are a number of factors to consider with the Women’s 4x100m relay team.
-
Please consider that the staff of Athletics Australia are NOT the Australian Selectors. -
Please also consider that to be selected, athletes must have an A qualifier and come first or second at Nationals. ALL other selections are discretionary, at the hands of the SELECTORS. -
The Team does NOT close until 16 August -
If, as seems to be the case, the girls WANT to be in the Team and compete for Australia, they must train on and run fast later in the year. -
Yes the DRAFT timetable for the Games is a nightmare !!! 4x100m Relay heats are at either 17:50 or at 18:05 (both listed as ‘W’ and 1 is obviously meant to be ‘M’) -
100m Hurdles FINAL is at 18:25 -
So...... Sally would obviously be unavailable for the relay heats. Same for Haley, assuming she gets through -
Jacinta is injured -
Charlotte has been injured and hasn’t raced since early in the year, but now back in solid training -
Both Laura and Jacinta posted their best times in VG conditions in Perth (Does that, and should that matter???)
-
Sally has only run a B qualifier (We should be confident in assuming she’ll be in better than A shape)
-
Sally was also hoping to compete in the 200m, which, in the long run, may also have swayed the Selectors against the Relay. However, she has this morning withdrawn from the 200m based on the current timetable which has the 200m semi and final on the same night as the Hurdles heats, with only 15mins between the hurdle heats and the 200m semi.
So… dilemmas all round. Frustrating!!!
One of the biggest problems now, is getting races for the girls to post faster times. We have until 16 August when (hopefully) Charlotte and Jacinta are injury-free and all the girls can run fast again.
Diplomatic announcement - doesn’t tell us if Sharon agrees with the initial non selection of the womens 4 x 100m relay team.
But I guess it doesn’t matter.
She’s right though, they still have plenty of time to get together and post a time that will give them a start.
See that grinning smilie face at the end of my comment? It means I was JOKING …
The only thing offered races at the moment is pro running,
When does the winter series on the gold coast commence?
I’m sure there are plenty of other athletes out there in various events that will be vying for a spot that they will be able to put together some great meets. Is AA holding any warm weather camps? Shame they don’t go to Darwin any more many an athlete scraped a last minute qualifier there in the late 90’s early 00’s.
Sorry Dazed, I get use to reading so many smart alec responses on these forums that’s it often hard to work out which ones are taking the mickey and which ones aren’t.
At least here I don’t experience the reckless, toxic & defamatory comments from imbeciles that one reads on another forum - that I stopped contributing to some time ago and now rarely read.
The funny thing is I posted under my own name 100% of the time on that forum but I was banned for something written (and said) under an alias by somebody else. The ban, whilst wrong, was a blessing in disguise, means I can’t access the site, and I have no desire to have the ban lifted.
This site is 1000% better because whilst there’s often robust debate, there is a general feeling of respect and the discussions are informative and interesting and rarely get out of hand.
AND here, they have the Ignore list which means you can block out comments from the imbeciles. 
No worries. Glad we were able to straightened this out.