Wisil back on home track after Aussie stint

Sports

By ISAAC LIRI
AFTER spending the festive season abroad, Papua New Guinea’s sprint queen Toea Wisil, pictured, is back in the country and training at the National Sports Institute in Goroka.
Wisil in the Burnie Gift, a professional race in Burnie, Tasmania, on New Year’s Day.
Wisil competed in the mixed (men and women) 120m race and ran 15.66 seconds in the heat and 13.23 sec in the final in windy conditions.
Wisil earlier took part in the Davenport City Council Open in Tasmania (Dec 29) in the 200m event (a mixed race) where she finished with a time of 23.13 in the heat and 23.36 in the semifinal.
Her last event was the Latrobe Carnival (mixed race) where she ran 13.95 in the 120m preliminary and clocked 14.00 in the semifinals.
Wisil then travelled up to Brisbane and competed in the Glynis Nunn Shield (Jan 12) where she finished first in the 100m in 11.81 and second in the 200m in 24.02. She won the 400m in 56.29.
Her last event in Brisbane was the Sally Pearson Shield last Sunday where she finished first, clocking 11.69 in the 100m and fourth in the 200m in 24.45.
Wisil referred to the trip as refreshing and was looking forward to continuing her training at the NSI.
“It was good to get some competition and run some good times, I’m looking to getting back into training,” Wisil said.
Athletics PNG head coach Dior Lowry was pleased with the results saying Wisil was aiming to be clocking 11.65 in the 100m by the Pacific Games.
“All her runs were quality and that’s what I wanted to see,” Lowry said. “It’s a good start for the year just to see where we are in training.
“We have only worked on the beginning segments of her race,” the American said.
“As the Australian nationals, Pacific Games and world championships approach we will progressively refine the other race components.”
Leading up to the 2019 Pacific Games, Wisil will be competing in the Jan 26 trials in Goroka, the Feb 2 trials in Goroka, the Feb 23 trials in Kimbe (West New Britain) the Queensland Track Classic (March 23) and the Australian National Championships (March 30 to April 7).