UK Young Athletes League - Sun, 1st June 2008 - Palmer Park, Reading
Sunday’s National Young Athletes League Southern Premier Division match at Palmer Park Reading was very much a battle to prove who had the top Young Athletes Team in Berkshire. Reading AC who have had a significant upsurge in fortunes recently were anxious to topple WSEH AC from their long held podium position, and with third place in the league, one place behind WSEH, home advantage could have been the deciding factor. WSEH however proved too strong in almost all departments, emerging with a comfortable win to maintain their march to the League Finals in Manchester in September.
Match result: WSEH AC 478pts, Reading AC 398pts, Bedford & County AC 327pts, Basildon AC 211pts
Under 17 Men
It was the WSEH Under 17 squad that really dominated with maximum points from half of the 16 event programme. The WSEH sprinters and middle distance athletes reigned supreme. Tom Evans (11.2secs/22.6 secs) and Ainsley Campbell (11.3secs/23.1secs) proved unbeatable in the 100m and 200m. More winning doubles came in the 800m via Rikki Letch (1m53.5) and Nick Lingley (1m59.7) and Elliot Woolmer (4m13.3) and Connor Vine (4m20.3) in the 1500m. Lingley also contested the 400m winning in a pb of 52.8 secs, with Matt Mooney 2nd in the B in 54.6 secs. There were good 2nd places for Nathan Ditton (4m52.4) and Luke Porter (5m24.0) in the Steeplechase, both pb’s.
The opening track event the 400m Hurdles had set the trend for WSEH with Ashley Fry (58.4secs) and Nathan Ditton (73.6) seeing off the opposition. The dose was repeated in the 100m Hurdles, this time Kyle Hodge doing the damage with a win in an equalling pb of 14.8 secs and Nathan Ditton again partnering.
There was also a pb in the opening throwing event the U17 hammer where Mark White was 2nd with 40m11 and Sam Wilkinson made a welcome return to the team after his accident to win the B string. Wilkinson went on to excel in the Discus where he produced a best of 36m71 with Mark White completing the double with his 20m92 effort. David Harvey was close to his best with 2nd in the Long Jump with 6m13, then going on to contest the Triple Jump with 11m44 allowing Ethan Welch to win the B string with 11m40. Ryan Francis made a welcome return to place 2nd in the High Jump with a pb of 1m70 with David Walker scooping up maximum points in winning the B with 1m50.
Under 15 Boys
The Under 15 Age group proved a tougher nut to crack. Seamus Burke came up against a Basildon sprinter rated at No 1 in the UK. He was not overawed however and was close in both the 100m (11.7secs) and 200m (23.6secs). Sam Maguire in the B strings made the most of his chances winning both in 12.2secs/24.4secs. Callum Marshall made a good debut over 400m in 57.8 secs with Stephen Knuckey clocking 60.3secs. There were healthy points in the 800m with James Bennington 2nd in a pb of 2m11.5 secs, with Jay Fieldmartin winning the B race in 2m20.4. In the 1500m James Tidd was 2nd in 4m30.1 whilst Gari Brown eased to victory in the B in 4m31.3
The only WSEH winning track double in this age group came in the 80m Hurdles where both Alex Peden (11.8secs) and Cameron MacRoberts (12.4secs) scorched to new bests. There was also a double in the throwing events from Alex Matthew (33m00) and Teo Kubeina (30m08) winning the Discus. Kubeina went on to win the Hammer with 37m56 with Dante Wilkinson 2nd with 18m37. Best of the jumping events proved to be the Long Jump where Alex Peden was 2nd in the A with 5m44 and Seamus Burke won the B with a pb of 5m32.
Under 13 Boys
The Under 13 Age Group has yet to see a settled team, but encouragingly there were a number of personal bests with the best event proving to be the 1500m where Kieran Wye was 2nd in the A string with5m05.5 and George Gathercole won the B string in 5m22.2
The successful day was concluded with more victories in the sprint relays. The Under 15 team of Maguire, Marshall, MacRoberts and Burke won in 48.1secs and the Under 17 team of Harvey, Welch, Evans and Campbell were clear winners in 45.3 secs
The strength of the performance surprised the team managers as they went into the match without some of their strongest U17 and U13 athletes. But once again the depth of the club and the commitment of the athletes showed as the club posted their highest point total of the campaign.
Under 13 Girls
The U13’s girl’s squad is progressing into one of their strongest U13 squads for a few years. Newcomer Morgan Lake, who just transferred from the Slough Juniors Club, posted one of the best High Jumps in the UK this year in jumping 1.48 M to win the girls High Jump. Lake continued to impress as she won the Long Jump in very strong 4.79 M. Ruth Bourne continued to impress the league with yet another club record in the 1200 meters and one of the top times in the UK this year as she won comfortably in 3:52.5. Teammate Becca Croft won the B stream 1200 M in 3:58.8. Gabriella Zivanovic increased her PB in the Shot Put in a winning 8.52 Meters and established herself in the top 20 of the UK rankings. Personal Best performances from Olivia Ceasar (150 M), Chloe Allen (800 M), Lucy Campbell (HJ), Maddison Paris-Matic (150 M and 75 M) and Josslyn Stotter (Shot Put) drove the U13’s to a strong contribution to the teams point total.
Under 15 Girls
Ellie Norris continued her winning streak in the Girls U15 Discuss. Norris, who is one of the UK’s top-ranked U15 Shot Putters, has won three competitions in a row. She was narrowly defeated for the first time in the shot put after her second competition for the club in two days. The U15 throwers are a very strong group as Sarah Taplin proved when she posted a very impressive 28.98 M throw to win the girls Javelin.
Shalisha Patrick and Karimah Muhammad faced a very strong Reading sprint corps and Patrick posted PB of 12.7 seconds in taking second in the girls U15 A-Stream 100 M. Muhammad posted a PB of 13.2 seconds in winning the U15 Girls B-Stream 100 M. Patrick and Muhammad teamed up with Laura Suggit and Cressida Millar to win the girls 4 X 100 Meter relay. PB’s from Suggit (1500 M), Naomi Barbour (800 M) and Maryse Haynes (1500 M) rounded out the points for the U15 girl’s squad.
Under 17 Women
Catherine Hall-Jones and Laura James led the U17 Girls to a very strong performance on Sunday. Hall Jones won the U17 80 Meter Hurdles in 11.5 seconds to go top of the UK rankings. Teammate Faye Williams won the B-Stream 80 M Hurdles to move her in the top 5 of the UK rankings.
Later in the day, Williams helped Shanice Brown, Sarah Phelps and Chloe Mays take victory in the U17 4 X 100 Meter Relay against very strong competition from Bedford & County and Reading.
With some of the club’s top U17 athletes not available for this match, many of the girls had to go into events in which they had limited experience. Laura Burke, who won the Surrey County 300 M Hurdle Championships in May in only her first attempt, proved she was no fluke in winning the 300 M Hurdles at Reading in an impressive 47.1 seconds. Fifteen minutes later Burke as taking second in the B Stream 200 M.
Laura James continues her dominance in the U17 Hammer and Discuss. James has taken these valuable double victories for the club three matches in a row and has positioned herself as one of the top U17 athletes in the UK. Joining James on the strong U17 Throws squad is Helen Farmer. Helen won the U17 Javelin in a Personal Best of 27.81 Meters.
Hannah Barefield continues her dominance of the 3,000 with her third victory in a row. Teammate Lauren Wye won the B-Stream 3000 in a Personal Best of 11 minutes 17 seconds to take maximum points for WSEH AC. Bex Myers continued her dominance in the U17 middle distances with another victory in the U17 1500 Meters.
Pascale Waterson rounded out the scoring for WSEH as she took an unexpected first place in the U17 triple jump to compliment her second place in the Long Jump.
Waterson joined Burke and team mates Sophie Purkis and Georgia Taylor to win the 4 X 300 M Relay to finish off the victory for WSEH
Authors: Dennis Daly & Charles Croft
