20 May 2017 - U13/15 - Southampton
Photos start here...
Southampton was the venue for the second match in this
season’s UKYDL lower age group fixture and last year’s wet weather was
repeated, making conditions far from ideal.
Athletes being a hardy bunch coupled with Dave
Cordell’s perfect siting of the club tent meant we coped well and should be
well pleased with our strong second place finish, behind hosts and current
National champions Southampton AC.
The day began in winning ways with Oliver Robertson, seemingly ignoring the
head wind, running near to his best and winning the 75m hurdles. Survival
instinct kicked in for Ollie during the rain sodden high jump as he adopted
the scissor technique, landing on the wet mat feet first but still recorded
a great 2nd. Ollie's second win of the day came in the long jump where he
smashed his previous best by a big 16cm.
Matt Smith had a difficult day beginning with a strong second place in the
75m hurdles followed by a new personal best in a wet and windy 800m also
placing 2nd. The timetable didn’t favour Matt as the high jump clashed with
the 800m and by time Matt had returned, the competition had moved on and
with heavy legs Matt was unable to get a height, but had three valiant
attempts.
Ben Campbell looked comfortable winning the 800m by 5 seconds and also won
valuable points in the shot put.
Josh Buddle Smith did well in both the javelin, throwing a seasons best, and
the shot again winning precise points in the field.
Connor Sutton dominated the sprints once again with fine victories in the
100m and 200m.
Emmanuel Oniwinde had a great day running near his best in the 200m placing
3rd followed by a great long competition that saw him propel himself over 4m
for the very first time placing him a solid 2nd.
Jake Anthony made a great National league debut knocking 10 seconds off his
800m best and throwing a new javelin best despite only having had two
coaching sessions, more valuable points earned.
Jack Horn battled well into the wind to record a fine 2nd place in the 200m
sprint and helped the relay team including Connor, Emmanuel and Oliver to
2nd just 0.3sec behind the winners.
Max Gregson continues to improve and will delighted with smashing the 5
minute barrier for the first time placing 4th in a very competitive 1500m
race.
George Shaw had a memorable National debut winning the B string 1500m in a
great new personal best and had a quick sprint in the 100m for fun.
With two fixtures remaining and the top two in the league guaranteed a place
in the final we are one step nearer to achieving that goal.
The next UKYDL U13/15 fixture is on 18th June 2017 at Thames Valley.
Paul
Photos from Jay Galley
