29 May 2016 - U17/20 - Norman
Park
Full
results here...
The junior men and women of B&B took an enormous leap
towards the national finals with a sensational victory over the best clubs
in Southern England on Sunday. The winning score of 843 points was more than
170 points clear of WSEH in 2nd place and set a new points record for the
league. Both boys and girls won against their competition and together they
amassed 46 A and B string wins in the total of 76 events.
First up were the hammer boys who got us off to a
great start. James Lancaster, despite injuring himself carried on through
the pain to throw nearly 50m and claim 2nd place in the A string. Charlie
Short won the B string and Dylan Reeves-Fellows adding more points with 4th
in the U20 A string.
The first track event of the day saw the welcome
return to YDL action of Bailey Stickings. It was great to see Bailey put his
injury nightmare behind him as he took 2nd place in the U20 A string. He was
backed up superbly by Aleksander Wiltshire who won the B string taking more
than 2 seconds off his PB in the process. In the U17 competition Coleman
Corry celebrated Kent selection by again going under 60 seconds to come 3rd
in the A string despite hitting several hurdles in the windy conditions.
Josh Watson looked comfortable easing to victory in the B string.
Next up in the field events was the long jump, an
event where we find ourselves with talent to spare this season. It was no
surprise to see William Adeyeye take the U17 A win with a 6.36m jump and he
was almost matched by Ben Sutton’s PB jump of 6.31m to take the B string.
Over in the U20 string, Elliot Thorne was battling away against SBH and WSEH
(who were ahead with jumps of 6.91 and 6.74) when he took his last jump. The
official called it as 7.06m to great celebration from the watching crowd.
Elliot however, realising he hadn’t gone that far, asked the official to
re-measure it. The result being that it was “only” 6.75m, giving him second
place but nevertheless a victory for sportsmanship.
The highlight of the 1500m races was seeing Lewis
Mills take on the best of Reading and Tonbridge leading the race out for
several laps. Unfortunately he couldn’t quite hold them off in the end but
finished in a solid third with a time of 4:15, five seconds quicker than he
ran in the same race in the first match at Eton.
The 100m races had been hit by several late
withdrawals and adjustments due to injury which resulted in Matthew Knight
moving up to cover the U20B string, Chizute moving to U17 A string and Jed
Hamilton making his club competition debut in the B string. With Shamar
leading from the front with a 10.86 in the U20 A string, we again reaped a
great return against a competitive field with two 2ndplaces, a third place
and a win for Jed in a great PB of 11.54.
In the high jump we welcomed the arrival of Kelechi
Agoucha to the club for his first ever competitive match (outside of
school). Coach Keith Liston has high hopes for Kelechi and after seeing him
jump you can understand why. He showed no sign of nerves as he made his way
through to the final 2 competitors, only eventually losing on count back
with equal highest of 1.80m. Backing up Kelechi were Aleksander and Coleman
– Coleman bagging a win in the B string to make it another high scoring
event for us.
Meanwhile in the javelin, despite the fact that we
were missing club and league record holder James, the U17 boys did extremely
well. Nor took on the responsibility of throwing up a weight and despite
falling a little short of his best still managed a solid 3rd place.
Similarly Angus was struggling with the wind but his throw of just under 40m
was enough to secure the U17 B string win. The trio were spearheaded by Femi
who produced another powerful display in throwing, coming 2nd in the A
string with a new PB which was just a whisker below the 50m mark.
In the 400m Ocean and Will continued the good form
they showed at Eton with the same result 3rd and 1st in the U20 A and B
strings despite the fact that Ocean was in some discomfort from a foot
injury. In the U17 event Ben Sutton was close to victory in a close
three-way battle with Enfield and Tonbridge in which eventually he finished
in 2nd. He was backed up Ed Adams who claimed a solid third in the B string.
In the sprint hurdles we unfortunately had nobody able
to run the U20 event but are blessed with talent in the U17 ranks. For this
match we fielded a different line up to the athletes that acquitted
themselves admirably in the first event. William Adeyeye, who still has
another year in the age group, took 2nd in the A string in a fast time of
13.7s. He was backed up by Ed Adams, no mean hurdler himself, who had a
comfortable win the B string.
The 3000m saw the welcome return of junior England
international Will Fuller to the YDL team. It looked like man against boys
as Will swatted aside a quality field seemingly without breaking sweat to
win in just under 9 minutes, over 40 seconds outside his own club record.
Will’s appearance meant that Marco made it maximum points in the U20 event
winning the B string with a season’s best performance. The lads were backed
up by great contributions from Michael Eagling and Callum Myatt in the U17
event, both marginally outside their PBs taking 3rd and 2nd in the A and B
strings.
Over in the triple jump, another event where we have
real strength in depth, we had a mixed day. Jacob Veerapen, ranked in the
top 5 in the country failed to record a distance. Such is the nature of the
more technical events that even the best athletes can sometimes have a bad
day. To say he looked devastated would be an understatement. He can rest
assured that nobody was upset and we’ll all be rooting for him more than
ever at the next event. Luckily we had Dylan Reeves-Fellows and Elliot
Thorne on song to ensure that we scored more than respectably on the day.
Next door the vaulters were busy racking up PBs and
points. In an event that most other clubs are struggling to field a full
complement of athletes it is great to have the problem that we can only
field three. On the day Frankie, George and Lewis all went over 3m with
George equalling his PB and Lewis setting a new one. Respectively the lads
claimed two second places in the A strings and a win in the B string.
Back on the track and the sprinters were in action in
the 200m, Shamar with another Captain’s performance with a PB in the A
string for another 2nd place. Ocean’s injury meant Will Pope was called into
action in the B string and he coped ably getting very close to his PB for
3rd. Matthew Knight added another 2nd place to his tally in the U17 A string
but there was disappointment for Jed who twitched on the line and was false
started. The look of devastation on Jed’s face said everything that needed
to be said but he will undoubtedly learn from the experience and come back a
stronger athlete for it.
The 800m came next with James Habergham having come
all the way from his town of Halifax to make his YDL debut for the club. The
long journey was well worth it as he narrowly missed out on victory to take
2nd in the U20 A string. James’ presence meant Joss Barber was able to drop
to the B string where he made light work of the opposition with a commanding
win. Angus Harrington had been frustrated by his lack of improvement so far
this season but he made a breakthrough in the U17 A string, taking over a
second off his PB and getting tantalisingly close to the 2 minute barrier
for 3rd. Oscar Hussey having a break from his GSCE revision also claimed 3rd
place in the B string.
In shot put it was good to see Dele Aladese in action
for the first time this season and he took 3rd in the U20 event. Our under
17 duo of William and Elliot took 2nd and 1st in the A and B strings
respectively, Elliot having only stepped in at the last minute due to
injuries and grabbing a big PB with his put of 11.87m
Back on the track, it was the start of the relays. We
saw Luca Taylor and Korede Osinibi make their seasons' debuts in the U20 and
together with Joe and Shamar they produced a strong challenge, narrowly
losing to an SBH team who had a 10.5 man on their anchor leg. The U17s went
one better with Femi, Chizute, Jed and Matthew getting the baton round in
44.57, the fastest time by a B&B U17 team for three years!
The final field event of the day saw Dele return to
his main discipline, the discus. He was a little disappointed in “only”
achieving 42m but the team managers were delighted as that was more than
enough to secure the A string victory. Ed Adams and Nathan Sureshkumar added
more valuable points in the Under 17 event.
Next up was the Steeplechase and James Crawley
continued to demonstrate his potential in this event claiming 2nd in the U20
A race with a new PB. Charlie Davis also took 2nd in the B string to make it
a good event for us. The U17 race saw Angus and Oscar both run their first
ever ‘chase. Both acquitted themselves well against a strong field showing
they have potential to do well as they improve their technique.
As usual for the finale we had the 400 relays which
produced plenty of excitement. Josh, Frankie, Coleman and Ben took a good
3rd in the U17 race but it was the U20 race that had the dwindling crowd on
its feet. Led off by Ocean who had recovered sufficiently to race and put us
in first place. Will Pope and James H, who had delayed his departure to
Halifax, maintained a narrow lead for Bailey to defend on the final leg. It
was neck and neck most of the way round until WSEH overtook on the final
bend and despite a monumental effort by Bailey they clung on to win by a
tenth of a second. An exciting end to a fantastic day.
Well done to all the athletes in making it a very
special day. Many many thanks to all the officials, parents, ground staff,
coaches and others that helped on the day and provided terrific support.
Rod Harrington
Photos from Jay Galley
