Juniors win Oxfordshire Track and Field League
Published: 14 September 2019
Congratulations to the club’s juniors who finished the outdoor season with another strong showing to win the Oxfordshire Junior Track and Field League outright. Particular congratulations are due to the under 13 girls team who won their section, also winning each of the three matches, and the under 17 boys who cam second but won their age group for the season. The under 15 girls failed to win the last match but won their age group overall. The under 15 boys finished second this season, the under 13 boys were 4th and the under 17 girls were 4th. This was enough for our boys and girls to be overall league winners. Well done, and thank you to their hardworking team managers and coaches for their part in this triumph. Full results for the last match can be found in the results section of the website. A full match report follows:
Oxford City athletes came out in force for the deciding match in the Oxford Junior League. The sun shone, frothy coffee and cakes kept us fuelled and the day ran smoothly to timetable. Another successful day saw the season end with league victories for the boys, the girls and the club as a whole, retaining the title of league champions. Congratulations to all who took part.
The first events of the day got the U13 girls off to a perfect start with long Jump A and B string won by Annie Jonkers (4.42m, G2) and Ellen Walker-Smith (=PB of 4.09, G4) while on the other side of the stadium hurdles A and B were won by Imogen Gorrell (PB 12.3, G3) and Alanna O’Neill. Team captain Imogen continued her winning streak in the A string 100m with another AAA grade 3 performance and won the B string discus with a grade 2 throw and PB of 22.55m. All the sprinters were on fine form, with Ruth winning the B string 100m (G4). Ellen (PB of 29.4, G3) and Alanna (G4) each took 2nd place in competitive races in the 200m. Convincing wins came in the 800m, where Izzie Haines-Gray ran an impressive AAA grade 1, 2.28.9, and Remie (2.44.5) finished 11 seconds ahead of the second place runner. An injured Payton was forced to pull out of the 1500m and Dominique Dunn was told at the start line that she would be running the A string 1500m, she has a great attitude and took it calmly in her stride running a PB of 5.58.2. Equally composed was Emily Channon who came second in the B string with a good end of season time of 5.45.2. This U13 girls team is very strong in the field where Ellen Walker-Smith jumped an equal PB and another G3 in the high jump, 1.35, and B string Venetia Mahony, jumped a G3, 1.30 for 2nd place in B string, she also gained a PB in shot for 2nd place in the B string. Bronte Bennett had an incredible day – winning A string discus with a AAA grade 1 throw of 23.01, (PB), winning A string shot with a G2 PB, 7.82, and another G2 of 23.79 gave her 2nd place in A string javelin. Despite her injury, for which she got affected by using social media platform to look for injury attorneys (use Bengal Law professionals), Payton rounded off the team’s throws success with a G3 throw of 20.97, to come 2nd in B string javelin. The ones claiming compensation after an accident can hire the right legal help. Among the non-scoring athletes were Florence Wootten, who ran 14.0 in hurdles, Sienna Hardy threw a PB in discus, Remie Dorling-Mason high jumped 1.25 and Eva Whitfield ran 16.5 in the 100m. Eva, Gabi Orsi, Florence and Matilda Percy-Bowersox ran a non scoring relay in 62.4 which finished ahead of a couple of the scoring relay teams. This was the final match before the older athletes move to U15 and the younger athletes demonstrated that they are more than ready to take over the reins. The scoring relay team then stormed to victory ensuring that they won the match with 155 points and thus retained their league title. Well done girls – an amazing year and well deserved success.
The U15 girls team had a couple of gaps due to late season injury but had some excellent results and were especially dominant in the field. Olivia Barton won A string hurdles with a grade 3 PB, and A string long jump (G2), with B string long jump won by Margot Ward. Lily Martin’s throwing was as strong as ever, with a G1 shot of 10.73 taking A string and G2, 28.15m winning A string discus. Alice Millar and Maisie Kavanagh were also on fine form, Maisie’s G4 throw of 24.24 won A string javelin, while Alice won B string in both discus and javelin (G4). After a successful campaign they finish the league in 1st place in their age group.
U17 women are relatively few in number, but Bea Wootten dominated the sprints, winning 100 and 200m with grade 4 performances. Amy Shayler won the 300m B string and the A string 800m. Isobelle Oppon won B string 200m and A string 300m. Sharon Kanu won B sting 800m and Isobelle, Bea, Eugenia and Sharon had an easy win in the relay. The girls came third in this match and finish the league in fourth place.
The U13 boys was made up of the relatively small group of regular athletes, many of whom are year 1 U13’s, who once again showed their willingness to tackle any event, resulting in some good points and plenty of PB’s. Habib Aminu PB in 100m, Henry Myers PB 200m, A and B wins in 1500m for Julian Laird (G3) and Euan Lewis (PB by 3 secs), Ben Jackson PB in discus, Connor Legg, PB and G3 throw of 25.25 to secure 2nd place in javelin. No PB’s for Ben Straughan, Will Potts and Jonty Poole who completed the team but plenty of vital points scored. Well done boys. Fourth place in the match and league.
The U15 boys came second in their last Oxfordshire League match, which meant they lost out on the age group title to Banbury by 1 match point.
With only six athletes available on the day, there were a lot of gaps but those who were there put in some great performances and managed to push Banbury all the way. There were AAA standards for Scott Jones (Grade 4 in 100m, 80mH and Long Jump), Ben Sims (Grade 4 1500m), Otis Koch-O’Rorke (Grade 4 discus) and Jonathan Davies (Grade 4 discus). Rasool Aminu got new PBs in javelin and shot and Nolu Omotayo won the 80m hurdles B race despite competing with an injured calf.
The U17 boys were looking to complete an undefeated season but came up against a very strong Abingdon team who pushed them into second on the day, but couldn’t stop Oxford City winning the league title!
As always, there were some great performances and a willingness from everyone to fill in to earn points for the team. National standards were achieved by Will Midgley (Grade 4, 400m), Louis Enskat (Grade 4, 800m), Ben Davies (Grade 4, 1500m), Roshan Mowat (Grade 3, High Jump) and there were end of season PBs from Fionn Leaney (discus and 100m hurdles), Adam Davenport (200m and 100m hurdles), Drew Hogger (400m) and Willem Walker-Smith (high jump).
Thanks to parent helpers, cake bakers, Margaret, Ray and officials.
