Juniors win again in flying start to 2019 track and field season
Published: 19 April 2019
Well done to all who competed in the first Oxford Junior League match of 2019. It may have been cold and blustery but Oxford City athletes did not let that stand in the way of some excellent results and wins in most age groups.
Teamwork from the U13 girls, captained by Ellen Walker-Smith, led to a comfortable win in the first round of the league. Victories came in A and B string long jump (Ellen and Alanna), A string discus (Bronte), B string javelin (Payton), B string high jump (Remie), and B string hurdles (Florence). Special mention must go to lower year athlete Kiera Williams who bravely tackled three new events, scoring valuable points in A string 800m and B string discus. Stand out moments of the day included Remie charging to victory in the 800m, Izzie and Payton (1st and 2nd) leaving all other athletes well behind them in the 1500m and the resounding win in the 4 x 100m (Izzie, Payton, Ellen and Alanna).
The U13 boys fielded a good size team, with many of the new athletes to the age group trying events for the first time. They made a clean sweep in the javelin, with Connor Legg (A) and Henry Myers (B) each throwing 22.56m! The boy’s hard work saw them achieve joint first place in the match.
The U15 Boys also finished as age group winners, having filled almost all the events and registered lots of second and third places. Maximum points were scored by Noah Palmer in B string discus and Scott Jones in B string long jump.
The U17 men were particularly strong in the field events, with maximum points scored in A string long jump (James Haidar), A and B string high jump (Roshan Mowat and Fionn Leaney), A and B string shot (Billy McCauley and Willem Walker-Smith), discus A and B (Billy and Fionn). Wins on the track came from Roshan B string 200m (25.2), Matthew Stacy B string 400m and Will Midgley A string 800m. Given these results it’s no surprise to see them finish top of the leader board.
The U17 women were few in number, many having competed in the previous day’s SAL match. Nonetheless, the small team successfully finished in 2nd place, just 2 points shy of the leaders. Annie Sutcliffe sprinted to victory in the A string 200m and maximum points were scored by Georgie Bristow in the 80m hurdles and Gabriella Scotting, A string high jump
The U15 girls team extended a whole-hearted welcome to new members Alice Millar, Charlotte Morris, Elisa Potts-Gorgue and Eloise Hind.
A big thank you to those athletes who stepped outside their comfort zone, demonstrating team spirit and selflessness by diversifying from their normal events to cover some of the vacant slots.
Our throws team consisting of Alice Millar, Elisa Potts-Gorgue, Lily Martin, Lily Peach and Olivia Jones showed their dominance in the majority of the disciplines across both strings. A special mention to Lily Martin who was the only athlete to throw over 20 metres in the discus.
A culmination of solid performances on the jumps front resulted in maximum points, however the star of the show was Eloise Hind who nailed a consistent series of jumps leaping to a spectacular grade 1 jump of 5m 28. Tyler Bateman-Cray experienced the delights of the triple jump and was rewarded with a PB of 8m 70.
The winning streak of the team continued with strong performances across all of the sprints in both strings and the non- scoring. There were new 200m PBs from both Olivias 27.1 (Barton) and 31.1 (Jones) respectively whilst Alice Millar ran a 100m PB of 15.1. Charlotte Morris had a successful day with a win in both the 100m in 13.9, and 27.6 in the 200m.
Ellen Bruce stormed to victory in the ‘A’ string 300m securing a very impressive grade 3 PB of 44.6. Lily Brabbin also tested the water at this new distance as a precursor to the 1500m where she finished just outside of Banbury in 2nd place.
QuadKids put out strong U11 teams and were rewarded with 1st place for the boys and 2nd fpr the girls. Well done, a very good start to the league.
