Qualification for finals is on the cards for both age groups
Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club’s teams have qualification for the Youth Development League finals in their sights after the second round of the 2014 Midland Premier season.
R&N had a successful Saturday with the club’s lower age group starring at Birmingham while the upper group athletes were on good form at Abingdon on Sunday to win their event.
There were plenty of individual victories to report for the younger competitors with Katie Print among them having finished first in the under-15 girls 100 metres with a time of 13.03.
Under-13 boys Adam Caulfield and Mac Ryder made it a double in the 1500m with Caulfield taking the A race in a time of 4:45.40 and Ryder leading the B runners home in 4:55.40.
Jay O’Leary and Samuel Tutt repeated the feat in the under-15 boys 80m hurdles, posting 11.97 and 12.61 to win the A and B races respectively, while Tom Jasper (38.00, A) and Aiden Leeson (38.67, B) were double victors in the under-15 boys 300m.
The theme continued in the under-13 girls javelin thanks to Abigail Pearce winning the A throw with a personal best of 24.66m and Abigail Ward taking the B event on 19.92m, also an individual record.
More R&N victories came thanks to Ben Gidley (under 13 boys javelin A, 32.52m) and William Ballinger (under-15 boys javelin B, 35.31m), and further impressive seconds were recorded by Georgina Woodward (under-13 girls 70m hurdles A, 11.89) and Ryan Hodges (under-15 boys javelin A, 38.85m).
R&N crossed the line first in the under-15 girls 4x100m relay with Lucy Laight, Mia Rudman, Laurone Ager and Katie Print posting a time of 52.40. Their success was matched by the under-15 boys 4x100m team of Jack Carey, Oliver Lambert, Samuel Tutt and Adam Williamson (48.85); and the under-15 boys 4x300m team of Jay O’Leary, Ewan Roberts, Aiden Leeson and Tom Jasper in what was a club record time of 2:38.18.
The club collected an overall points tally of 502 on the day, behind winners Swansea Harriers, who head the team standings from R&N with two rounds to go.
In the upper age groups, Caleb Downes and Clinton Osoba-George were in fine form in the under-20 men’s sprints. Downes won the 100m and 200m A races in 10.70 and 21.50 respectively with Osoba-George second in the 100m B (11.20) and first in the 200m B (22.30). The pair then teamed up with Luke Townsend and Ciaran Wardle to bring R&N home first in the 4x100m relay in 42.40.
There were further victories for the under-20 men with Scott McIntyre taking the 400m B race in 51.20, and Hizam Sheekh (1:55.10) and Adam Wright (1:55.00) winning the 800m A and B respectively in tremendous times. Josh Coles (10:04.80) took the 3000m B spoils, while there was a double in the 110m hurdles thanks to Luke Townsend (14.30, A) and Brett Mason (15.60, B). Townsend also won the 400m hurdles B with a time of 71.20.
Townsend’s success didn’t end there as he threw 40.79m to win the javelin A throw. His club-mate Jonjo Fanning took the B throw with 38.80m. Sam Khogali (6.76m, A) and Cage Boons (6.00m, B) made it a double in the long jump, and Boons then went on to record a excellent 13.59m in what was a very high-standard triple jump competition. Fanning backed up his javelin triumph with 39.34m to win the hammer event.
Two wins were recorded in the under-17 men 100m races thanks to Rico Ewer (11.20, A) and Tom Cheyne (11.40, B), with further race victories coming in the age group from Ben Musgrove (9:57.70, 3000m B) and Kyran Wilson (5:40.1, 1500m steeplechase B).
Four successes came in the under-20 women group as Megan Moran (38.09m, javelin A), Katie Clubb (5:56.70, 1500m steeplechase B), Megan Exley (35.07m, javelin B) and Grace Adeyinka (5.12m, long jump B) finished first in their respective events.
Tia Clues posted a victory in the under-17 women 200m B race with a time of 27.00 to keep up R&N’s run of wins and she was ably supported by her club colleagues with more triumphs following through Lily Carmichael (2:23.30, 800m A), Kirsty Goddard (5:51.00, 1500m steeplechase A) and Kiona McLennon (13.11m, shot put) with a massive throw – breaking her own club record – to move to number six in the UK rankings.
R&N’s victory in the team event saw them move to joint first with Birchfield Harriers in the overall standings after two rounds of the four-round group stage. At the upper and lower age categories the top two teams go through to the main finals with R&N very well placed in both.
The success came on the back of R&N picking up a host of titles at the Warwickshire County Championships the previous weekend.
Masters world champion Ellena Ruddock was a winner in the senior women 200m, as was Tilly Lea in the under-20 women’s 2000m steeplechase. Emily Waugh followed their success by winning the senior women 1500m.
There was a pair of seconds for Georgina Woodward in the under-13 girls 800m and 70m hurdles, finishing ahead of club-mate Iola Grant in the latter, while Elisabeth Truslove also came second in both the 200m and 100m.
Aidan Leeson picked up a silver in the under-15 boys 200m with R&N also taking second, third and fourth in the under-13 boys 200m through Alfie Bowers, Bradley Whitehead and Eddie Baker.
Third-place finishes went to Brittany Wood (under-17 women 80m hurdles), Aidan Leeson (under-15 boys 100m), Anousha Salehi (under-15 girls 200m) and Flora Courtney (under-17 women 300m hurdles), while Salehi also finished fourth in the 75m hurdles.
Rich Stead (sixth) was a finalist in the senior men 100m, as were Thomas Johnson and Richard Bowers in the 200m with the pair finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
In the field, Georgina Woodward backed up her excellent track performances by winning the under-13 girls long jump. Bradley Whitehead was fourth in the under-13 boys long jump and Jessica Hull finished second in the same event at senior women level, before she also tied for first in the triple jump.
There were successes in the hammer with Debbie Murch second in the senior women’s throw, Craig Murch first the men’s event and Kevin Murch just behind in second. William Ballinger was second in the under-15 boys category and was later fourth in the javelin.
Glyn Hollingworth was a double winner as he took the honours in the senior men’s discus and also the javelin.
Eve Atkin finished fifth in the under-15 girls high jump with Elisabeth Truslove coming third at under-13 girls level.
The under-11 girls quadkids contest, where athletes compete across long jump, howler, 75m and 600m events, was won by R&N’s Zoe Gardner with a very narrow margin over club-mate Megan Burge, while Eve Corrigan finished fifth.
Luke Gosling finished as runner-up in the under-11 boys event with club-mate Lewis Gurney behind in fifth.
