The Sharks Under 20's Team
National Junior Athletic League Southern Itchen Division
Lovely weather at Eastbourne Sports Park produced some superb performances from the home team.
Eastbourne U20 ‘Sharks’ athletic team welcomed the return of Seb Roger the talented multi eventer. Seb accumulated points for the team as he cleared the 110m hurdles for a first place, came second in the pole vault and third in the discus. Sebs best performance was when he leapt 6m88 in the long jump which is a grade one standard and gave him the ‘Athlete of the match ‘ award.
Jon Ketley was also in the running for this award as being one of the youngest competitors certainly deserved recognition for his fantastic sub 50secs for the 400m. He breezed through the line in 49.8 secs which is a grade one standard for U17 boys.
Not to be outdone by the boys, Katy Lambert also donned a ‘Sharks ‘ vest for the first time and improved her high jump by 2cm to clear 1m68 for an U17 girls grade one standard , a fine win and unlucky not to get the female athlete of the match which went to a thrower.
Harry Clarke is consistently running low 23’s for 200m, and as an under 17 did well to clinch first place in a close race.
Jono, Katy and Harry have already gained qualification for the English Schools championships but with other Eastbourne athletes will be contesting the Sussex Schools medals next weekend (12th June ) in Crawley.
After another close 200m race, Hannah Ingram shows she has strength to fight to the line for a first place and 26.7 secs, so will also be out to do the same next weekend.
In contention in the middle distance events will be Ed Dodd and Keith Algar. Ed is gaining more experience in the 3,000m finishing in 2nd with 9m29.6 and Keith also came 2nd in the 800m with 2m05.3.
Rachel Noel knocked her best time down to 67.0 secs in the 400m coming second then leapt to a near personal best in the high jump clearing 1m45.
Ryan Norcross and Lawrence Ackary contested the 100m, both placing 4th with 12.4secs and 12.7 respectively.
Star Collar collected valuable points with her third placing in the 100m and second in the 200m, as did Alex Voss Hillier in the 400m.
Hannah, Katy and Star joined forces with Hastings Shark runner Aimee McCarthy for the 4x100m relay and ran an exciting race giving them victory in 52.3 secs.
The finale of the day was the 4x400m relay for boys when Harry, Jono,and Keith joined a Hastings athlete for another great performance but had to settle for second place behind Southampton in 3m29,1secs.
The team came 4th overall an improvement on 7th at the last match so aim for the top three at the next outing.
A FULL MINI BUS OF ATHLETIES TRAVELLED TO Portsmouth for the first U20 Junior league of 2010.
This team joined forces with Hastings to compete as the ‘Sharks’ team.
Russell Weir is becoming more consistent in the jumping events. In his pole vault he always clears 3m and on this occasion was close to a personal best with 3m20 and second place. He also stretched out in the triple jump for 10m 20.
Many of the athletes this year are still in the U17 age group but came along to gain experience of running at this higher level. Ed Dodd showed he was not phased by this in his 3,000m. He ran in the leading pack throughout the race which pulled him through to a personal best time of 9min 25.2 and a second placing. Joe Russell also an U17 followed for third in the ‘B’ string and 10min 22.
In the sprints all seemed to have to settle for third place. Harry Clarke surged through in the 100m after a sluggish start for a personal best of 11.5 secs Lawrence Ackary also performed his best of 12.3 secs. The girls matched this with Hannah Ingram pleased with her 13 secs a personal best for the last few seasons and Star Collar close behind with 13.5 secs.
Keith Algar had a busy afternoon firstly concentrating on his 800m with an impressive 2min 08 he then cleared 1m55 in the high jump and hurled the javelin 25m
Rachel Noel is also new to this league and ran her first 400m in 67.9 and leapt to 1m40 in the high jump. Both gained her valuable points in 4th place.
Jono Ketley continues to gain experience in running the 400m, leaving his surge for the line a little too late on this occasion so had to settle for 2nd place in 51.2 secs. He also shows his versatility in jumping 5m84 in the long jump.
Overall the ‘Sharks’ only managed 6th position but with the next meeting at home on 23rd May they will be out for a win when some of the other top Eastbourne performers return to the team.
Any athletes interested in joining the club should ring 01323 505100 for details.
| We run a combined team with Hastings AC |
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The dates for 2010 are The Regional Promotion Finals will be held on 29th August with the National Finals on 12th September. |
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| For more information www.nationaljuniorathleticleague.co.uk |