The Antrim Forum hosted the final event of this years’ series in which our young North Down athletes performed admirably to finish in 4th position overall.
Lukas Kenny and Flynn Longstaff notched up two 4th’s in the U13 100m A and B races, while Adam Skelly was also 4th in the 200M A and Nathan Semple 3rd in the B race. Adam returned to the track and proved his fitness with a 1st in the 800M A in 2:40:84 and Barney Miller ran well to claim a clear 2nd in the B 800M. Lukas Kenny and Nathan Semple both finished 2nd in the 1500M events and Lukas then won the Shot, throwing 7:09 while Flynn Longstaff won the B string Shot with 7:06, a mark that would have been good enough for 2nd in the A string. Flynn and Barney Miller also marked up more team points with two 4th’s in the Long jump. The U13 boys relay finished 5th.
The U13 girls saw multiple efforts from Tara McDonough, 1st 800M A in 2:50:13, 4th in the Long jump B and 5th in the Shot B, Katie Kimber 1st in the 75M A in 10:65, 3rd in the 70M hurdles B and 5th in the Long jump A. Rose McGreevy managed 3rd in the 150M A in 22:39, 2nd in 70M hurdles A and 5th in the High jump A. Lucy Stevenson was our only other U13 girl and produced a 4th place finish in the Shot with 5:44. The girls 4 x 100m relay team finished 4th, nearly one full second ahead of the U13 boys equivalent.
Our U15 boys were well represented and managed three wins in the form of Jakob Swann in the 300M, 42:02 and in the 800M, 2:11:81 and Troy McConville producing a new record in the High jump with 1:83. Troy also featured in the 80M hurdles, 2nd in 13:07 and the Shot, 4th with a throw of 9:65. Finn Ritchie multi evented well and made it two 4th’s and a 5th in the 100m A – 13:91, 200M B and Long jump B with the talented Zac Moraghan also competing in 3 events, his best finish 2nd in the Javelin A, throwing 29:29. In addition Zac finished 3rd in the 80M hurdles B string and 5th in the 200M A. Off the track, Finlay Miller took part in the three throwing events, 2nd Javelin B 19:21, 4th in the Discus A and 3rd in the Shot B. In contrast Jonny Moore did the two jumps with a 5th Long jump A and 3rd in the High jump B. This time the 4 x 100m relay team finished 4th.
Six 1st place and seven 2nd place finishes were the catalyst in the U15 girls winning their age category on the day. There were wins for Murphy Miller 1500M A – 5:22:44, Rachel McCann Long jump A – 4:70, Faye Nixon Shot A – 9:81, Amy Kimber Discus A – 19:60 and Javelin A – 28:25 and Kate McCann Discus B – 15:90. The 2nd place points were won by Rachel McCann 200M A and Megan Drummond 200M B, Megan Briggs 800M A and Rachel Gillespie 800M B, Abbie Webster 1500M B and Kate McCann Shot B. Valuable points were also gained from Leah McClements 4th 100M A and 7th in the 75M hurdles A, Chloe Walker 3rd 100M B and 3rd in the Long jump B, Megan Drummond 5th in Javelin B, Amy Kimber 3rd in Hammer A and Rachel McCann and Murphy Miller both finishing 4th in the High jump A & B. It was finally no surprise to see the girls finish a close 2nd in the 4 x 100M relay.
The U17 boys saw another record, not surprisingly in the 100M where Aaron Sexton ran 11:01. Aaron also won the 400M in 51:75 and then recorded 2nd in the Shot. Issac Hart deputised in the 400M B race and won it with 57:37 and also took part in the Javelin A, finishing 4th. Stefan Yathindran made a good 4th place in the 800M A – 2:14:63 while the in form Thomas Patterson won the 1500M A in 4:46:75 with John Ewing clocking 5:06:14 in the B race. Thomas also came 3rd in the 3000M A in 10:05:53. Matthew McEvoy doubled up with 3rd in the Long jump A – 5:54 and 2nd in the Shot B. The 4 x 400M relay team won the race in closely fought affair with City of Lisburn.
Our 3rd record of the day came in the U17 girls Hammer event where Beth Crosbie threw 39:12, winning by almost 3 metres. Beth also won the 300M B race in 45:43 and in the A race Hollie Brannigan won with 43:41. Hollie contributed further points with a 2nd place finish in the 200M A. Molly Longstaff was 4th in the 100M A – 13:88, 5th in the Long jump A and 6th in the Shot A and Rebecca Webb doubled the Shot B – 4th with the 100M B recording 13:81 for 2nd. The Scott sisters made a welcome return to the track with two 2nd place finishes, Anna in the 1500M in 5:50:17 and Jessica in the 3000M in 12:28:28. The 4 x 100M relay team narrowly lost out on 2nd place and the 4 x 300M team were a comfortable 3rd.
Well done to all our athletes who participated and parents and coaches who assisted in this years’ YDL series, starting in April and finishing last Saturday, where a lot of our athletes will be the future stars of the club and hopefully within Irish athletics.