Following an enforced two year absence, the Ulster Schools Track & Field championships made a welcome return to the Antrim Forum on Friday 20th & Saturday 21st of June and the occasion was rewarded with mostly fine weather, large crowds and some outstanding performances.
The weather for the Friday afternoon/evening session may have been wet and changeable but that didn’t seem to affect Lucy Cheatley (Glenlola) or Ben Acheson (Campbell College) as both produced dominant performances in their respective 1500m steeplechase races. Lucy took gold, set a new PB and crossed the finish line more than 10sec clear in 5:35.85, while Ben was equally emphatic, taking gold in the Senior boys event and finishing more than 7sec clear in 5:09.65.
As a result of the thundery conditions, it was decided to hold the pole vault on the indoor track at the University of Ulster, in Jordanstown. Morgan Wilson (Strangford College) is still very new to the event but as the only Inter girl, her clearance of 2.05m was enough to take the gold with a new PB. Andrew Brown (Bangor Grammar) was one of only two in the Inter boys event so his clearance of 2.05m meant he finished 2nd in his first ever competition.
Back on the track, Mac Eager (Strathearn) just missed out on a medal in the Inter girls 3000m, where she finished 4th in 11:24.27, with Chloe Verner (Ashfield Girls HS) running 11:39.15 to finish a couple of places further back, in 6th. Ethan Isles finished 12th in the Inter boys races with a time of 10:29.97. In the Senior 3000m, Amelia Tyler (Regent House) ran 11:55.35 to finish 7th in the girls races.
Our two sprint hurdlers had to contend with a difficult blustery headwind. Ella Riddell (Strathearn) finished 7th in the Junior girls 75mH in a time of 14.59s (-0.9w), while Alex Shaw (Regent House) ran 19.64s to finish 4th in the Senior boys 110mH.
Holy Stitt (Strathearn) was our only hammer thrower and performed well in difficult conditions, throwing 15.44m for 7th in the Junior girls hammer.
Saturday saw some much improved weather conditions and Alex Shaw (Regent House) was the first track finalist as he stepped up from the sprint hurdles to the considerably longer Senior boys 400mH where he took the bronze medal in 69.68s. Talented multi-eventer, Niamh Fenlon (Sullivan Upper), soon followed this with 4th in the Inter girls 300mH with a very respectable time of 49.62s
Next on track was the 800m finals. Alex Downey (Bangor Grammar) was first up and set a new PB of 2:32.15 to finish 5th in the Mini boys race. Becka Laffin (Glenlola) improved her PB by 4 sec in the Junior girls race when crossing the line 5th, in 2:25.45. Seb Holley (Bangor Grammar), who took the lead in the junior boys race with 250m to go, looked set for the win but was just out kicked down the home straight and despite lowering his PB by almost 5sec to 2:07.35, lost out on gold by a mere 0.35sec but was still satisfied with a silver medal.
Later in the afternoon, Ryan Lynas (Bangor Grammar) finished 11th in the Senior boys 800m, in a time of 2:13.72 while Mac Eager (Strathearn) returned to the track in the Inter girls 1500m where she finished 6th, in 5:15.79.
A strong blustery headwind on the home straight made fast sprint times unlikely, however, there were still some strong performances. Ryan Hamilton (Bangor Academy) just missed out on a medal in a tight Minor boys 100m, but ran well and was rewarded with a new PB of 12.59 (-1.4w) when finishing 4th. Jamie Moffatt (Bangor Grammar) took a well earned bronze in the Inter boys 100m with an excellent time of 11.97 (-2.2w). Anna Cousins (Strathearn) had a strong run in the Inter girls 200m and was just a fraction outside her PB in 27.76 for 5th, while Niamh Fulton (Sullivan Upper) finished 8th in 29.01s.
In the field, Charlie Lawden (Campbell College) totally dominated the Inter boys javelin (700g) competition. His gold medal winning throw of 52.97m was not only a new PB, but was over 10m clear of his nearest competitor. It was a good day all round in the Lawden household as, not to be outdone by her brother, Hannah Lawden also threw a new PB of 30.25m for a silver medal in the Inter girls javelin (500g).
Unfortunately, Morgan Wilson fell victim to some very questionable officiating and, as result, was very disappointed to finish 4th with a best recorded effort of 25.25m (although clearly legal longer efforts were inexplicably declared foul throws and not measured). Niamh Fenlon (Sullivan Upper) won bronze in the Inter girls shot putt with a best putt of 10.49m.
Zara Steele (Regent House) finished 6th on countback in the Junior girls high jump with a clearance of 1.40m while Rose McGreevy (Glenlola) also finished 6th in the Senior girls high jump, also with a best clearance of 1.40m.
Anna Cousins (Strathearn) narrowly missed out on a medal in the Inter girls long jump, finishing 4th with a best effort of 4.72m while Daniel Constable (Bangor Grammar) set a new PB of 5.66m for 6th in the Inter boys long jump and Andrew Brown (Bangor Grammar) had a best effort of 11.00m to finish 8th in the Inter boys triple jump.
As usual, the day finished with the excitement and chaos that is the 4x100m relays. In the Mini boys event, Tomas Montgomery was a member of the Regent House team that won gold in a time of 53.06s, while in the Mini girls event, Ruby Tolland won gold with Strathearn in 55.74s and Anna Todd took a silver with Glenlola in 57.01s. The Sullivan Upper Inter girls relay team of Niamh Fulton, Niamh Fenlon, Amber Day & Kiera Semple produced some excellent baton changes that looked to have secured silver only to have it snatched away at the line by Strathearn’s fast finishing Anna Cousins who stormed down the home straight to take the silver in 53.06s while the Sullivan girls had to settle for bronze in a time of 53.66s. In the Inter boys event, Ben Acheson followed his steeplechase gold with relay gold as Campbell College romped home to victory in Inter boys 4x100m with 44.77s. The BGS quartet of Andrew Brown, Daniel Constable, Frazer Fulton & Jamie Moffatt ran well against some strong, well drilled teams but, despite a blistering last leg by Jamie, missed out on a medal by less than 0.01sec and finished 4th in a time of 47.13s. Rose McGreevy anchored the Glenlola Senior 4x100m team to a silver medal in a time of 53.59s.