Antrim forum was the venue for the first of this years’ Youth Development League meetings. North Down had a good turnout of athletes, many competing in multiple events.
In the U13 girls Ellie Gordon was 4th in the 75M and 800M A string races while Hollie Massey was 2nd in the B string 800M. In the boys equivalent Jude Moran, Lukas Kenny and Flynn Longstaff took part in the 100M, Shot putt and Discus with the club claiming 1st and 2nd in both throws. Adam Skelly was 3rd in the A 800M and Nathan Semple 1st in the B 800M. The boys 4 x 100M relay team also came 4th.
At U15’s the girls were represented by Rachel McCann, Leah McClements, Murphy Miller, Megan Briggs, Chloe Walker and Kate McCann. Collectively they achieved 7 first place finishes including the 4 x 100M relay and 4 other podium positions with most of the girls multi eventing. The U15 boys included Zac Moraghan 4th 100M A, 3rd in the 80M hurdles and 2nd in the Javelin A, Finn Ritchie 3rd 100M B, Jakob Swann 1st in the 300M A and 3rd in the 800M A. Finlay Miller ran the 800M B race claiming 5th, managed 4th in the Long Jump B and 2nd in the Shot Putt. Finn Ritchie also competed in the Shot Putt A and Long Jump A, 5th in both. The relay team were 3rd.
In the U17 girls A string events Hollie Brannigan was 3rd in the 100M, 1st in 300M and 3rd in the Long Jump while Beth Crosbie was 3rd in the Shot Putt and 2nd in the Hammer. Beth was also 1st in the B 300M race and Nia McNally was 1st in the 3000M A. Molly Longstaff succeeded in claiming 2nd place in the B Long Jump. The highlight of the boys U17 was Aaron Sextons record in the 100M in a time of 11:03. Aaron Blackmore was 2nd in the B race. Aaron Sexton also claimed points for the club in the High Jump 4th, and the Shot Putt 1st. In the 400M events Issaac Hart and Luke Adair both finished 4th and then in the Javelin both of them finished 3rd. Issaac won the B string Shot Putt and Luke was 2nd in the A Long Jump with Aaron Blackmore also 2nd in the B string Long Jump. Thomas Patterson was 2nd in the 3000M and Stefan Yathindrin 4th in the 800M. The 4 x 100M relay team were beaten into 2nd by Ballymena and Antrim AC after a very competitive race.
In the Senior events Roger Sexton was 4th in the 100M and 9th in the 400M. He was joined in the 100M by Luke Adair who finished 7th with our only other entrant, Ollie Wakefield finishing 2nd in the Long Jump.
Results: