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Stoke's Youngsters impress while chasing English Schools selection
Report by Tom Gayle
Selection for the English Schools
Championships in Sheffield was the main priority for those present at this
years Masons trophy. For the cream of school athletes from various counties
the opportunity to impress and secure selection into their respective teams
brought some impressive performances, especially those from Stoke AC.
The club's strongest hope for a medal in
Sheffield is Alex Nelson. The 15 year old who took the Junior title last
year has stepped up to the intermediate age group with impressive dominance.
He continued his unbeaten campaign winning by 0.6, seconds stopping the
clock at emphatic 10.8 to go third on the UK rankings.
Team mate Martin Chomanicz was probably the
best equipped to test Nelson as he looked equally as dominant in the B race
were the Midland champion stopped the clock at 11.1.
In the middle distance events Emma Jackson,
who was eliminated in the heats of last years English Schools Junior Girls
800m is a good outside bet for a medal this year. Under the watchful eye of
Alan Morris, Jackson has knocked six seconds off her 2002 best and
comfortably won the Intermediate Girls event in 2.11.0 with her Justine
Kinney (West Midlands) a distant second in 2.14.7.
Another big distance improver is the ever
consistent Alex Derricott. At the previous weekends County Schools
championships he lowered training partner Carl Shubotham's club record by
0.38 seconds when clocking 4.17.5, quite impressive compared to his 2002
best of 4.38.
At Birmingham Derricott and team mate Gareth
Allot, who tops the current UK rankings for the event, took maximum points
for their county with a Allot again just too good for the ever improving
Derricott.
In the hurdles Alistair Candlish provided his
best form for when it maters as he was one of several athletes using this
meeting as a last chance opportunity to secure the English schools entry
guidelines. Going into the event Candlish held a personal best of 14.3 for
the 100m hurdles, which was just a tenth outside the entry standard.
When the pressure was on Candlish certainly
delivered clocking 13.9 into a 1.9m head wind to finish second behind Iwan
Pepperall (Hereford & Worcestershire) and book a place in the team for
Sheffield.
Over the one lap hurdles Dan Townson went one
better then Candlish, and prevented Pepperall from completing a hurdles
double taking victory in a new personal best of 56.9.
No Stoke A.C Junior report would be complete
without a victory in the pole vault. Last years English Schools Junior
Champion Alex Williams comfortably took the intermediate event in 3.80,
compared to the 4.10 he vaulted at the previous weekends County Schools.
One athlete who’ll be looking to keep the
Junior Boys English Schools title in Stoke A.C hands is Andrew Marsh. When
clearing 3.50 at the beginning of May, the ‘baby’ of Dave Young’s
group shot to the top of the UK rankings and has been the target for the
rest of the country to chase.
Steven Lewis (Merseyside) arrived at
Birmingham determined to upset the form guide and handed the UK’s number
one his first defeat of this campaign clearing 3.15 to Marsh’s 3.05.
Hopefully this will only provide Marsh with even more motivation to prove he
is the countries number one when the two meet again at Sheffield.
Another Stoke athlete whose unbeaten run
unfortunately came to an end was Elliott Price. Since the start of the
season Elliot has shown little respect for the club records, smashing the
previous best shot and discus marks, the latter by just under seven metres.
In his strongest event, the discus, an out of
sorts Price could only produce a best of 37.74 (his personal best is 44.34)
and had to settle for second behind Marcus Higgins (West Midlands).
Clearly disappointed he was given an
opportunity to ease his frustration later on in the afternoon as he returned
for the shot putt. A more Elliot esque performance saw him launch the putt
out to 14.00m, just 1cm short of his club record and take victory.
One athlete who was able to complete a double
was Jasmine Rowe in the Junior Girl sprints. After easing away to a
comfortable victory by half a second in the 100m she was pushed a little
harder over the 200m by Carmen Gedding (Merseyside) but still won by three
tenths clocking 25.5 into a headwind. Last year’s top U13 sprinter, Rowe,
who boasts season’s bests of 12.1 and 25.1 is a possible medal contender
in either discipline.
Newly recruited Daniel Gregory could prove an
invaluable addition to the club for years to come having made an emphatic
start to his 400m running career. In his first season of competitive
athletics, the Young Athlete league campaign seems to have provided Gregory
with invaluable experience as he looked anything but a new comer when taking
victory at Birmingham.
In a close race Gregory looked strong holding
off the challenge of Dwayne Lewis (West Midlands) and Jason Gallagher
(Greater Manchester) to record a new personal best of 50.6.
The club will have two hammer throwers
present at Sheffield through Sean Lewis and Alex Fotheringham. Lewis last
years Junior Boys Silver medallist, booked a place for his third successive
English Schools as he was just shy of the 50 metre mark when taking victory
in the Intermediate Boys Hammer B string. Fotheringham, who secured the
entry standard for the Junior Boys Hammer at the previous weeks County
Schools, couldn’t reproduce that form at Birmingham, but his efforts were
still good enough to take second place.
Finally Richard Bailey and Ashley Wilson, the
clubs top two Triple Jumpers dominated the Intermediate Boys contest, both
securing victory with Bailey unfortunately just 7cm shy of the entry
standard for the event.
It was good to see so many Stoke members
present and performing so well at this high quality event. Stay tuned to see
how some of those mention fair at the English Schools championships at the
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield 11th – 12th July.
Stoke AC Results
A = A string
B = B string
Junior Boys
1500m
B 1. Alex Derricott (Staffordshire) 4.20.2 ES
80m hurdles
B. 4. Andy Davies (Staffordshire) 12.90
Pole Vault
A. 2. Andrew Marsh (Staffordshire) 3.05 ES
Long Jump
A. 4. Davies 5.43
Shot
A. 1. Elliott Price (Staffordshire) 14.00 NS
Discus
2. Price 37.74 ES
Hammer
2. Alex Fotheringham (Cheshire) 35.24
Junior Girls
100m
A. 1. Jasmine Rowe (Staffordshire) 12.8 (-0.4) ES
200m
A. 1. Rowe 25.5 (Staffordshire) (-0.9) NS
Intermediate Boys
100m
A. 1. Alex Nelson (Staffordshire) 10.8 (0.0) NS
B. 1. Martin Chomanicz (Staffordshire) 11.1 ES
200m
A. 4. Chomanicz 23.1 (-0.4)
400m
A. 1. Daniel Gregory (Cheshire) 50.6 ES
3000m
A. 6. Liam Jones (Staffordshire) 9.48.7
100m hurdles
A. 2. Alistair Candlish (Staffordshire) 13.90 (-1.5) ES
B. 2. Daniel Townson (Staffordshire) 14.90 (-1.9)
400m hurdles
A. 1. Townson 56.9 ES
1500m s/c
A. 6. James Sherratt (Staffordshire) 4.57.9
B. 2. Fred Mainwairing (Staffordshire) 4.59.3
Pole Vault
A. 1. Alex Williams (Staffordshire) 3.80 ES
Long Jump
B. 5. Williams 5.40
Triple Jump
A. 1. Richard Bailey (Staffordshire) 13.03
B. 1. Ashley Wilson (Staffordshire) 12.89
Discus
B. 2. Leigh Ingram (Staffordshire) 30.77
Hammer
B. 1. Sean Lewis (Staffordshire) 49.68 ES
Intermediate Girls
800m
A. 1. Emma Jackson (Staffordshire) 2.11.0 NS
Long Jump
B. 4. Jessica Cardall 4.84
ES = English Schools Entry Standard
NS = English Schools National Standard
Full results can be found at http://www.natyal.co.uk/2003/results/mason20trophy.htm
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