Sportshall Under 13 and Under 15 Regional Finals - 23 February 2014
News of another brilliant set of results for the Hampshire teams from the South East Regional Finals:
- Under 13 Girls - 1st equal Hampshire and Surrey 518, 3rd Berkshire 450
- Under 13 Boys - 1st Surrey 591, 2nd Hampshire 524, 3rd Berkshire 472
- Under 15 Girls - 1st Surrey 598, 2nd Hampshire 573, 3rd Oxfordshire 515
- Under 15 Boys - 1st Hampshire 636, 2nd Berkshire 530, 3rd Sussex 504
The Hampshire teams at the end of their successful afternoon
In addition, Adam Jones (Southampton) won the individual Under 15 Boys' competition and Ellie Hodgson (also Southampton) won the individual Under 15 Girls' competition.
Adam
Jones and Ellie Hodgson, individual Under 15 Boys' and Under 15 Girls'
winners; Hollie Thurgood and the Surrey captain share the Under 13
Girls' team honours and Owen Lawrence receives the Under 15 Boys' team award (all photos by Ewan Simmonds)
The UK Finals take place at Sportscity, Manchester on Saturday 5 April (Under 13's) and Sunday 6 April (Under 15's).
Congratulations to all who took part, and to Michael Coker for managing all the teams so well.
Carol Quinn
Ewan Simmonds reports:
Stunning, yet unexpected, results for Hampshire teenagers in Regional Sportshall Finals at Burgess Hill, on Sunday 23 February 2014, with Individual Under 15 Boy Winner, an equal first place for Under 15 Girl, a win for Under 15 Boys, equal first place for Under 13 Girls, qualifying them all for the UK Final in Manchester on 5 and 6 April 2014, second places for Under 15 Girls and Under 13 Boys, with the possibility of being invited to the UK Final as best losers.
In this Regional Final all four teams were competing against six teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Sussex.
The Under 15 Girls' and Boys' Team Competitions proved to be very competitive on the day, with the Boys coming first by a margin of 106 points, with the Girls coming a close second to winners Surrey by 25 points. Each team had six scoring athletes, competing individually across a range of three individual events, comprising one Track (either 2 or 4-Lap), one Jump (Standing Long Jump (SLJ) or Standing Triple Jump (STJ) (Boys) or Vertical Jump (VJ) (Girls), and either Shot or Speed Bounce (SB), together with one Relay (either 8-lap Parlauf (P8) or 4x2 Lap). 21 scoring places per event were available (3 athletes from 7 teams).
The Boys' match was well won by Hampshire (636 pts) with Berkshire 2nd (530 pts). Maximum individual points available were 150. The team comprised Adam Jones (Individual winner on 142 pts, with 1st in 2-Lap, 22.5 secs, and 2nd in STJ, 8.26m), Sam Bridges (4th on 125 pts, with equal 2nd in 2-Lap, 22.7 secs, and 4th in SB, 84), Owen Lawrence (10th on 116 pts, with equal 4th in SLJ, 2.56m ), Reiss Jarvis (12th on 108 pts, with 2nd in 4-Lap, 48.6 secs) and Ben Upfold (individual non-scorer, but member of winning 4x2 Relay) from Southampton, with Glen Foster (9th on 117 pts and 1st in SLJ, 2.74m) and Josh Goble (7th on 122 pts, with equal 4th in 4-lap, 49.2 secs, and 5th in STJ, 7.83m) from Winchester & District. Key to this result was 1st place (70 pts) in 4x2 Lap Relay and a 2nd place in the P8 (60 pts).
The Girls' match was closely fought with Surrey (598 pts) beating Hampshire (573) by 25 pts. The Team comprised Ellie Hodgson (equal 1st on 134 pts, with 1st in 2-lap, 24.6 secs, and 3rd in Shot, 11.00m) and Hannah Griffiths (10th on 110 pts, with 5th in SLJ, 2.27m) (Southampton), with Bobbie Davies (equal 7th on 120 pts, with equal 3rd in 4-Lap, 52.7 secs, and 4th in SLJ, 2.31m), Jessica Embling (equal 30th on 70 pts with 12th in 2 Lap, 25.9 secs), and Katerina Sillett (non-scorer) ( City of Portsmouth), Emma Froome (Winchester & District) (equal 11th on 109 pts, with equal 4th in 2-lap, 25.1 secs), with Jasmine McClutchie (equal 16th on 100 pts, with equal 6th in 4-Lap, 53.6 secs) (Andover) completing the team. Again, key to this result was our 5th place in the P8 (30 pts), despite the 1st place in the 4x2Lap Relay (70 pts). Had they been able to perform to their optimum with a 1st place in the P8, for 70 pts, the competition could have been won. Nonetheless this was a real team effort, with Ellie Hodgson putting in a sterling performance to win the Individual Competition and guarantee herself a place in the UK Final.
The Under 13 Girls' and Boys' competition required 11 athletes to compete in pairs in three events from three separate sections: A (2, 4, or 6-Lap, 4x1-Lap relay); B (Obstacle Race (OR), P8 or 4x2 Lap Relay); and C (Shot, SB, SLJ, STJ or VJ). 1 x Non-scorer was also allowed.
The Boys' match was won by Surrey (591 pts) with Hampshire 2nd (524 pts). The team comprised George Rosam (3rd in STJ, 7.50m), Benedict Hall (4th in STJ, 7.00m), Jack Higgins (3rd in 6-Lap, 1:28.1 secs), Arm Harawan (8th in Shot, 8.23m), Tom Farlow (5th in SLJ, 2.19m) and Edward Spencer (6th in SLJ, 2.16m) (Southampton), Sam Mallon (equal 3rd in 4-Lap, 52.2 secs), Olly Jouan (non-scorer, but in 4x1 winning Relay), and Mateusz Swiekatowski (7th in VJ, 53cm) (Mountbatten School), Josh Goldfinch (equal 10th in SB, 60) and Kameron Duxbury (4th in Shot, 9.86m) (City of Portsmouth), and Sam Gandee-Morgan, 8th in 6-Lap, 1.30.4 secs) (Winchester & District). Good results in the team events, with 230/280 points helped the team keep closer to Surrey, 240 pts, than other teams.
The Girls' match was a draw for first place between Hampshire and Surrey (each on 518 points). The team comprised Amaya Scott (2nd in Shot, 9.41m), Hannah Childs (equal 6th in SB, 78), Freya Coe (13th in VJ, 51cm), and Abigail Voller (non-scorer, but in both winning relays) (Southampton), Lorna Dockerill (2nd in 4-Lap, 54.1secs), Anya Pigden (2nd in 6-Lap, 1 min 26.6 secs), Madeleine Wilton (5th in STJ, 6.38m), Hollie Thurgood (equal 3rd in SB, 79), Natasha Palfrey (7th in SLJ, 2.15m), Heather Cubbage (11th in Shot, 7.74m), and Sarah Hunt (10th in VJ, 52cm) (City of Portsmouth), and Amber Clare (3rd in 4-Lap, 55.00 secs) (Basingstoke & Mid Hants). The team Relay total of 220/280 helped them stay ahead of Surrey on 210, with 1st (70 pts each) in OR, 4x1Relay, 3rd in 4x2Relay (50 pts) and 5th in P8 (30 pts).
Let us, for the moment, enjoy the success of our Individual Under 15 winners, Adam Jones and Ellie Hodgson, who go the UK Final by right, together with the winning Boys' Under 15 and Girls' co-winning Under 13 teams, and look forward to another exciting UK Final on 5/6 April in Manchester. Let's look forward to proper funding for the same competitions next year and offer our thanks to Eveque, which has run these competitions this year, with strong support from Sportshall Associates personnel, for their support of Indoor Athletics, despite cessation of funding from Aviva from this season, and no encouragement yet from UK Athletics in the competitive atmosphere that followed our successful holding of the 2012 London Olympics.