THERE were some outstanding performances by local athletes in Saturday’s Hereford and Worcester County Schools’ Track and Field Championships.
The downpours at Nunnery Wood in Worcester proved no deterrent to the runners as the best athletes in their district competed not only for the chance to become county champion in their sport, but also use the opportunity to impress selectors for the forthcoming inter-counties Mason Trophy event which is being held at the prestigious Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
Despite the poor conditions, which resulted in the cancellation of the sprint hurdles, high jump and pole vault events, four championships records were set.
Josh Pearson from St Augustine’s High School in Redditch ran 36.6s in the junior boys’ 300m, beating the record he had set the previous year. He also tops the UK rankings for his age group over 300m at the moment.
Bromsgrove School’s Candy Lockett also broke her own record in the intermediate girls’ hammer with a throw of 43.10m, while Jack Hocking from Blessed Edward Oldcorne School in Worcester ran 49.9s in the intermediate boys’ 400m race to beat the long-standing record of 50.9s.
Beth Lloyd from Alvechurch Middle School threw 9.96m in the junior girls’ shot put to beat another long-standing record of 9.88m.
Not content with just one county title, a number of athletes managed to claim a number of gold medals on the day including James Andrews of Droitwich High School who won both the junior boys’ 200m and the long jump, whilst Ellie England (Bewdley High) did likewise in the same junior girls’ events.
Lockett won both the intermediate hammer and discus and Sophie Zgraja from Bromsgrove School won three titles in the senior girls’ 100m, 200m and long jump.
Other 2015 champions from the Redditch district were Andy Pearson in the senior boys’ 400m in addition to multiple victories in the junior girls’ events from Romaya Warburton in the 100m, Chloe Dockray in the discus and Tayla Mullins in the hammer.
Champions from the Bromsgrove & Droitwich district in the senior boys’ events were Pok Tang in the 400m hurdles, Ben Walker in the triple jump, Nikita Stepanov in the discus and Blake Edwards in the javelin.
In the senior girls’ events Zgraja enjoyed her above mentioned triple triumph and Anastasia Georgenskaya was victorious in the 400m, as was Olivia Robbins in the triple jump and javelin.
In the intermediate boys’ events Connor Smith won the 3,000m and Archie Freer took the spoils in the hammer event.
The intermediate girls’ events brought victories for Isobel James in the 800m, Livvy Worth in the 1,500m, Abigail Saker in the 3,000m, the relay team and also Lockett’s double triumph in the throwing events.
There was further Bromsgrove & Droitwich glory in the junior boys’ events as Sam Chance won the javelin and in the junior girls’ events Maisie Hucker won the javelin.
