South of England U/13,U/15 & U/17 Champs

The championships were held at windswept Lee Valley with the head wind affecting both the sprint and middle distance events over the two days.

Four gold medals were secured by WGEL athletes

Natasha Wynn will remember this weekend for a very long time as she put her stamp on these championships with two gold medals for U15 girls 300 and 800 metres 

On the Saturday Natasha qualified for the 300 metres final winning comfortably in 41.78 Just two hours later Natasha toed the line for the 800 metres heat only to see her win that too in 2 mins 18.79.The next day Natasha firstly took on the 300 metres and coming out the final bend was just a yard down on Tia Gerrard from Kingston Poly. Against the wind Natasha tore through the final 100 metres to cross the line in first place in 40.26 secs,  just outside her PB of 40.24. Luckily Natasha had five hours before the 800 metres final. Natasha on her fourth race of these championships found herself up against the number one ranked athlete in the U.K, -  Jorja March who ran 2 mins 08.8 at Watford a few days ago.The first lap was a trot in 70 seconds followed by the next 200 metres at the same pace. Natasha was running alongside March until 200 metres to go,she unleashed a tremendous sprint to come in a yard ahead of Jorja in 2 mins 13.9 secs, the final 200 metres into the wind taking just 28 seconds.This was a tremendous achievement 

Caitlin Hancock was magnificent once again in the U15 girls long jump The English Schools Champion just slightly extended her PB to 5.57 metres to scoop gold .

The 4th gold medal was awarded to U13 boy Toby Taylor who won the high jump in 1.56m a great performance in the wind.What a season this lad is having. Toby later gained a bronze in the 75mH with 13.15 secs and also contested the U13 boys 200 where he was 3rd in his heat with 27.36secs  7th final 28.47 secs.

In the U15 girls 100 metres both Nevaeh Johnson and Caitlin Hancock made the final which would be their third race of the day. Nevaeh placing 4th 12.71secs and Caitlin 12.88 secs for 6th. These were two fine performances. Also competing in this event was bottom year athlete Evanne Eze who made the semi final but running a PB of 12.93secs. Evanne also competed in the SP placing 12th in 7.66 metres. Nevaeh Johnson was back on the second day in the 200 metres which saw her progress to the final again placing 7th 26.82 secs. Well done to her. Evie Mae Mosanya just failed to make the 300 metres final with 44.30 secs.

In the U15 boys age group Alex Foster won his heat in the 200 metres in 23.85 secs then placed 4th in the final in 23.28 secs. William Stander excelled too. Coached by Paul Cheal he got two PBs at the champs placing 4th hammer 39.70m and 7th Javelin 34.03m.  A good weekend for him .

In the U17 men age catergory Lucas Emeagi was on show in the 400 metres.Lucas was 3rd in his heat with 53.23 and in a close race in the final he just got pipped for gold winning the silver medal in 50.44 secs. Joseph Arnold placed 5th in the 400 metres hurdles in 65.44 secs. Joseph is turning into a very good all round athlete indeed. In the long jump Luca Kaye was 5th with 5.99 not far off his PB 

In the U17 Women’s event Rebecca Wright was very unlucky not to come away with two medals. The Schools International athlete scooped an excellent silver in the SP with 13.32m not far off her PB. In the 80 metres hurdles Rebecca won  her heat in 11.95 secs and was leading in the final only to hit the last hurdle which completely threw her but she still finished 7th in the race. Lilly Spong another good all round athlete was 7th in her 200m heat with Tejiri Akpoveta 7th in 100 metre heat.  Due to the headwind both girls were outside their PBs. In the 300mH Isabelle Kyson came through her heat safely 4th 47.75 secs but sadly in the final she too clattered the last hurdle in the home straight but again still finished in 50.50 secs for 8th.

In the U13 girls age group Isabella Moulton had a busy weekend In the 200m she placed 2nd in her heat in 28.34 secs before a 29.46 secs gained her 6th in the final. Isabella also competed in the 70mH placing 2nd in her heat in 11.49 secs, a PB before the final which she unfortunately did not finish 

In the U13 boys age group Lawrence Foster also had a great championships with two silver medals After a heat of 12.19 secs for the 100m inwinning he improved his time to 12.07 secs for silver in the final. In the 20m  Lawrence again won his heat in 24.95 secs before running 24.99 secs in the final for another silver meda.l In the 75mH final Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland gained silver 11.71secs.