Great start to YDL (Lower) for Woodford's youngsters
Saturday 20th April at Ashton Playing Fields proved to be a momentous day for the Club's Young Athletes as WGEL's Under 13's & Under 15's took their rightful place in the elite section of the YDL Lower (Premier Division). As the day unfolded it was just simply amazing, ending with WGEL coming away from the match with a fine team win. This was a remarkable result, as just two years ago we were starting out on this journey in Division 2 but aiming upwards to the Premier Division where this debut produced such a fantasic result.
Below are the official results of the match.
1) WoodfordGreen AC w Essex Ladies 552
2) Winchester & District AC 523
3) Blackheath & Bromley AC 513.5
4) Reading AC 488
5) Tonbridge AC 471
6) Havering AC - 339.5
The weather conditions on the day were very changeable with overcast conditions and a very hardy chill in the air, more like March than the end of April. This, though, most certainly didn't deter the WGEL Young Athletes. Competing against previous National winners and finalists in the match was always going to be hard, but with the steely determination of the athletes and their team managers, also ably assisted by very supportive parents, we were up for the challenge.
In the Under 15 Boys Lawrence Foster led the way with a 2nd place in the 100m: 12.12sec and Alex Osagie was 1st in the B-string: 12.61sec, both of these athletes had come up along with several others from the under 13 ranks, so bottom year in the age group. Lawrence also did the B-string 200m coming home 1st: 24.57sec, whilst Callum Clydesdale was the A-string: 25.81sec and 3rd. Other athletes in the non scoring 100m were: Sammy Geist: 13.26sec and Tyler Reynolds: 13.46sec. In the 300m Callum ran again in A-string finishing 2nd with: 39.43sec and Rahul Solanki, still relatively new to this distance, ran a superb PB of: 39.58 for 1st B-string, also dipping under 40s for the 1st time.
Lucas Freedman continued his good 800m indoor season with a 1st A-string time of: 2m 08.89sec and Thomas Nicholls was 4th in b-string: 2m 35.00sec. Tayo Adetona ran a non-scoring 800m time of: 2m 36.66sec which was a PB. In the 1500m Daniel Arnold was very impressive, winning with a time of: 4m 38.20sec and George Worwood: 4m 45.62sec was good enough for 2nd in B-string.
On to the sprint hurdles and another two athletes making their way up the age groups. Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland and Toby Taylor. Daniel ran the 80m Hurdles in a PB time of: 12.41sec into a big -3.4 head wind so definitely more to come there, whilst Toby was 3rd in B-string with: 13.50sec PB although it appears the wind gauge wasn't working at the time of his race. Toby also did the High Jump with Daniel, Toby clearing: 1m 55cm for 5th A-string and Daniel: 1m 50cm PB and 3rd B-string. Tyler Reynolds, under the guidance of his coach and team manager Eubert Malcolm, is excelling as well. He was 5th in Long Jump A-string: 4m 98cm and Sammy Geist was 3rd B-string: 4m 72cm. The Pole Vault was affected by the conditions but Stephen Ng, who is improving all the time in this event, was 3rd with a clearance of: 2m 40cm, whilst Okkie Lee cleared a PB height of: 1m 80cm to claim 1st B-string. In the throws, William Standar stands out with his PB and 1st A-string in Shot Put: 11m 46cm, Hammer: 44m 76cm and 1st and a PB in the Javelin: 41m 90cm and 2nd. Cristiain Scozzari was the B string in Shot Put with 4th place: 8m 02cm and he also had a go at the discus B-string with 5th place: 14m 71cm. James Simpson a debutant for the club this year again did the Discus for the first time and was 6th in a-string with: 14m 79cm and threw a PB in the Javelin with: 29m 20cm and 3rd in B-string. As competition was fierce in the under 15 boys team for Javelin, Kian Traynor has started to take on a new event in Hammer and is doing really well, according to his coach Chris Howe. He threw a very impressive distance of: 18m 22cm and PB. Lastly were the 2 relay events. In the 4x100m (Sammy Geist, Tyler Reynolds, Alex Osagie & Lawrence Foster) they powered home in 1st place with a time of: 47.90sec and the 4x300m (Toby Taylor, Daniel Arnold, Rahul Solanki & Callum Cldesdale) they finsihed 4th with a time of: 2m 49.87sec.
The Under 15 Girls again saw many coming up the age groups from last year's under 13's and, like the boys, were in fine form and undaunted by the occasion. Evanna Eze was 1st in the 100m with: 13.18sec and 2nd A-string 200m: 26.67sec. Remi Salako was 4th in B-string 100m with: 14.26sec. Tare Gabrielle Akpoveta and Emily Stockill were the non-scoring 100m runners: 14.95sec and 15.57sec respectively. In the B-string 200m: Shalom Prince a debutant was 3rd in a time: 28.26sec. The longest sprint of 300m saw two WGEL debutants in this event, Habiba Tijani was 6th A-string: 46.71sec and Savanna Gayle: 47.69sec was good enough for 3rd in the B-string. In the 75m Hurdles Isabella Moulton ran: 11.97sec for 2nd in A-string and Tyleah Edwards was 4th B-string with: 14.48sec. In the middle distance races of 800m we had Faye Owers run: 2m 45.75sec for 5th place and Isla Fulling ran very impressively to claim B-string win in a time of: 2m 33.47sec.In the 1500m Sophia Parker ran very well with a PB time of: 5m 23.51sec and 5th place, a time she has since lowered at the Watford Open Graded Meetings, Marissa Higgs-Smith claimed a PB in the B-string race with: 5m 48.83sec. In the Long Jump Remi was 3rd with: 4m 85cm and Tare Gabrielle Akpoveta 4th with a PB distance of: 4m 07cm.
Phoebe Whelan and Isabella Nina Suzuki Wheatley did the High Jump with both of them clearing the height of: 1m 25cm for 6th A-string and 5th B-string respectively. The pole vault squad were in action again with Emily Stockill finishing 2nd A-string with a height of: 2m 10cm whilst Marissa Higgs-Smith was 2nd A-string: 2.00m
In the throwing events Tyleah Edwards was 5th in Shot Put: 7m 18cm but unfortunately Joy Larinde was unable to get a distance in. Evanna Eze threw: 12m 30cm in the A-string Discus while Phoebe Whelan made her debut in this event with: 12m 24cm and 4th place. Like Phoebe in the Discus, both Emily Stockill and Marissa Higgs-Smith tried out the Hammer and Emily threw: 16m 94cm for 6th & Marissa: 10m 56cm for 5th in B-string. Last throwing event was the Javelin: Daisy Sherring coming back to athletics after a little lay-off was 4th a-string: 18m 35cm and Beatriz Da Conceicao Alden was 3rd with: 17m 78cm. They finished of with the relay races, the 4x100m ( Joy Larinde, Isabella Moulton, Remi Salako & Evanna Eze) came home 2nd to a very strong Blackheath & Bromley team in a time of: 51.17sec. The 4x300m team (Faye Owers, Tyleah Edwrads, Habiba Tijani & Shalom Prince) were 4th in a time of: 3m 08.13sec.
In the Under 13 Boys the club had some debutants that had never competed on the track in a league fixture before. Nathaniel Sandy was one of those, with a very impressive start finishing 2nd A-string in the 75m with: 10.64sec, supported by Ellis Gentles: 11.55sec and 4th B-string. The non-scoring 75m athletes were Ethan Rawlings with: 11.14sec and Kyelan Brian: 12.21sec. Over150m Harrison Dawe and Blake Edwards showed they have a lot of potential. Harrison was 1st A-string: 19.80sec and Blake was 2nd B-string: 21.49sec and a new PB.
The 70m Hurdles saw Aarav Patel run a PB time of 15.09sec into a (a -2.6 head wind), suggesting there is a lot more to come, as he finished 2nd in the A-string, whilst Charlie Kyson was also 2nd in the B-string with: 15.38sec in his debut at the event. Oskar Prince was in simply outstanding form over both track and field. Not only did he run a massive 14sec PB in the A-string 800m's with a time of: 2m 28.54sec but he went on to throw: 26m 39cm for 2nd in the A-string Javelin. The B-string for the 800m was yet another debutant: Ashton Jokhiya who finished 4th with: 2m 38.08sec. The 1200m saw Henry Richards debut with a 6th place time of: 4m 19.56sec and Woody Qureshi debuted in this event as well with a 4th place B-string: 4m 24.73sec. The boys continued their excellant performances in the field with Blake Edwards 3rd in the High Jump: 1m 35cm and Oskar Prince 4th B-string: 1m 15cm. Harrison Dawe powered his way to a PB in the Shot Put with a distance of: 10m 15cm to claim 1st A-string whilst Nathaniel Sandy was a debutant at this event but still claimed 1st place in B-string with a distance of: 8m 83cm, and helping out Oskar Prince in the Javelin was B-string athlete Eric Frith who had earlier in the morning competed at the London Mini Marathon, he was 3rd with: 19m 12cm. They finished with a very strong and powerful win in the 4x100m (Ellis Gentles, Nathaniel Sandy, Ethan Rawlings & Harrison Dawe): 52.85sec.
Similarly to the boys the Under 13 Girls also had many debutants and also did themselves proud. Rida Oluwa. a year 6 girl, impressed as she ran: 10.96sec for 3rd in the 75m A-string and Dorcas Oringa was 2nd in B-string with: 11.06sec, making her debut as well.
Rosie Anderson ran the non-scoring 75m in: 11.69sec and a new PB with Millie Wright also a debutant ran: 12.83sec. The 150m's saw Rida and Dorcas match up again and Rida was 3rd in A-string with: 21.73sec and Dorcas 2nd in B-string with: 22.24sec.The 70m Hurdles had Rosie Anderson finish 6th in the A-string with a PB time of: 15.75sec and Edan Dunnage was very impressive finishing 1st B-string with: 12.69sec. In the 800m Grace Cherry claimed 2nd place and a PB in the A-string with a time of: 2m 44.25sec and Gracie Fayinka debuted at the event and was 2nd in the B-string with: 2m 46.78sec.
Lottie Oates: 3m 02.58sec and Lucy Nixon: 3m 09.01sec, a PB, ran the non-scoring 800m event. Both Eva Prince and Maia Lalani were running the 1200m for the club for the 1st time with Eva 3rd in the A-string: 4m 14.73sec and Maia: 4m 53.20sec which was good enough for 4th in the B-string. The other events were the field and Eden Dunnage was 3rd in the High Jump with: 1m 10cm and Eva Prince was 3rd in B-string with: 1m 05cm. Eden was 4th in the Shot Put A-string with a distance of: 7m 22cm and Aliyah Ishiekwene: 5m 85cm was 2nd B-string. In the last field event, the Javelin Isabelle Stander was 3rd in the A-string: 21m 96cm and Alexis Ishiekwene threw: 13m 93cm for 3rd in the B-string. The final track event was the 4x100m ( Millie Wright, Dorcas Oringa, Rosie Anderson & Rida Oluwa) had a good race coming home in a time of: 57.80sec and 4th place.