National Age Group Indoor Champs and other Indoor News
This weekend saw several of Woodford’s younger athletes in action at the National Age Group Indoor Championships at Sheffield. Amongst many fine performances there were medals and personal bests for some, led by national titles for Alex Osagie and Daniel Niewczasiniski-Kirkland. There was also other indoor news, notably from athletes currently studying in the US.
Sheffield hosted the U/15, U/17 and U/20 National Indoor Championships. Over 60m Woodford was well represented. In the U/15 Girls 60m Joy Larinde placed 5th in the final with 7.88 secs, having qualified from her semi with a p.b. of 7.82 secs.
Joy Larinde with coach Eubert Malcolm
In the U/15 Boys 60m there were two medals; Alex Osagie placed 2nd with 7.23 secs and just behind in 3rd was Lawrence Foster with 7.24 secs.
Alex (right) and Lawrence (left)
Tyler Reynolds also progressed to the semis after a 7.46 secs heat, as did Nathaniel Sandy with 7.80 secs. In the U/17 women’s age group Shalom Prince recorded 8.12 secs in her heat whilst in the men’s U/17 60m Waiz Yasser was d’qd. In the Women’s U/20 60 Amira Adeshokan just failed to progress from her heat where she clocked 7.83 secs. In the U/20 Men’s 60m three Woodford athletes progressed to the semis where Matthew Gittings recorded 6.91 secs, Dante Pollard 6.99 secs and Ethan Franklin 6.84 secs. Only Ethan progressed to the final where he placed a good 5th with 6.86 secs.
In the U/15 Girls 200m Woodford had two finalists where Joy Larinde placed 3rd with 25.71 secs (after a p.b. of 25.63 secs in her semi), just ahead of Cleopatra Drake who was 4th with 25.74 secs (also running a p.b. in her semi of 25.56 secs).
In the Boys U/15 200m Alex went one better than over 60m this time taking the title with a p.b. of 22.75 secs.
Alex Osagie with his gold medal
In the U/17 women’s age group Shalom Prince recorded 26.33 secs in her heat. In the U/20 men’s 200m Ethan Franklin was in fine form, clocking a comfortable p.b. of 21.55 secs to win his heat and then another p.b. of 21.28 secs to take his semi, only to find out he had been d’qd for a marginal lane infringement.
Both U/15 60m Hurdles races brought medals. In the Girls, Isabella Moulton placed a close 2nd with p.b. of 9.06 secs whilst, in the Boys, Daniel Niewczasiniski-Kirkland took the title with 8.42 secs after clocking a p.b. of 8.39 secs in qualifying which now ranks him 8th equal on the UK all-time lists. Also making it to that Boys final was Toby Taylor, who placed 8th with 9.61 secs having recorded a p.b. of 9.10 secs to qualify.
Daniel Niewczasiniski-Kirkland
Silver for Isabella Moulton
Over 400m Callum Clydesdale in the U/17 event recorded 53.49 secs to reach the semi, but Toby Falola was d’qd. In the field, there was a notable p.b. for Stephen Ng in the U/17 PV where his 3.55m placed 6th and in the U/15 Girls PV Marissa Higgs-Smith cleared 2.38m, while in the Boys Okie Lee cleared 2.21m. In the U/15 Long Jump there was p.b.of 5.55m and 7th place for Tyler Reynolds.
Stephen Ng and his coaches
There were also notable marks recorded in the U.S. recently. Competing this weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Rebecca Grieve ran marginally faster than Yemi-Mary John over 200m recording 23.72 secs in placing 2nd, with Yemi Mary also 2nd in a separate heat with 23.86 secs. At that same meet, Nabil Tezkratt was also 2nd over 200m with 21.81 secs but over 400m he pulled up 40m from the end with a calf injury when seemingly heading for a mid 46 secs clocking. Yemi-Mary also raced over 400m where she won with 52.24 secs (4th ranked in the U.K) while this time Rebecca ran a little slower than Yemi Mary, winning her separate race with 52.82 secs (8th UK ranked). Notably, the prior weekend, Rebecca had run an outstanding 600m, clocking 1m26.91 secs, which is the 4th fastest ever by a UK U/23 athlete. Whereas the weekend prior Yemi Mary had raced over the rarely run distance of 600 yards, clocking a good 1m18.55 secs.
Racing at Virginia Beach, VA over 60m it was pleasing to see former UK U/20 60m Champion Medwin Odamtten back and close to his best as he won with 6.69 secs (UK ranked 12th) then also running 21.87 secs over 200m. At College Station, Texas, Kiah Dubarry-Gay recorded 7.67 secs and 24.53 secs over 60m and 200m, with twin sister Nayanna recording 56.25 secs over 400m a couple of weeks previously. Billy Doyle raced over 600m in Indianopolis, clocking a decent 1m20.53 secs and also over 400m at Notre Dame, clocking 48.95 secs. Jimmy Geller also raced at Notre Dame, over 800m where he placed 2nd with 1m53.32 secs. Another running running well over 600m was Hugo Massa who won in Columbia with 1m20.46 secs. before recording a p.b. over 800m with 1m56.71 secs in Maryville.
Closer to home in Miramas, France, Sam Khogali opened his long jump indoor season with 7.38m and there were recent p.b.s over 60mH from Yasmine Uwakwe (8.43 secs) and Jasmine Clark (8.52 secs). Ben Potrykus was close to his best ever over 3000m at Sheffield two weeks ago clocking 8m00.15 secs.