Lower Youth Development League - National Final 2023

08 September 2023

An incredible season by our U13 and U15 athletes has rewarded them with an inspiring 6th place at the National Lower Youth Development League Final. Up against the best clubs in the country our athletes produced remarkable performance after remarkable performance.

Overall they achieved 25 individual medals and 3 relay medals with 14 of these being in A string events. Caleb Green, Hugo Bucher and Mary Nasilasila all took impressive A string victories in the U15 high jump, U13 Javelin and U15 Hammer respectively. 

As well as the medals we also had two club records; Bucher’s victory saw him become the first U13 Harrier to throw beyond 40 metres with a PB of 40.72 and the U13 girls 4x100m relay team of Sophie Gaskell, Verity Gaskin, Lottie Cook and Alicia Taylor ran 54.78 knocking 0.02 seconds off the previous record set back in 2009 and equalled in 2014. 

All of our athletes performed brilliantly so let's begin with a look at our U15 boys. As previously mentioned Caleb Green won the A string high jump with a PB of 1.73, he also placed 4th in the A pole vault on his debut with 2.30 and gained even more points for the team with 5th in the B hammer in a PB of 18.88. Samuel Jeenes also made his pole vault debut clearing 2.10 for 4th B. He jumped a new PB in the high jump of 1.45 to finish 3rd B and also competed in the B 80m hurdles where he ran a PB of 13.88 for 5th. Sticking with the field events Fred Parry won three A string medals, 2nd in the discus with 34.17, and 3rd in the shot put and javelin with 11.24 and 45.09 respectively. Johnnie Stanimeros threw a hammer PB of 25.27 for 6th in the A string and a discus PB of 25.14 to win the B event. He completed his day with 2nd in the B shot put with 9.91. Oliver Marchant threw 19.34 to finish 7th in the B javelin and also jumped out to 4.49 for 7th in the A long jump. Meanwhile Benjamin Parker finished 6th in the B long jump with 4.34. Over on the track Aidan John had a great day with PBs in the 100m and 80m hurdles finishing 3rd A in both in 12.07 and 12.20 respectively. Conrad Beard ran well to finish 7th B in the 100m in 12.90. Dan Jackson Osborne ran a 200m PB of 24.21 to finish 3rd A and Oscar Beattie was 2nd B in 25.16. Lucas West and Jack Johnson took on the 300m with West running 38.75 for 3rd A and Johnson running a PB of 39.90 for 2nd B. Rhys Haines lowered his 800m PB down to 2:15.91 for 6th A and Harry Knight was just behind his best with 2:21.64 for 7th B. It was 4th place for Tom Wightman in the A 1500m in 4:31.99 and Patrick Paul in the B 1500m in a PB of 4:32.89.

Aidan John, Caleb Green, Conrad Beard and Oliver Marchant combined to form the 4x100m relay team finishing 3rd in 48.38 and Jack Johnson, Patrick Paul, Lucas West and Tom Wightman formed the 4x300m relay team finishing 7th in 2:53.72.

Next up we have our U15 girls team led by Mary Nasilasila with A victory in the hammer with a new PB of 27.96. Nasilasila also finished 2nd in the A shot put with 10.45 and produced a discus PB of 16.91 for 3rd B. Jessica Asquith took on the B shot put and hammer scoring valuable points for the team with 1st in the shot put with 8.59 and 2nd in the hammer with a PB of 20.28. Willow Kerr Muir jumped a massive 1.45 in the high jump for 6th A and Lexie Wiggett finished 7th B with 1.25. Wiggett also competed in the B long jump where she jumped out to another PB to finish 4th with 4.20. Izzy Cook and Lucia Santauelalia teamed up to take on the 100m/200m double. Cook finished 5th in both A races with times of 13.27 and 27.11 while Santaeulalia was 6th in both B races in 14.28 (PB) and 29.37. In the A 300m Megan Amey ran a PB of 44.59 for 6th and in the B race Orla Dowie ran a PB of 45.69 for 4th. Amey had a busy day also competing in the A long jump where she finished 3rd with 4.63 and B javelin where she was 5th with 17.23. Dowie produced a 2nd PB of the day in the A discus, 19.90 earned her 4th place. There was double PBs in the 75m hurdles, Charlotte Smith was 6th A in 12.94 and Francesca Robinson was 6th B in 13.02. Smith also placed 6th in the A javelin with 17.43. Our distances runners all ran well, Bluebell Heath-Smith was 6th in the A 800m in 2:28.28, as well as 4th in the A pole vault with 2.10, Scarlett Eagland was 7th in the B 800m in a PB of 2:40.27 and in the 1500m Maddie Thomson took 2nd A in 4:47.32 and Jessica Sheppard was 6th B in 5:27.56. There was also a 7th place finish for the 4x300m relay team of Orla Dowie, Megan Amey, Willow Kerr Muir and Bluebell Heath-Smith.

A phenomenal debut season for U13 boy Hugo Bucher was rounded off perfectly with a javelin win, new PB and club record. Bucher was joined in the javelin by Austin Harris who finished 7th B with 16.98. Harris also finished 5th in the B shot put with 6.65 and 4th in the A high jump with a PB of 1.30. Joshua Jones competed across three events, in the A 75m he was 6th with 10.71, he ran a PB in the B 75m hurdles of 13.96 and jumped 3.96 for 4th in the B long jump. Bertie Brookes produced a PB in the B 75m of 10.98 for 5th. Lucas Martin and Henry Longden competed in the A and B 150m respectively running 22.10 for 6th and 21.70 (PB) for 7th. There was a PB of Ethan Hendry in the 800m, 2:34.80 earned him 7th place. Noah Seabright tackled the B 800m running 2:40.98 for 6th. In the A shot put Seabright threw a PB of 8.19 for 4th and in the A long jump he cleared 4.05 for 5th. Harry Sheer and Max Harrison ran strong races in the 1200m, Sheer was 7th A in 4:07.41 and Harrison was 6th B in 4:16.61. Rounding off the U13 boy’s team is Arthur Roberts who competed in the A 75m hurdles and B high jump. Roberts ran 13.85 for 6th in the hurdles and cleared a PB of 1.30 for 2nd in the high jump. The 4x100m relay team of Bertie Brookes, Henry Longden, Lucas Martin and Joshua Jones finished 3rd in 55.10.

The quality of our U13 girls sprinters is clear by their phenomenal new club 4x100m record, taking down a strong mark set back in 2009, individually they are just as impressive. Alicia Taylor competed in the A 75m and 75m hurdles finishing 4th in both and running PBs in both too. Taylor ran 10.26 in the 75m and 12.09 in the hurdles. Verity Gaskin competed in the B 75m coming in 2nd in 10.66, Gaskin was also 7th in the A long jump with 3.75. Sophie Gaskell ran a PB in the A 150m of 20.83 for 5th before finishing 7th in the B shot put with 5.15 and Lottie Cook was 4th in the B 150m with 21.39 and 5th in the B long jump with 3.58. When looking at these performances it's no surprise the girls were able to come together to lower that record! Eleanor Thomson and Isla Harvey were 5th in the A and B 800m, Thomson ran 2:34.71 while Harvey ran a PB of 2:46.07. Martha Marsden took 6th in the A 1200m in 4:26.62 and Ivy Wightman was 5th in the B 1200m in 4:30.53. Bonnie Shirlaw competed in the A high jump and B 70m hurdles clearing 1.20 for 7th and running 12.91 for 3rd. Paige Wiggett cleared 1.20 in the B high jump for 6th place and a new PB, Wiggett was also 6th in the B javelin with 11.22. Last but certainly not least Abigail Ayrey threw a shot put PB of 8.18 for 2nd A and competed well in the javelin to finish 6th with 17.97.