Young athletes competing at the South of England U15s and 17s Championships at Watford last weekend found the weather challenging on Saturday where heavy rain made conditions for spectators slippery and miserable for athletes.
Yet this failed to daunt pole vaulter Nathan Gardner who, competing in the U15 boys’ competition, improved his personal best height to 3.61m to win the event.
The successful spring saw Gardner head the latest national age group rankings. The height is also a Stevenage and North Herts Athletics Club 21st Century record.
Competing in much better conditions on Sunday, Max Price improved his best in the U15 shot put throwing 13.63m to win the silver medal and to also set a club 21st Century record.
There were a number of other club members at the games.
Emily Evans finished in fourth place in the U17s hammer throw with 36.09m, Alessandra Stevens and Lauren Aldridge finished fourth and fifth respectfully in the U15s hammer throw with 34.66m and 34.42m, Martha Huggins was fifth in the U15s triple jump with a distance of 10.05m and Bethany Harley threw 7.40m in the U15s shot put and ran 13.7 seconds in the 100m.
Charlie Duke clocked 5:07.19 in the U15s 1500m, Rebecca Pickard ran 13.1s in the U15s 75m hurdles while both Huggins and Sophie Pyle competed in the U15s pole vault with Huggins leaping 2.50m and Pyle springing to 1.90m.
Saturday saw the club’s older athletes competing in the fourth Southern Athletic League match of the season at Luton.
Miserable weather conditions failed to dampen spirits and club athletes recorded 13 A string wins and 10 B wins to overcome strong opposition to win with 190 points from Luton’s 178, City of Norwich 174 and Enfield and Haringey 172.
Double wins came from four of the club’s athletes.
Cameron Webb won both the 100m and 200m with times of 11.3s and 22.6s, Dan Gardner finished first in both the long and triple jump with distances of 6.72m and 13.29m, Neil McLellan won both the shot put, with 12.59m, and the javelin, with 53.34m, and Moe Sasegbon finished in pole position both in the high jump (1.65m) and the triple jump (10.43m).
Chloe Vernon-Hamilton went one better winning both the A string 100m hurdles and the shot put along with the B string long jump. Her time for the hurdles was 16.2s, while the distance for the shot put was 11.32m and the distance for the long jump was 5.14m.
Dan Poulton won a cleverly judged 1500m race in 4:07.1 while Kashif Jones and Laurence Levy both won their high jump competitions (1.85m and 1.70m).
Connor Winters (4.00m) and Matthias Winter (3.40m) both won their pole vault events.
Newcomer to the team Aiden Parker won the B string shot put with a 10.54m throw.
Further B string wins came from Anne Rees in the 100m hurdles (16.6s), Janet Browne in the high jump (1.55m), Louise Shortland in the pole vault (3.50m), Renee Hector in the shot put (8.45m), Rachel Williams in the discus (28.96m) and Sophie Goddard in the hammer throw (32.71m).
Team managers Jeannette Pybus and Norma Harris were delighted with the team’s win which has lifted the team from ninth position to fourth place in the top division of the league.
from: http://www.thecomet.net/sport/gardner_tops_national_rankings_1_1451875
