County Schools Athletics Championships

Report: Joe Frost -

19 Athletes - 19 Medals – 10 Champions – 5 English Schools Qualifiers – 2 Championship Records – 9 County Selections

19 Athletes from the Stockport Performance Sprints, Jumps & Combined Events Group produced 19 medal-winning performances yesterday across four Counties in the Annual County Schools Athletics Championships. The Group produced two Championships Records and Ten County Champions at the Cheshire, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire Championships held simultaneously at Warrington, Derby, Stretford and Wigan respectively.

Charlotte Ogden beat the twelve metre barrier for the first time with a best jump of 12.25m to take the Greater Manchester Senior Girls Triple Jump Title and the Championship Record, with Amy Williams equalling that feat with a 5.70m Long Jump to take the Cheshire Senior Girls Title and eclipse the previous Championship Best Performance of 5.57m at Warrington only days after jumping 5.85m to win the Loughborough University Invitational last Wednesday.

In the Cheshire Championships there was a win for Emily Jarad in the Junior Girls Long Jump with a best of 5.19m, just two centimetres short of the personal best she set last week. Katie Waterworth continued to improve her form with a best jump of 5.00m to take silver with the Stockport Girls well clear of the rest of the field. In the Greater Manchester Junior Girls Long Jump Bethan Murray’s best jump of 4.89m was good enough to take the title while Sanna McLean jumped 4.72m for Bronze. Emily, Katie and Bethan have all secured the qualifying standard for the English Schools Championships and will have one final opportunity to impress selectors when they represent their respective Counties at next Saturday’s Mason Trophy Inter-Counties competition in Birmingham.

Alicia Vermeulen was close to her personal best in winning the Inter Girls Triple Jump in 10.49m at the Cheshire Championships and will hope to get closer to the 10.80m selection standard at next weekend’s Mason Trophy. Another Athlete chasing English Schools Entry is Sophie Quinn who put together her best ever series of jumps but fell agonisingly short of the 5.40m standard at Warrington with a best jump of 5.38m. Sophie will compete this week at the Trafford Sprints and Jumps Grand Prix.

Natrika Wildman retained her Lancashire Inter Girls Long Jump Title at Wigan, producing a best jump of 5.05m despite a year hit by injury while Nick Barratt jumped a lifetime best of 12.93m to win the Greater Manchester Senior Boys Triple Jump at Stretford. Eleanor Tomsthrew 33.34m to take victory in the Cheshire Inter-Girls Javelin at Warrington.

It wasn’t just the field events that saw the Group’s Athletes produce winning performances, with Laura Hickey dipping under the twelve-second barrier with 11.97 to take the Gold Medal in the Greater Manchester Junior Girls 75m Hurdles final. Ellie Staley equalled her personal best of 12.59 seconds to take Gold in the Greater Manchester Senior Girls 100m. Both Laura and Ellie are within a few hundredths of a second of the English Schools Qualifying Standard and will hope to build on their winning performances before the teams are finalised on June 22nd. Staying on the track, there was a second personal best of the day and a silver medal for Nick Barratt with 51.3 seconds in the Senior Boys 400m while at Derby Alex Davis took Bronze in the Inter Boys 400m with 56.3. Katie Hudson, a recent newcomer to the Group, finished fourth in the Junior Girls 200m at the Greater Manchester Championships with a new personal best of 29.20 seconds.

Megan King threw 9.08m to finish second in the Junior Girls Shot at Stretford while Sam Shilton took silver in the Junior Boys Triple Jump with a best jump of 10.18m. Amy Jackson took a hard earned Bronze Medal in the Greater Manchester Inter Girls Triple Jump, finally clearing the ten metre mark for the first time with a personal best jump of 10.19m.

Group Lead Coach and England Athletics National Coach for Horizontal Jumps, Joe Frost, said " this is a great set of results for the Group which is well on it's way to being the strongest group of it's kind in the region. It's testament to the hard work all the Athletes have put in throughout the winter and the indoor season and we're hoping to carry on the success as we get closer to the major championships of the outdoor track and field season".

Pete King, Assistant Coach to the Group and lead for Strength and Conditioning, added "We're lucky to have such a strong group who work really well together and it was great to see all the Athletes feed off each others success on Saturday. There was a real buzz amongst the group!"

With Amy WilliamsBethan MurrayCharlotte OgdenEmily Jarad and Katie Waterworth having already secured English Schools Championships Standards, all eyes this coming week will be on these Athletes and on those who are now within a whisker of achieving qualifying performances. Congratulations to all those Athletes who achieved selection for Cheshire or Greater Manchester at next Saturday’s Mason Trophy Inter-Counties. Eyes should also be on Under 20’s Amy Williams and Charlotte Ogden who will compete next weekend at Bedford in the England Athletics Championships and European Trials.


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