Roo Black out jumps them all – into the top 6 in the UK

There were some excellent performances by Wells Harrier juniors as part of the joint Yeovil and Wells team at this past weekend’s National Young Athletes League Match held at the Yeovil Arena. Harrier athlete of the day for the combined team was undoubtedly u’13 girl Roo Black who continued where she left off from the previous weekend by winning all three of the events that she contested. Her clearance of 1.46m at the High Jump places her at the top of the regional rankings and in the top 6 in the UK for this event so far this season. This good set of results in the National Young Athlete League match follows up the confirmation that the joint Yeovil and Wells team continues to lead in the 8 team South West Athletics League Div 1 after two fixtures

Roo went clear at 1.46m to record a new personal best by some 5cm and then had three good attempts at the 1.50m height. She also outjumped everyone in the long jump with a 4.02m mark, which is just a little below her best, and then made it three victories with her 75m sprint run of 11.2 seconds.

Roo will be competing in next week’s Somerset Schools junior (Year 7) Championships.

In the same age group Emily Smith high jumped to 1.20m, for 4^th place overall, just below her best but gained valuable points for the team as she was the 1^st B string athlete. Emily went on to claim a 2^nd place in the 70m Hurdles with 14.3, and then showed her all round versatility by recording an excellent victory in the 1200m race with a 4.30.3 clocking which will place her high up in the regional rankings.

For the u’13 boys Jordan Boobyer had another throws competition with his 6.83m shot put, just 2cm shy of his best which places him just outside of the top 20 in the region. Jordan was 1^st B string athlete and 2^nd overall behind his team mate Matthew Cole. Johnny Forsey ran a good 14.2 for 3^rd place in the 100m sprints, before filling in at the 1500m race, and then being part of a good 4x100m relay team.

For the u’15 boys Henry Brown almost equalled his 100m best with a 12.7 clocking to be 1^st B string, and also clocked a 25.8 for 200m before anchoring home the 4x100m relay team to victory. Reuben Whitcombe ran a well judged race in the 1500m race for 4^th, 1^st B string runner, with his 5.18 clocking which given the very rainy conditions at the time was good. Reuben’s older brother Isaac, competing for the u’17 men ran 12.6 for the 100m. Isaac’s start was one of the best of the 6 athletes and with more work on the final third of his race he’ll undoubtedly go much faster before the end of the season. Isaac also helped the 4x100m relay team come in 2^nd at the end of the day.

Also in the u’17 men’s team was Alex Wiltshire who had to pace himself in advance of virtually the last event of the day – the 1500m steeplechase where he won convincingly. Alex is currently 6^th on the national rankings for this distance and has the qualifying time for the English Schools Championships later in the year. Alex had earlier run 63.6 to win the 400m Hurdles, and 55.4 for 3^rd place in the 400m.

Well done all!