Junior Harriers win at Cardiff

June 21^st 2009

There was another good set of performances by junior Harriers competing this past weekend at the National Young Athletes League match hosted by Cwmbran Harriers and held at the Cardiff track. The combined Yeovil & Wells team just held off the opposition with overall team score of 294 points, to the hosts 283, Newport’s 277 and Team Bath AC’s 212 points.

Best individual performances were recorded by Roo Black who high jumped to 1.55m to take the girl’s u15 high jump and by Reuben Whitcombe for his steady accumulation of points on a busy afternoon when he also made his debut at steeplechase as part of a great team effort.

In the u’13 girl’s age group, Abigail Gibbons won the B string of the 1200m in a nippy 4.18 and achieved a B string shot of 4.92m for yet another victory. For the u13 boys, Danny Kennedy took the shot out to 5.55m for a win in the B string, and was also 3^rd at th1 00m in 16.7 and 4^th in the 800m with 2.51 for a great set of team points. Charlie Martin ran 5.17 for 3^rd in the A string 1500m.

In the u15 girls events, Roo Black chalked up a new personal best with her 1.55m jump, some 5cm higher than ever before, and she also long jumped 4.46m for a 2^nd place in that event. Josephine Douglas competed well at the sprints double and also the shot with timings of 15.3 and 32.2, followed by 4.79m in the shot. Kayley Kennedy also had a go at some throwing events with her 2^nd place in the javelin 'A' string and 4^th place in the discus with 12.94m, accompanying a 5.13 clocking in the 1500m A string for 2nd place.

In the u15 boy’s events Jordan Boobyer was 4^th in the shot with 6.71m, and also 3^rd in the javelin with 23.12m, before helping out with a leg in the 4 by 100m winning relay team at the end of the day. Reuben Whitcombe, for the u17 men, had a busy afternoon. He was called upon to debut in the 1500 steeplechase and didn’t disappoint with his 5.40 clocking for valuable 2^nd place points in the B string, and he also won the 3000m A race in 11.48.

After four of the five fixtures in the National Young Athletes Midland Division One League, the combined team now lies in the top 5 or 6 clubs, out of 15 and has an outside chance of promotion. The team has won the last 2 fixtures and if such form had been shown in the opening matches there is little doubt that the club would now be planning for promotion. The next fixture for the combined team will be at Exeter on Sunday July 5th in the South West League One match where the team looks to continue to lead the rankings. All juniors interested in being selected for the team should contact the team managers as soon as possible.