BUCS Indoor Championships: Pippa Rogan wins Gold in High Jump

British University & Colleges (BUCS) Indoor Championships took place in Sheffield between Friday 17^th and Sunday 19^th February. Congratulations to BUCS champion Pippa Rogan for winning the high jump, there were also silver medals for Montana Jackson (triple jump) and Danielle Opara (shot), and a bronze medal for Clare Maurer (pole vault).

Pippa Rogan is in the form of her life, after setting a TVH club record of 1.82m at the British Championships last weekend at the same venue, Pippa had another fantastic competition and was close to her best as she added BUCS Indoor high jump gold to her outdoor gold from last summer. Ella Widdop-Gray also did well in the high jump but narrowly missed out on a place in the final with a good jump of 1.63m to come 6^th in her qualifying group.

Danielle Opara had her best ever BUCS indoor performance in the shot put to win a well-deserved silver medal. Her fantastic effort of 14.47m was exactly 1m further than in the final last year and is also new indoor personal best to break her own indoor TVH Club Record that she set the previous weekend at the British Indoor Championships. In the men’s shot put competition discus specialist, Raul Rinken has a good put of 10.92m to finish 7^th in his qualifying group.

Fresh from winning a bronze medal last weekend during the British Championships, Montana Jackson was very closer to regaining her title from last year but this time had to settle for a very good 2^nd place after a fantastic a new indoor personal best of 12.66m. Montana was also in action in the long jump where she jumped an excelent new personal best of 5.65m to make the final.

Lia Stephenson looked to be in with a good chance of a medal after qualifying 2^nd in her pool with a good hop, step and jump of 12.22m. However, after two fouls in the final, her safety jump of 11.64m in round 3 was not quite far enough to give her another three jumps so had to settle for 9^th place.

One of TVH’s new triple jumpers Armani James did well to make the final with 13.59m as he finished 4^th in his qualification group and had a solid 13.14m jump in the final to finish 11^th.

Imperial College team captain and one of TVH’s Higher Competition Athletes, Alex Mundell had promising runs in both the heats and semi-final where she ran 4:55.46.

Tayla Brade showed a good return to form with a fast 7.85 run in the heats of the 60m where she finished 2^nd but unfortunately Tayla had to withdraw from the competition after pulling a muscle when warming up for her semi-final. Multi-eventer, Danny Burrows, is concentrating on the sprints this year and was rewarded with a new personal best of 23.44 in the 200m after a good run also in the 60m.

Chris McAlister looked to be in fine form and one of the favourites to win a medal after strong front running wins in both his heat and semi-final races but unfortunately Chris was disqualified from after his semi-final race for a minor infringement. TVH’s BAL team captain, Caspar Donnison, had a solid run to finish 5^th in his 400m heat in 55.91.

TVH’s new Higher Competition Athlete, Clare Maurer, had her best ever indoor pole vault competition as she vaulted to a new life time best 3.80m to claim a fantastic bronze medal.

BUCS Indoor Championships 2016, Sheffield, 19-21 February

60m SW Heat 6 2^nd Tayla Brade 7.85
60m SM Heat 4 5^th Danny Burrowes 7.46
200m SM Heat 12 4^th Danny Burrows 23.44 PB
400m SM Heat 3 1^st Chris McAlister 1^st 50.37
400m SM Heat 6 5^th Caspar Donnison 55.91
1500m SW Heat 2 5^th Alex Mundell (HCA) 4:58.00
1500m SW Semi-final 2 7^th Alex Mundell (HCA) 4:55.46
High Jump SW Pool A 1^st Pippa Rogan 1^st 1.69m; 6^th Ella Widdop-Gray 1.63m
High Jump SW Final 1^st (Gold) Pippa Rogan 1.78m
Pole Vault SW Pool B 2^nd Clare Maurer (HCA) 3.40m
Pole Vault SW Final 3^rd (Bronze) Clare Maurer (HCA) 3.80m
Long Jump SW Pool A 2^nd Montana Jackson 5.65m PB
Long Jump SW Final 11^th Montana Jackson 5.12m
Triple Jump SW Pool A 2^nd Lia Stephenson 12.22m
Triple Jump SW Pool B 1^st Montana Jackson 12.44m
Triple Jump SW Final 2^nd (Silver) Montana Jackson 12.66m (Indoor PB); 9^th Lia Stephenson 11.64m
Triple Jump SM Pool B 4^th Armani James 13.59m
Triple Jump SM Final 11^th Armani James 13.14m
Shot Put SW Pool B 1^st Danielle Opara 13.12m
Shot Put SW Final 2^nd (Silver) Danielle Opara 14.47m Indoor PB and New Indoor Club Record
Shot Put SM Pool C 7^th Raul Rinken 10.92m