TVH Young Athletes start the season with PBs and a club record at the YDL
TVH’s YDL Upper Age Group (U17/U20s) team got the season off to a solid start with 1 club record, 9 event wins for the ladies and 4 for the men. Despite taking a very small team to Oxford due to injuries, last minute revision plans, athletes competing at BUCS, and other clashing commitments – all the athletes present did very well to fill in gaps and excel at their specialist events. With the great team spirit that was shown and a larger team at the remaining three matches, TVH will move up the table from their current position of 5th place.

TVH’s 9 victories in the ladies teams came in the sprints, steeplechase and shot putt. Brittany Robinson was the class runner in the U20s 100m and 200m winning both A string events, Brittany is showing good form and is in contention to be selected for the senior national league team. Hannah Hall was the outstanding U17 sprinter as she won both the 100m and 200m for her age group. Hannah also did well to score some extra points for the team in the shot putt and ran a strong final leg for the 4x100m team. The other event that the TVH ladies dominated was the steeplechase where maximum points was scored. TVH’s three U17s that made the English School’s steeplechase final last year; India Weir, Kosana Weir and Alice Harray were joined St Albans 2nd claim member, Tabitha Weddel, making her debut in TVH colours. They all had a good race over the barriers with India and Kosana holding off the challenge from an Aldershot athlete to finish 1st and 2nd in the race, close behind were Tabitha and Alice winning their B string events. Another English Schools representative from 2015 was Funmi Ademuwagun who in her main event the shot putt took the A string victory with 10.01m. Funmi went on to score more vaulable points for the team in the javelin and long jump.
There were many other ladies that contributed to the TVH’s points tally. In the first middle distance event, 1500m, Amelia Casey made a fine debut representing TVH in a league match by finishing in 2nd. Verity Walker did well to double up in the 3000m and 800m with two 4th place finishes. Sherique Ruddock was feeling a little unwell but did well to finish her 400m. Eleanor Crow made a successful return to the team having spent a year out with a serious knee injury, Eleanor did well to finish 3rd in the 80m hurdles, 2nd in the high jump and was a member of the sprint relay team that finished 3rd. Another athlete making a return from injury was Diaz Desagurantre who did very well to finish 2nd in the long jump and score good points in the discus and 4x100m. Olivia Olsher also scored the team good points in the high jump, 800m and 4x300m team.
The men’s team did not have any middle distance athletes available but we hope to see a few athletes return to the team by the next match to back up our relatively strong sprints and field events team. The U20’s men sprint relay team continued their good form from 2015 by winning with over a second to spare. The other event wins came in the field events from three of our biggest points scorers of the day, Marsin Sesay, Odell Okuwasa and Toni Ademuwagun who all did three events each. Dispite only being in his first year as an U20 and moving up to heavier weights, Marsin did very well to win the shot putt with 9.26m. Having missed the team coach, Odell still managed to get himself to Oxford to win the triple jump with a fine effort of 12.86m. Toni warmed up for this weekend’s BAL match with a new personal best performance of 1.85m to take victory in the high jump. The busiest athlete of the day was U20 Artur Domingos who worked very hard for the team by competing in his full quota of five events; 100m hurdles, shot, javelin, hammer and triple jump.
TVH only had three U17 men available on Sunday but between them they did exceptionally well to cover 8 events and more impressive was that they achieved new lifetime best performances in every event, including their main events (Toni, high jump 1.85m, Henry hammer 22.36m and Teejay 400m 53.3). With more U17 boys athletes at the next match TVH should be looking at finishing at least in the top three as was achieved last year in this league.
YDL U17/U20s Division 1, Horspath, 1st May 2016, Results
Women U20
100m A 1st Brittany Robinson 12.7
200m A 1st Brittany Robinson 26.2
400m A 5th Sherique Ruddock 65.6
800m A 4th Verity Walker (U17) 2:43.9
400m Hurdles A 3rd Tabitha Weddel 72.3 PB
1500m Steeplechase A 1st Kosana Weir (U17) 5:22.4
1500m Steeplechase B 1st Tabitha Weddel 5:30.4 New U20s Club Record
Hammer A 3rd Funmi Ademuwagun 13.50m
Shot A 1st Funmi Ademuwagun 10.01m
Javelin A 5th Funmi Ademuwagun 11.01m
Long Jump A 5th Funmi Ademuwagun 3.74m PB
Long Jump B 3rd Tabitha Weddel 2.83m PB
Women U17
100m A 1st Hannah Hall 12.8
200m A 1st Hannah Hall 26.1
300m A 6th Kosana Weir 47.5 PB
800m A 6th Olivia Olsher 2:39.6
1500m A 2nd Amelia Casey 5:12.7
3000m A 4th Verity Walker 11:31.0
80m Hurdles A 3rd Eleanor Crow 14.4 PB
80m Hurdles B 2nd India Weir 15.5 PB
1500m Steeplechase A 1st India Weir 5:17.10
1500m Steeplechase B 1st Alice Harray 5:43.8
Shot Putt A 5th Hannah Hall 6.17m PB
Discus A 5th Diaz Desagurante 15.49m PB
Long Jump A 2nd Diaz Desagurante 4.86m
High Jump A 4th Olivia Olsher 1.35m
High Jump B 2nd Eleanor Crow 1.35m
4 x100m A: 4th TVH (Eleanor Crow, Diaz Desagurante, Kosana Weir and Hannah Hall) 3:13.6
4 x300m A: 3rd TVH (Alice Harray, Olivia Olsher, Kosana Weir and India Weir) 3:13.6
Mens U20
100m A 6th Jordan Francis 11.8
100m B 2nd Daniel John 11.6
100m NS 1st Marsin Sesay 12.2
200m A 3rd Keano Paris-Samuel 23.3
200m B 3rd Jordan Francis 24.3
100m Hurdles 3rd Artur Domingos 23.4 PB
Hammer A 2nd Marsin Sesay 17.75m PB
Hammer B 2nd Artur Domingos 11.48m
Javelin A 4th Artur Domingos 14.56m PB
Shot A 1st Marsin Sesay 1st 9.26m PB
Shot B: 2nd Artur Domingos 7.47m
Long Jump A 4th Odell Okuowsa 5.98m
Long Jump B 2nd Daniel John 5.14m
Triple Jump A 1st Odell Okuowsa 12.86m
Triple Jump B 2nd Artur Domingos 9.47m
High Jump A 3rd Odell Okuowsa 1.65m PB
4x100m Relay: TVH 1st (Daniel John, Kamal Mitchell, Jordan Francis, Keano Paris-Samuel) 44.0
Mens U17
400m A 2nd Teejay Mitchell 53.3 PB
400m B 3rd Toni Ademuwagun PB
Hammer A 2nd Henry Knott 22.36 PB
Javelin A 4th Henry Knott 20.36m PB
Javelin B 3rd Toni Ademuwagun 17.03m PB
Shot A 4th Henry Knott 7.27m PB
Long Jump A: 3rd Teejay Mitchell 5.71m PB
High Jump A 1st Toni Ademuwagun 1.85m PB