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 5^th 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 2^nd 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 2^nd. Verity Walker did well to double up in the 3000m and 800m with two 4^th 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 3^rd in the 80m hurdles, 2^nd in the high jump and was a member of the sprint relay team that finished 3^rd. Another athlete making a return from injury was Diaz Desagurantre who did very well to finish 2^nd 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,  1^st May 2016, Results

Women U20

100m A 1^st Brittany Robinson 12.7

200m A 1^st Brittany Robinson 26.2

400m A 5^th Sherique Ruddock 65.6

800m A 4^th Verity Walker (U17) 2:43.9

400m Hurdles A 3^rd Tabitha Weddel 72.3 PB

1500m Steeplechase A 1^st Kosana Weir (U17) 5:22.4

1500m Steeplechase B 1^st Tabitha Weddel 5:30.4 New U20s Club Record

Hammer A 3^rd Funmi Ademuwagun 13.50m

Shot A 1^st Funmi Ademuwagun 10.01m

Javelin A 5^th Funmi Ademuwagun 11.01m

Long Jump A 5^th Funmi Ademuwagun 3.74m PB

Long Jump B 3^rd Tabitha Weddel 2.83m PB

Women U17

100m A 1^st Hannah Hall 12.8

200m A 1^st Hannah Hall 26.1

300m A 6^th Kosana Weir 47.5 PB

800m A 6^th Olivia Olsher 2:39.6

1500m A 2^nd Amelia Casey 5:12.7

3000m A 4^th Verity Walker 11:31.0

80m Hurdles A 3^rd Eleanor Crow 14.4 PB

80m Hurdles B 2^nd India Weir 15.5 PB

1500m Steeplechase A 1^st India Weir 5:17.10

1500m Steeplechase B 1^st Alice Harray 5:43.8

Shot Putt A 5^th Hannah Hall 6.17m PB

Discus A 5^th Diaz Desagurante 15.49m PB

Long Jump A 2^nd Diaz Desagurante 4.86m

High Jump A 4^th Olivia Olsher 1.35m

High Jump B 2^nd Eleanor Crow 1.35m

4 x100m A: 4^th TVH (Eleanor Crow, Diaz Desagurante, Kosana Weir and Hannah Hall) 3:13.6

4 x300m A: 3^rd TVH (Alice Harray, Olivia Olsher, Kosana Weir and India Weir) 3:13.6

Mens U20

100m A 6^th Jordan Francis 11.8

100m B 2^nd Daniel John 11.6

100m NS 1^st Marsin Sesay 12.2

200m A 3^rd Keano Paris-Samuel 23.3

200m B 3^rd Jordan Francis 24.3

100m Hurdles 3^rd Artur Domingos 23.4 PB

Hammer A 2^nd Marsin Sesay 17.75m PB

Hammer B 2^nd Artur Domingos 11.48m

Javelin A 4^th Artur Domingos 14.56m PB

Shot A 1^st Marsin Sesay 1^st 9.26m PB

Shot B: 2^nd Artur Domingos 7.47m

Long Jump A 4^th Odell Okuowsa 5.98m

Long Jump B 2^nd Daniel John 5.14m

Triple Jump A 1^st Odell Okuowsa 12.86m

Triple Jump B 2^nd Artur Domingos 9.47m

High Jump A 3^rd Odell Okuowsa 1.65m PB

4x100m Relay: TVH 1^st (Daniel John, Kamal Mitchell, Jordan Francis, Keano Paris-Samuel) 44.0

Mens U17

400m A 2^nd Teejay Mitchell 53.3 PB

400m B 3^rd Toni Ademuwagun PB

Hammer A 2^nd Henry Knott 22.36 PB

Javelin A 4^th Henry Knott 20.36m PB

Javelin B 3^rd Toni Ademuwagun 17.03m PB

Shot A 4^th Henry Knott 7.27m PB

Long Jump A: 3^rd Teejay Mitchell 5.71m PB

High Jump A 1^st Toni Ademuwagun 1.85m PB