South
of
England
AA
Under
20
Championships
- Watford 29th -
30th May 2004
Lucy Sargent's rise to prominence was confirmed at the South of England under 20 Championships when she won an u17 sprint double, beating two national champions in the bargain. In her wake were rival Joey Duck, who had swept the board in the u15 ranks last summer, and Joscelynne Hopeson, the u17 national schools champion.
On Saturday Lucy defied a poor start and first bend to turn on the power in the straight to catch and overtake Joey Duck, going on to win in a fabulous 23.93s not only a new PB and club u17 & u20 record but also a qualifying time for the World Junior Championships in Italy in July.
On Sunday Lucy lined up for the final, having won her heat in another won her heat World Champs qualifier (and club u17, u20 and senior records &PB) of 11.84s, but the weather broke between heat and final and a torrential downpour seemed to rule out fast times. Lucy's double hopes seemed dashed as fast-starting Hopeson and Joey Duck powered into a clear lead, with Lucy trailing in third. But an amazing turn of speed over the last 30m brought her back into contention and she passed Hopeson, and crossed the line neck and neck with Joey Duck. After some scrutiny of the photo finish print did the judges confirm that Lucy had got the verdict, in yet another PB, and club records of 11.79s, with her rival Duck just 1-100th behind in 11.80s and Joscelynne Hopeson in third in 11.88s.
Another rising star who confirmed her worth was Katie Richardson. With training partner and Essex Champion Megan Foley watching from the sidelines due to a heavy cold Katie seized her chance and smashed her weeks old PB by no less than five seconds to come home in third place in 4m 30.7s - fourth fastest ever by a club u17.
There was double delight from Mel Harrison who came away with two bronze medals and two PBs. She heaved the shot out to 11.52m - an improvement of over 30cms on her previous best and a new club u20 record - to place third, and returned to action with another landmark as she threw the discus 41.17m - a one metre improvement - for third on the club all time rankings.
Louse Yard was another medallist. She threw 9.52m - just 3cms shy of her shot PB - to win another bronze medal, and she also threw 26.22m in the discus.
There were a host of good performances from other good results from club youngsters. In the u15 age category all three participants set new bests. Ingrid Deane was a fraction outside a final place but again reduced her PB, as did Nicola Hill in the 75m hurdles. Frankie Calder ran a new legal PB in her heat and improved again when finishing fifth in the final.
In the u17s Lisa Schofield qualified for the final the hard way - she had to run an extra race to decide the last qualifying place and she not only came out on top but set a new PB of 12.20s in the bargain. But she paid the price of her efforts in the final an hour later, placing a creditable 8th. Lauren McVicar improved her PB to 41.55s to make the 300m final and was a shade slower in the final.
Another PB was set by hammer thrower Joe Forde who added two metres to her previous best to place fifth in the u17 event while Christian Newton's discus PB of 36.32m in the same age group earned him a top 8 finish.
In the u20 age group Sara Luck and Nina Brennan both ran well in the 400m hurdles, improving on their heat times to place fifth and seventh respectively. Kirsty Smith was sixth in the triple jump and Lynsey Clark one place further back in the discus. In the u20 men's 800m Andrew Meech was close to his best but missed out on a final place, as did Michael Watkins in the u15 boys 1500m.
| Under 15 Girls | ||||||
| 100m | Frankie Calder | ht | 13.20s | |||
| 200m | Frankie Calder | 5th | 26.34s | (PB) | ||
| 800m | Ingrid Deane | ht |
2m 22.89s |
(PB) | ||
| 75H | Nicola Hill | ht |
12.34s |
(PB) | ||
| Under 17 Women | ||||||
| 100m | Lucy Sargent | 1st |
11.79 secs (+1.4) |
PB & Club u17, u20 & senior record | ||
| 200m | Lucy Sargent | 1st |
23.93 secs (+0.5) |
PB & Club u17, u20 record | ||
| 300m | Lauren McVicar |
42.?s |
Heat - 41.55s (PB club all time 3rd) |
|||
| 1500m | Katie Richardson | 3rd |
4m 30.7 secs |
(PB) | (Heat - 3rd - 4m 48.40) | |
| 80m H | Lisa Schofield | 8th |
12.33 secs |
(Run off - 1st 12.20 secs PB & club all time 4th) | ||
| Long Jump | Lisa Schofield | 14th |
4.56m |
|||
| Shot | Louise Yard | 3rd |
9.52m |
|||
| Discus | Louise Yard |
26.22m |
||||
| Under 20 Women | ||||||
|
100m h |
Nina Brennan | 8th | ||||
| 400m H | Sara Luck | 5th | 65.92s | |||
| Nina Brennan | 8th |
68.72s |
||||
| Discus | Mel Harrison | 3rd |
41.17m |
(PB & club all time 3rd) | ||
| Lynsey Clark | ?7th | 37.84m | ||||
| Shot | Mel Harrison | 3rd |
11.52m |
(PB & club u20 record & all time 3rd) | ||
|
Triple Jump |
Kirsty Smith | 6th |
10.64m |
|||
| Under 15 Men | ||||||
| 1500m | Michael Watkins | ht | 4m 48.11s | |||
| Under 17 Men | ||||||
| Hammer | Joe Forde | 5th | 45.85m | (PB & Club all time u17 2nd) | ||
| Christian Newton | ?th | 36.32 | (PB & Club all time u17 10th) | |||
| Under 20 Men | ||||||
| 800m | Andrew Meech | ht | 1m 58.31s | |||
Link
to full results when available  |
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