National Junior League, Southern Premier Division, Watford 12 August 2001

Junior ladies confirm National Final Place

A superb team effort from the HMAC Junior Ladies gained third place in the final National Junior League fixture at Watford on Sunday. And Sarah Deacon's excellent form was rewarded as she won the Athlete of the Match award for her Grade 1 winning hammer performance.

There were tired legs and arms among the twelve-strong squad, as eight of them had been in action for the Southern Women's League team  the previous day. But the team spirit showed through the tiredness as team members took on additional events at short notice as some of the team picked up minor injuries.

Sarah Deacon notched up 43 points from her four events, as she won the hammer, took second in the discus and B shot and a javelin fourth. Mel Harrison kept her company making it a hammer double, with a new PB, placing second in the discus and third in the A shot.

Hannah Gamester tackled four events, after five the day before, with a B long jump second, third places in both A pole vault & 100m, before helping the sprint relay squad to second place. Her fellow relay members were also busy. Fran Rigby gained second in the A long jump and third in the B 200m in a new PB, Gemma Tyler ran in both sprints, as well as both relays, while Melissa Felton tackled both  hurdles events, with a season's best equalling 400m hurdles and PB in the 100m hurdles. Felton's sprint hurdles partner Sue Deboos also covered three of the four jumping events, including a win in the B pole vault. Sarah Benton gained two third places in the A triple jump and B javelin.

Hayley Mottram and Lauren Deadman doubled up to earn good points in the 400m and 800m and Mottram later ran the last leg of the 4x400m relay, joining up with Melissa Felton, Gemma Tyler and Rosie Saunders, to come home fourth. Saunders had earlier ran in the 1500m. Laura O'Neill faced a busy schedule with both 1500m and 3000m, running close to her best in both, and also placed third in her first attempt at the 400m hurdles. 

Shaftesbury Barnet recorded their best result to squeeze past HMAC on events points to take the league runners up spot. 

The team now look forward to the National Final at Derby on 9 September when they hope to field their strongest team and welcome back a number of absentees, including Faye Fullerton. 

Final Match Result

Final League Positions

	A STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist			B STRINGS	Pos.	Time/Dist
100	Hannah Gamester	3	13.6		100	Gemma Tyler	4	13.8
200	Gemma Tyler	5	28.6		200	Francesca Rigby	3	28.7 PB
400	Hayley Mottram	3	61.4		400	Lauren Deadman	3	62.7
800	Lauren Deadman	3	2:23.0		800	Hayley Mottram	2	2:23.4
1500	Rosie Saunders	6	5:16.1		1500	Laura O'Neill	5	5:30.9
3000	Laura O'Neill	4	11:37.0		3000
100H	Melissa Felton	4	19.2	PB	100H	Sue Deboos	3	20.9
400H	Melissa Felton	2	72.5		400H	Laura O'Neill	3	90.4PB
L.J.	Fran Rigby	2	4.70		L.J.	Hannah Gamester	2	4.63
H.J.	Sue Deboos	5	1.35		H.J.
T.J.	Sarah Benton	3	8.88		T.J.	Sue Deboos	4	7.94
P.V.	Hannah Gamester	3	2.20		P.V.	Sue Deboos	1	1.90
S.P.	Mel Harrison	3	8.71		S.P	Sarah Deacon	2	8.31
D.T.	Sarah Deacon	2	33.21		D.T.	Mel Harrison	2	32.68
J.T.	Sarah Deacon	4	25.51		J.T	Sarah Benton	3	17.51
H.T.	Sarah Deacon	1	38.61		H.T.	Mel Harrison	1	27.67 PB
4x100	Melissa Felton				4x400	Melissa Felton (65.9)
	Hannah Gamester					Rosie Saunders (64.4)
	Gemma Tyler					Gemma Tyler (68.0)
	Fran Rigby	2	53.8			Hayley Mottram (63.0)	4	4:21.3