Bexson shines as Stratford AC make it a double
SEVENTY two Stratford AC junior athletes made the trip to Abingdon for the second Heart of England Division One match and they really had to work hard to record their second overall victory, if the provisional results are ratified.
This would put them in pole position to go one better than runners up in 2016 in the final match in a month’s time, but the cliché of every point counting never meant as much as it did here.
The other seven teams from across the Midlands put the pressure on after Stratford’s resounding victory in the first match but with nearly every event covered the Stratford youngsters responded with everyone winning valuable points.
Athletes winning their events were relatively in short supply but there were some outstanding individual performances.
In the non-scoring under-11 events, the Stratford team were severely depleted by the unprecedented level of unavailable athletes, but the athletes who did make the trip tried their very best with the highlight being Fred Williams winning the Howler with a huge throw of 32.78m.
The under-13 girls really found the competition very tough and finished in 6th place in their age group and their stand out athlete was Caitlin Buckley who won her 200m race in a time of 29.40s and then just missed out on winning the high jump but still set a new PB of 1.28m.
The under-13 boys had a narrow win ahead of Coventry Godiva and Matthew Bexson produced an athlete of the match performance by winning the 75m hurdles in 12.8. He was followed in the B race by debutant Oliver Calladine who won in 13.40s.
Freddie Clemons is turning out to be the find of the season for the under-13s. His all-round performance on the track and in the field events gave the team a haul of 22 points from his 800m, long jump and shot.
Henry Madden Forman had to hang around all afternoon for his race but he was lively in his 200m B race, winning in 29.60.
The under-15 girls middle distance foursome of Georgie Campbell and Ellen Taylor in the 1500m and Kate Dufty and Ellie Bryan in the 800m showed spirit and doggedness to either finish first or second in the their respective races
Sprinters Beth Cate and Grace Fairweather were second and first in their respective races and along with the rest of the team the U15s ended up clear winners in their age group.
The under-15 boys had a tough afternoon against some resurgent performances by the other teams but still hung on to finish third in their age group.
Cole Williams has found some blistering speed this season and he won the 100m in 12.0 and even stumbling on the last hurdle he still finished second. George Fox Rowe is adjusting well to new height and distance in the hurdles and he finished first in the B race.
All-rounder Adam Farrow is growing in confidence in his first year as an under-15 and he won the high jump equalling his PB of 1.60 and just missed 1.63 by clipping the bar with his ankles.
The under-17 women won their age group and Tazmin Chape tore herself away from her exam revision to have a very happy afternoon winning the javelin with 32.54 and the B hurdles in a new PB of 12.9.
The most dominant performance from an age group came from the under-17 men with Jack Sumners just holding off Ollie Cresswell in the hurdles who went sub 13secs and 11secs in the 100m hurdles and 100m flat respectively for the first time and he also won the high jump with 1.85 in an athlete of the match performance for his age group.
Thrower Lewis Byng is another athlete bang in form and he won the double in the javelin and shot.
“That was a great effort from everyone,” said joint under-13 team manager, Jenny Sheppard.
“We’re really pleased but it was too close for comfort. If we are going to win the league we’re going to have to have a full team out for the last match and get some hard training in before then because the other teams are obviously upping their game.”
