Stratford AC coach hails strength in depth after big victory
STRATFORD AC’s junior team dominated their first Heart of England Division One match of the season in Worcester.
Following the success of the club’s men’s and women’s teams that contained 60 per cent of athletes who have graduated from the junior ranks in winning their Midland Division so handsomely, 70 young athletes took their first step in emulating that success.
Having won the event overall, they also finished top of the pile in the under-13 and under-17 boys’ age groups, with the under-15s third and the under-15 and under-17 girls first and the under-13s fifth.
The non-scoring under-11 boys and girls were second and third respectively.
Individually, the team produced literally dozens of personal bests and grade one and two performances.
In hot, windy conditions, the 1500m runners had tricky conditions, but coped well with under-13 athletes Louis Kendrick and Alex Adams giving the team a one-two in the A and B races.
Under-17 Owain Jones and under-15 Georgina Campbell comprehensively won their races with the rest of the 1500m runners Daisy Musk, Edie Hutchinson, Finlay Hutchinson, Josh Angus, Matt Ross, Ellie Deaner, Tullah Searle and Ellen Taylor picking up crucial points.
Amongst many other outstanding performances, Jack Sumners had a hat-trick of wins in the 100m, 100m hurdles and long jump.
After some intensive training with his throws coach Sandy Green, Lewis Byng finally did what he’s been threatening to do recently by throwing the national standard in the under-17 shot of 14.33m and Adam Farrow cleared 1.61 in the under-15 high jump, with both of them taking top spots in the West Midlands rankings.
Mike Sheppard, the under-15 team manager, said: “We saw some great performances with loads of personal bests set.
“It was particularly pleasing seeing new faces like Kate Dufty, Harry Sugden and Nick Butler coming into the team and all performing so strongly on their league debut.”
He added: “This is a tough division against some big and very good clubs and it certainly felt like Stratford’s most dominant overall performance in the six or seven years that I’ve been going to the Heart of England meetings.
“Having some really strong individual athletes helps us enormously, but just looking at the results and all the B strings where we were first, second or third, and having a full complement in all the events shows that we won because of our strength in depth and team spirit.
“It’s a really good start but we need to keep it going for the remaining matches”.
Stratford team
Under-11 girls: Antonia Leece, Lucia Cassidy, Maisie Joy Spriggs, Scarlett Richardson
Under-11 boys: Reuben Boxall, Fred Williams, Harry McDonald, Linden Williams
Under-13 girls: Caitlin Buckley, Eleanor Clark, Ellie Deaner, Issy Newton, Lucy Lane, Maria Watkins, Poppy Fox Rowe, Sophie Ross, Tullah Searle
Under-13 boys: Adam Taylor, Alex Adams, Charlie Whorrad, Freddie Clemons, Henry Madden Forman, Louis Kendrick, Matthew Bexson, Taylor Holton, Zac McKenzie
Under-15 girls: Charlotte Gravelsons, Ellen Taylor, Ellie Bryan, Ellie Clarke, Emily Wild, Evie Lowe, Gabriella Porter, Georgina Campbell, Grace Fairweather, Jasmine Williams, Kate Dufty, Maddie Clark, Millie Leighton
Under-15 boys: Adam Farrow, Alex Powell, Aran Woodger, Cole Williams, Finlay Hutchinson, George Fox-Rowe, Harry Gravelsons, Harry Sugden, Josh Angus, Ned Campbell, Nicholas Butler
Under-17 girls: Anna Gionis, Barunka Lowe, Charlotte Nash, Daisy Musk, Dani Horton, Edie Hutchinson, Georgia Clarke, Imogen Sheppard, Jodie Watson, Lucy Smith, Tazmin Chape
Under-17 boys: Archie Musk, Jack Sumners, Lewis Byng, Mathew Millward-Brookes, Matt Ross, Ollie Cresswell, Owain Jones, Rhys Mahon, Zephan Boxall
