Great day for CoL at YAL final
Thu 5 August 2010--admin
What a day it was at Antrim last Saturday! All the club coaches are still buzzing after a tremendously successful day for City of Lisburn at the NI Young Athletes League final on Saturday 31 July. Even the frequent showers could not wipe smiles from faces as the team won a huge number of individual medals in one of the most successful outings for the club in recent years.
Inspired perhaps by clubmate Ciara Mageean’s silver medal at the World Championships the previous weekend, the athletes stepped up with a large number of PBs and fantastic performances. A lack of depth particularly on the boys’ team where we didn’t field any U17 boys meant that we were never in contention for overall honours in the team event. However there was no lack of quality with a series of fine individual performances from those present.
The U13 girls performed extremely well and were 2nd of the 7 teams in the final, only 1.5 points behind winners City of Derry. On the track Katie Larmour won the 150m in style and was 2nd in the 75m. Kirsten Evans was unfortunate to just miss bronze in the B 150m race having recorded the same time as 3rd. However, Kirsten had her moment of glory later with a huge 65cm PB to top the rostrum in the A shot with 7.37m with Annie Alexander also throwing a PB to gain silver in the B shot and only 3cms from gold.
Zoe Crothers and Madison Bowyer won the A and B 1200m respectively, with Jessica McMaster and Katie Larmour making it another Lisburn double win in the long jump. Here Jessica’s fantastic jump of 4.33m deservedly won her the Athlete of the Match award! Jessica also picked up a bronze in the A hurdles and Thereze Hillman was delighted to pick up an unexpected bronze in the B high jump while Natalie Fair was 4th in a close 800m race. Finally the girls did brilliantly in the relay for second place.
The U15 girls team was outstanding as usual with many of them finishing with several medals dangling around their necks as a result of many great individual performances and a silver in the relay . They also finished 2nd team overall of the 7 teams. The versatile Aoibhin McManus won her B 200m although a niggling hamstring meant she had to settle for silver in her speciality long jump. However, she more than made up for that with a massive 1 metre improvement on her PB to 7.69m to claim a surprise win in the A shot, becoming the only athlete on the entire team (perhaps in any club?) to win medals in a track event, a throw and a jump. Erin Quinn was 2nd in the A string in both sprints but also produced the goods in the shot putt circle with her 2nd PB in a week and her first ever 7 metre throw (7.20m).
Jane Atkinson took an expected gold in the A hurdles and also the B high jump plus added silver in the B long jump with a 4.31m PB. Anna McIlmoyle had her usual success with a wins in the B hurdles and silver in the A high jump and we hope the knee injury she sustained will not keep her out of the multi-events in a few weeks time where she will be very competitive if fit. Rebecca Harvey was 2nd in a fast A 1500m with 5m 03 secs and threw well in the A javelin for 5th. Caitlin Rose had a busy day including stepping into the relay team and securing bronze in the A 800m and also the B javelin. It was so nearly four medals but she was 4th in the A discus where less than 2 metres covered the first four places. The girls finished with silver in the relay.
Every girl in the U17 team performed out of their skin, but too many events not covered meant they had to settle for 4th overall. All- rounder Libby Rose won 3 individual medals and had a strong 1st leg in the relay where the team finished 4th. She had convincing victories in the 80mH and also the 300mH and took silver in a tight A long jump competition. In the throws the Lisburn girls were superb. Kathryn Wallace won A the hammer with another 30 metre throw , backed up by Afton Fitzhenry who threw a PB for silver in the B string. Afton showed what a good recruit she has been to the club with a gold of her own in the A javelin with a great 25 metre throw in the final round. In the discus Caris Geenwood was expected to win the A string and duly delivered with a 30.09m throw while Amanda Mitchell claimed silver in the B string. Finally, in the shot Caris threw a 7.69 PB to take silver in the A while Kathryn Wallace was 2nd in the B.
In the U13 boys there was a Lisburn double in the shot with Jamie McCann winning the A with 10.43m, well over half a metre further than his victory in the Ulster Schools. He won by almost 4 metres and wasunfortunate not to win the Athlete of the Match award in his section. Josh Jordan’s recent hard work in training also paid off with a 20cm PB when winning the B shot with 8.96m.
In the U15 boys Connor Farr ran well for 4th in both sprints while Dominic Martin took silver in the A 400m. Luke Fitzhenry was 5th in the 800m while the boys combined for 4th in the relay. In the field Sam Wallace and Luke were 4th inthe A and B string respectively with Sam also 6th in the Shot.
Overall the club finished in 6th place, an improvement on one place from last year’s final. Hopefully as the strong squads in the U13 and U15 age groups move up we can improve further on that in the future. Well done to all athletes on a memorable day.