Lisburn junior squad reach YAL final

In this Round 3 match against Lagan Valley, Regent House, North Down and East Down the combined boys/girls squads won all three age-groups. The U13 girls again came within a single result of a clean sweep of A and B string wins, while a superb performance from the U17 girls compensated for a weakened U17 boys’ team.

U13 girls – Therese Hillman and Sarah Woods (PB) kicked things off with a double win in the hurdles. Niamh Madden (1st) and Phoebe Tan (2nd) did very well in the 150m sprints. Rebekah Douglas was sensational in the 800m, running a N. Ireland rankings-topping 2:27. Alix Galbraith and Lauren Rea won the shot A and B string, notable for a big PB for Lauren who was over 7 metres for the first time. Finally, Rebekah, Rosie Henderson, Sarah and Therese won the relay comfortably, with several talented athletes in reserve.

U13 boys – It was two 2nd places in the sprint hurdles for Cameron Kelly and debutant Tom Jordan. Sean Terek was 4th in the A 800m with Matthew Neill running a great 1500m for 2nd in the A race. There were more 2nd places for Cameron in the high jump (1.40m) and Louis McGuckian in the long jump (4.34m PB), while Thomas Quinn won the B string in both jumps. Finally Cameron ran a great anchor leg to just take the relay from North Down.

U15 girls – The ladies performed to their usual high standard. Caitlin Rose (2nd in A race) and Jessica McMaster (1st in B) filled in admirably for our first choice hurdlers, with a PB from Jessica of 13.3s. Roseanna McGuckian and Katie Larnour showed their class with good wins in the 200m races. Roseanna and Jessica won the A and B long jump with a PB from Jessica of 4.98m while Natalja Ritchie and Kathryin Case took full points in the shot. Kathryn enjoyed her first attempt at the discus where she was 3rd in the A string with Caitlin 2nd in the B. Even with a change of personnel the relay team still won by some 35 metres – just missing the league record by 0.3s, meaning this exceptional squad has just one more chance at the final at Antrim to make a little bit of history.

U15 boys – Andrew Hutchinson led the way with a fine treble in hurdles, high jump plus a fantastic run in the 400m (56.5s). Matthew Reid made it a double win in the hurdles while Josh Jordan had super wins in the A discus and javelin. Nikolai Kowplewsky had a busy evening, winning the B javelin and discus plus placing 2nd in the 400m. Jonny Whan had a fantastic run to win the A 1500m while Ben Fisher surprised himself with a 1.40m PB to win the B high jump. The mixed relay race was a much anticipated finale with the boys facing our U15 girls “Dream Team”. Perhaps the pressure of being 15m behind the girls approaching the last changeover forced the boys to crack but the baton was droppped so we will never know whether Andrew would have caught Erin!

U17 girls – Anna McIlmoyle had to settle for 2nd in the sprint hurdles on this occasion but won the B long jump. Aoibhin McManus fought hard for her 200m A win with a perfectly timed dip on the line. She also won her speciality long jump with a routine 5.13m. There were wins for Courtney Sloan in the A 800m and Jessica Robinson in the B 200m. In the discus Amanda Mitchell had her 2nd best ever competition with 25.19m for 2nd place while debutante Ruth Hewlett won the B. Injury restricted Rebecca Harvey to the javelin where she was 4th in the B. Katie McComb, Jessica, Aoibhin and Anna had a smooth run to win the relay in 54.0s.

U17 Boys – Josh Garnham had a great evening with 3 PB’s and a stormer of a leg in the relay. He won the A 400m in 56.2s before placing 3rd in the shot 8.42m and then beating his high jump PB by 20cms to clear 1.60m for 2nd! Dominic Martin also had a good evening, winning the B 400m, placing 2nd in the A 800m and also taking 3rd in the B shot. The two boys were joined by Harry Howard and Stewart McEwan for a great relay win.

Our athletes of the match for this round were Rebekah Douglas (who narrowly missed the league record) and Josh Garnham for their outstanding efforts. Well done to the pair.