YAL Round 2 inc Record for Roseanna!

The venue for Round 2 was switched from Londonderry to the Meadowbank Arena, Magherafelt where we arrived on time despite our bus being hi-jacked by a rowdy group of bandits wearing sky blue and navy! This unsurprisingly led to a lot of banter throughout the day! On the track the City of Lisburn team once again delivered a strong performance across the age-groups from both the boys and girls. With one round to go before the final the squad are now well placed to reach the final in one of the top qualifying positions thanks not only to the athletes themselves but also the hard work of many coaches and the team managers behind the scenes.

Our “Athletes of the Match” were U15 athletes Roseanna McGuckian and Jonny Whan. Many of the sprinters were blown to PBs by the very strong wind behind them, but Roseanna’s 100m time of 12.5s was a bit special as it equalled Anna Boyle’s 1997 YAL record! Jonny Whan made a good contribution to the U15 boys’ team, winning the 1500m before stepping down to the 400m and even finishing with a relay leg.

The Under 13 girls were excellent as usual. Therese Hilman performed to her usual high standard in both sprints. Sarah Woods impressed in the 75m flat, jumped a long jump PB and ran a fine 3rd leg in the relay. Alix Galbraith produced the highest jump by an U13 girl in N. Ireland this year with a 1.38m win. Madison Bowyer and Rebekah Douglas were comfortable winners in the 800m. Jodie Savage had PBs when winning both shot and javelin, with Lauren Rea winning the B string shot with a SB and javelin with a PB. Therese brought the girls home safely for a good relay win.

The Under 15 girls also performed well acoss the board. Erin Quinn, Katie Larmour and Roseanna McGuckian took full points in the sprints between than and along with Jane Anderson combined to come within a second of the league 4x100m record with a great run. With a bit more relay practice and perhaps better conditions at the final in July the record might fall! Roseanna was only 5 cms outside the long jump record with her 5.26m PB with Jessica McMaster winning the B with a 4.92m PB. Zoe Carruthers won the 1500m by a street, while Natalja Ritchie won the discus. The dependable Caitlin Rose backed Natalja up well in the throws. Jane and Megan Marrs took full points in the high jump, both needing only 1.43m to win.

On the track the girls’ U17 sprinters did well with Jessica Robinson recording PBs over both 100m and 200m to win the B races behind Aoibhin McManus and Anna McIlmoyle who were both 2nd in the A. Aoibhin also won the A 300m and B shot. Rebecca Harvey was magnificent, winning the A 1500m and B 300m and the U17 girls made it a clean sweep of the female relays after good runs and slick changeovers by Aoibhin, Jessica, Rebecca and Anna. Amanda Mitchell had a super day with PBs in both discus and shot where she was 2nd in both. Anna McIlmoyle’s contribution continued with wins in the A high jump and B discus.
The U 13 boys squad did well again, with key men Cameron Kelly and Robbie Marrs delivering good performances in the sprints. At the long jump Louis McGuckian had a good Lisburn debut with a 4.36m PB for 2nd while Robbie won the B string. Matthew Neill and Sean Terek were both 2nd in their 1500m races. Matthew Robinson extended his discus PB to over 18m when coming second in the A string with Matthew Neill 2nd in the B. Cameron, Robbie, Matthew and Louis combined well for a good relay win.

In the U15 boys’ category Andrew Hutchinson had PB’s of 11.8s and 24.5s when placing 2nd in both sprints, although some suggested that he should perhaps avoid a 10am breakfast of deep fried chicken nuggets and chips before the Irish Schools next Saturday as he had here!! Ben Fisher had a big PB of 13.1s while placing 2nd in the B 100m. Lisburn debutant Callum McLaughlin along with Ben Fisher took full points in the A and B long jumps while Josh Jordan and Sam Wallace did well in the throws. Jonny Whan and Enda Kelly-McCann did well at 400 and 1500m while the relay team missed victory by just 0.1s despite a great anchor leg by Andrew.

Highlights for the U17 boys were Josh Garnham’s extremely fast but very windy 11.3s / 23.3s in the two sprints. Chris Gibson won the B 100m and 400m which featured some posturing to his fan club on the back straight! Dominic Martin ran a super bend on his way to a win in the B 200m and also ran well in the 400m plus a great anchor leg in the relay. Chris and Dominic long jumped well while Josh enjoyed his debut in the javelin!

In the Open events Alistar Woods won a tight 400m race with a 52.9s run although the prospect of fast times were destroyed by the high winds. Rachel Gibson made another successful outing on the track, running well in a mixed 300m where she recorded 11:14.2.