Blog
LJ wins national title with championship best performance
In another piece of history for the club, Southampton AC topped the medal table at a national championships for the first time in its history at the weekend. The English and Welsh national U17 & U15 indoor combined events championship took place at the English institute of sport in Sheffield but with the competition being open to all athletes in the UK if effectively acts as the British age group combined event championships.
Of the 12 medals available. The club took home a gold and silver as well as winning an incredible 6 of the 22 individual events that make up the 4 age group combined events champs (U17 men & women, U15 boys and girls).
4 young athletes from the club made the long journey and all were rewarded with personal best performances and top 10 finishes.
Star of the show was Salisbury schoolgirl, Lucy-Jane Matthews who yesterday recorded the 2nd highest indoor pentathlon score of all time by an U15 girl and win the U15 girls pentathlon in a championship best performance with only Rio Olympian Morgan Lake having got a bigger points total. Lucy-Jane began with a pb of 8.96 secs in the 60m hurdles to come 2nd and join the sub 9 second club. LJ then produced a huge lifetime best of 5.46m to win the long jump and take the overall lead in the competition. A further lifetime best of 11.61m in the shot putt saw her win the event and the lead extended and yet another pb of 1.61m meant LJ won the high jump and be so far in front in the pentathlon competition that she had 30 seconds to spare in the 800m over her nearest rival. Not that this was important as LJ rattled off her 5th pb with a 2 min 32 sec 800m to finish 2nd in her heat and accumulate an enormous points total of 3649 points to set a new championship record.
Amaya Scott competed on Saturday winning 2 of the 5 events in the U17 women's pentathlon and took overall silver with a points total of 3582 points. The winner Pippa Early set a new British record to take gold. Amaya began with a 9.36 sec run in the 60m hurdles which put her in 13th place. This then turned to 1st place after Amaya leapt an indoor pb of 1.70m to win the high jump and go 3rd in the UK rankings. Amaya then tested the nerve of Mum and coach by falling out of the circle with her first 2 attempts in the shot putt before going out over 13m with her final attempt to win the event and consolidate her lead. Amaya then leapt 5.28m in the long jump which saw her drop into 2nd place in the overall competition behind Pippa Early who won the long jump. With Pippa being an excellent 800m runner, and it being Amaya's weakest event, she was never going to challenge for the title and ran conservatively to take an excellent overall silver medal.
Also competing yesterday, Callum Gregson and Oliver Thatcher both set new pentathlon pb's to finish 8th and 10th respectively in the U15 boys competition. Callum was 9th fastest in the 60m hurdles where Oli set a new pb. Both boys leapt over 5m to record pb's in the long jump with Oli showing nerves of steel after no jumping on his first 2 efforts. Oli also set a new pb of 1.58m in the high jump which Callum won by equaling his pb of 1.70m. Callum set a new pb in the shot and both boys recorded indoor pb's in the 800m to give Callum a new pb and overall points total of 2414 points and Oli a huge personal best by over 400 points of 2301 with both boys wrapping up up top ten finishes.
Amaya Scott competed on Saturday winning 2 of the 5 events in the U17 women's pentathlon and took overall silver with a points total of 3582 points. The winner Pippa Early set a new British record to take gold. Amaya began with a 9.36 sec run in the 60m hurdles which put her in 13th place. This then turned to 1st place after Amaya leapt an indoor pb of 1.70m to win the high jump and go 3rd in the UK rankings. Amaya then tested the nerve of Mum and coach by falling out of the circle with her first 2 attempts in the shot putt before going out over 13m with her final attempt to win the event and consolidate her lead. Amaya then leapt 5.28m in the long jump which saw her drop into 2nd place in the overall competition behind Pippa Early who won the long jump. With Pippa being an excellent 800m runner, and it being Amaya's weakest event, she was never going to challenge for the title and ran conservatively to take an excellent overall silver medal.
Also competing yesterday, Callum Gregson and Oliver Thatcher both set new pentathlon pb's to finish 8th and 10th respectively in the U15 boys competition. Callum was 9th fastest in the 60m hurdles where Oli set a new pb. Both boys leapt over 5m to record pb's in the long jump with Oli showing nerves of steel after no jumping on his first 2 efforts. Oli also set a new pb of 1.58m in the high jump which Callum won by equaling his pb of 1.70m. Callum set a new pb in the shot and both boys recorded indoor pb's in the 800m to give Callum a new pb and overall points total of 2414 points and Oli a huge personal best by over 400 points of 2301 with both boys wrapping up up top ten finishes.
