Sussex Schools made a tremendous start to the English Schools track and field championships at Gateshead on Friday morning when Edan Cole won, not only the first Sussex Gold medal of the championships but as the Inter (U17) Boy’s javelin was the first event on the programme he was also the first champion for 2016.
Conditions early in the day were uncomfortable with wind and a torrential shower soon after the meeting got underway.
The sixteen year old Cardinal Newman pupil, who is the top ranked British U17 thrower this season was not going to be upset by a little wind and rain and although he was a little shy of his season’s best a fine throw of 59.81m was a National Standard and a full metre ahead of his nearest rival.
There were some near misses by Sussex performers on a day that of necessity must be jammed packed with heats and disappointments but Sussex did very well with many athletes surviving their early round to be able to return to compete in semi-finals or finals on Saturday.
The near misses for Sussex performers came in Friday’s finals with Ben Hawkes (Sion) finishing fourth in the Inter hammer throw with a national standard throw of 59.99m, Jack Harris (St Pauls) another Inter performer, clearing 4.00m for fourth place in the pole vault and Dan James Thomas, also in the Inter age group placing fifth in the shot putt with 13.76m.
Natasha Purchas (Burgess Hill) and Mimi Miles (Hailsham) both cleared 3.30m in the Inter Pole vault where they shared a fine fifth place.
There was a ninth place for Emily Robinson (Steyning) in the Inter discus throw with 33.69m. and 10th place for Elizabeth Korczak (Brighton College) in the Junior (U15) javelin throw with 33.73m and she will be able to return in the same age group next year.
Mary Adeniji (Hailsham) filled eighth place in the senior (U19) triple jump with 10.85m.
Among those lining up for medals in Saturday’s finals will be Joe Fuggle (Uplands), the reigning Inter champion, who cruised to a commanding victory in the Senior 400m hurdles in 55.33s and Amber Anning (Roedean), the reigning Junior 200 metre champion, who dominated her heat of the Inter 300m in 39.72s slowing down in the last fifty metres and finished as the second fastest qualifier and Christ’s Hospital’s Sam Odu who won his heat of the Junior 80m hurdles in in 11.53s.
A fine personal best from Jake Binns (Durrington) of 10.88s also earnt him a place in the Senior 100m final.
More details and performances are recorded on the Twitter Pages.
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Reg Hook.