Championship best for Sawyers leads junior PB-fest

CHAMPIONSHIP BEST FOR SAWYERS LEADS JUNIOR PB-FEST

During the same weekend in which Britain’s Kelly Sotherton added the World indoor pentathlon silver medal accolade to her global outdoor heptathlon bronze, 13 year-old Jazmin Sawyers showed glimmers of future international hopes from the junior multi-events ranks, with an eye-catching performance of her own, writes Nicola Bamford.

The City of Stoke AC athlete set a Championship best performance in the under15 girls’ pentathlon – on her pentathlon debut to boot - with a stunning 3383 score to seal the English crown by a remarkable 279 points.  

The England under15 indoor long and high jump champion registered fine marks of 9.21secs (60m hurdles), 5.28m (long jump), 1.66m (high jump), 8.66m (shot put) and 2:35.04 (800m); most performances being close to her personal best and saving her best until last by slashing four seconds off her four-lap best.

The silver medal went to Corby AC’s Gabby Bangay; the 14 year-old Midland 60m hurdles bronze-medallist, who scored a breakthrough with a scintillating 278-point personal best – and wins in the 60m hurdles and shot put) in 3104, whilst Laura Skelton (City of York AC) took the bronze with 3041, in her first competition of 2008. Encouragingly, 24 of the 33 starters achieved lifetime best performances.

In an exhilarating under17 women’s heptathlon; reminiscent to the women’s World indoor pentathlon battle the previous day, Newport Harriers’ Lauren O’Reilly snatched the gold by a mere 4 points from 2007 champion, Kaneesha Johnson, of Colchester Harriers, with a score of 3478 to Johnson’s 3474.

O’Reilly took the 60m hurdles, increased her high jump best by 12cm and shared long jump victory with Johnson, before the latter fought back with third in the shot put and an 800m victory. Chloe Galloway (Woodford Green and Essex Ladies) collected the bronze with a 3338 score.

The under17 men’s competition epitomised the superb quality of performances over the weekend, as 13 of the 17 finishers registered lifetime bests. The 2008 edition of the Championships witnessed the inaugural heptathlon, rather than the pentathlon for this age-group; therefore the new challenge of the pole-vault discipline was introduced.

Macclesfield Harriers’ 16 year-old Jack Andrew - 8^th in the English under20 combined events Championships earlier this year – improved his heptathlon best by 242 points and almost replicated this figure in his winning margin over his under17 peers.

Andrew’s finest events came in the pole vault and 1000m, as the Northern 60m hurdles silver-medallist took the former by a 10cm winning margin and additionally won the 5-lap event.

England Athletics under17 60m hurdles runner-up, Andrew Pozzi (Stratford upon Avon AC) took commanding victories in the 60m flat and hurdles and a joint second in the shot put competition, to notch up 4594 for the silver medal, the shot being comprehensively won by the third longest putt in the UK of 15.10m by the midlands silver medalist Jamie Courtennay. Nicholas Stoppard (Stevenage and North Herts AC) used his narrow victory in the long jump and equal second in the shot put to catapult him to the bronze (4440).

 Despite Notts AC’s 14 year-old, Ross Walker-Smart’s training schedule being entirely geared towards the high jump only, the English and Midland under15 high jump Champion took pentathlon gold, with a 170-point winning margin; culminating 2680 points.

With a stunning 21cm high jump winning leap, Walker-Smart reeled in Scunthorpe and Districts AC’s Ashley Wren; who made a blistering start to his campaign, with 9.00secs 60m flat and 6.05m long jump victories, to push Wren into second with a 2510 score.