Three more national titles decided at Indoor Combined Events
Day two of the U17 and U15 Indoor Combined events saw three more titles decided and a host of personal best performances at the EIS in Sheffield.
Overnight leader Josh Hewett (Club: Manx Harriers, Coach: Di Shimell) completed the job that he had begun on day 1 by taking the U17 men’s heptathlon title with a personal best score of 4603 points, while Theo Adesina (Club: Thurrock Harriers, Coach: Karl Sumun) broke the 3000 points barrier for the first time as he took the U15 boys' pentathlon with a score of 3029. In the final event of the day Jasmine Jolly (Club: Preston Harriers, Coach: Peter Hancock) took a thrilling U15 girls' pentathlon, prevailing in a four-way battle for gold after entering the 800m in the bronze medal position.
U15 Girls' Pentathlon
Jasmine Jolly (Club: Preston Harriers, Coach: Peter Hancock) entered the final event, the 800m, of the U15 pentathlon sitting in third place behind Iris Oliarnyk (Club: Halesowen, Coach: Dominic McNeillis) and Jessica Hopkins (Club: Chelmsford, Coach: Steve Mitchell), but a strong finish saw her leapfrog them both to take the title following a 2:24.95 clocking that was worth 758 points, giving her an overall total of 3397.
It was a clear personal best and the fifth highest total all-time for the Northern 60m hurdles champion, who had been in contention all day without having previously sat atop the overall standings. Earlier Oliarnyk had jumped a personal best 5.41m in the long jump – the second furthest jump in the UK this year – while Kiera Bainsfair (Club: Basildon, Coach: Bob Corbett) had sped to a 9.09 60m hurdles in the day’s opening event. She moved from 4th to 3rd in the 800m in a thrilling finish to the day’s proceedings, squeezing Hopkins, who had produced the day’s biggest shot put with 11.74m, out of the medals.
Top results
Jasmine Jolly 3397
Iris Oliarnyk 3258
Kiera Bainsfair 3228
U15 Boys' Pentathlon
The same three athletes occupied the medal positions from the first event until the last in the U15 boys pentathlon, with Theo Adesina (Club: Thurrock Harriers, Coach: Karl Sumun) heading Zachary Elliott (Club: Birchfield Harriers, Coach: Sharon Morris) and Ben Hughes (Club: Wigan and District, Coach: Sharon-Louise-Walls) throughout.
Adesina had picked up four individual medals in the 300m, 60m hurdles, long jump and high jump at the recent indoor age group championships, but none of them were gold, so he will have been delighted with his efforts, having started the day with the quickest sprint hurdles performance (8.83 seconds for 784 points) and also producing the biggest shot put of the afternoon (12.13m, 614 points).
The Thurrock athlete didn’t have it all his own way, however, as Elliott improved his own UK lead in the long jump to 6.08m, despite Adesina himself breaking 6m for the first time in his career. Hughes also challenged Adesina in the high jump, with both athletes recording heights of 1.71m, which was a personal best for the Wigan and District harrier. In the end however, Adesina came out the clear winner, with a score of 3029 points; just 55 shy of David Guest’s 10 year old record.
Top results
Theo Adesina 3029
Zachary Elliott 2709
Ben Hughes 2615
U17 Men’s Heptathlon (day 2)
Overnight leader Josh Hewett’s (Club: Manx Harriers, Coach: Di Shimell) final score of 4603 took him to ninth place on the UK all-time list, as he finished the job he began on Saturday with strong performances in all three day two disciplines. He recorded 8.73 for 60m hurdles, cleared 3.22m in the pole vault and finished with a 3:04.25 1000m as he improved on the bronze medal that he won 12 months ago, to edge out Joel McFarlane (Club: Arbroath and District) and Kellen Jones (Club: Newport, Coach: Nigel Lewis), who switched positions from the end of day 1.
Of those two athletes, it was Jones who had started the stronger with an 8.50 60m hurdles, the fastest on show, and it was the Welshman who had remained in silver medal position right until the final event, when McFarlane sped to 3:01.72 for 1000m, more than 11 seconds and 106 points better than Jones could muster. That was enough for the silver medal by just 10 points.
Top results after day 2
Josh Hewett 4603
Joel McFarlane 4379
Kellen Jones 4369