Talented youngsters put on a fine show in Telford

Over 30 different schools and colleges were represented and the eight hours of non-stop action produced three championship best displays, a number of English Schools entry standards and many personal bests.

Tegan Stoddart, a Year 13 student at Thomas Telford School and last year’s English Schools silver medallist, was one of the stand-out performers as she won the senior girls’ shot putt with a putt of 12.87 metres.

That effort improved the previous best, which was set 33 years ago by Sarah Damm of Shrewsbury College, by almost a metre.

Stoddart’s putt was also an English Schools national standard, one of only two such high level performances on the day.

The 12.87m improved her previous best by six centimetres and puts her in the top six in the UK for this outdoor season and in fine form as she heads for the English Schools Championships in Birmingham at the end of the month.

Zoe Gilbody, another Thomas Telford student who is now in Year 11, secured the the only other national standard on the day.

She won the intermediate girls’ 3000m, improving her own championship best that she set last year by three seconds to finish in 9.37.2.

Gilbody has continued her superb winter form at cross country where she won the English Schools Championships at Nottingham and then, just a week later, triumphed at the British Schools Championships in Liverpool the venue of her other English Schools title as a junior girl in 2020.

She was also selected for the GB Under-20 team that travelled to Australia a for the World Cross Country Championships. She has ran two 3000m races so far this season, with her fastest time set at Oxford, where she ran 9.36.43, just a second quicker than her time at Telford, which puts her fourth in the UK rankings.

The other championship best performance on the day saw another long-standing record broken as Luke Edwards, from The Lakelands School in Ellesmere, won the junior boys’ 100m and 200m.

In the 200m, he finished in 23.4 seconds, improving Ellis Greatrex’s best set back in 2014, which was also an English Schools entry standard.

Edwards won the 100m in 11.7, just a tenth outside the championship best at that distance.

Harry Fallon, from Haberdashers Adams School in Newport, was second in both races but struck gold in the long jump as he jumped 5.79m, an 11 centimetre personal best and just one centimetre outside an English Schools entry standard.

Ralph Brown, from Adams School, Wem, scored an unusual double victory, as he won the junior boys’ 800m in 2.09.9 and the javelin with a throw of 32.48m.

In the junior girls’ age group, Idsall School’s Kadisha Nwachukwu claimed victory in the 100m (13.2) and 200m (28.8), while Natalia Sheldon Da Silva, from Shrewsbury High School, also took home two gold medals as she won the long jump with a leap of 4.75m and cleared 1.35m to triumph in the high jump. She also finished second in the 75m hurdles.

Eds Sanu (Haberdasher Adams School, Newport) raced to a sprint double – winning the intermediate boys’100m in 11.4 and the 200m in 23.9, while his team-mate, Barnaby Rhodes, was second in both.

Shrewsbury School’s Jack Kinrade, a former English Schools gold medallist who is currently third ranked in the UK with a season’s best of 1.53, won the 800m and 400m double in 2.00.3 and 51.0 respectively.

Adcote Schools’ Lara Milton enjoyed a superb day as she headed home with three gold medals following success in intermediate girls’ 100m, 200m and discus.

There was double delight for Amelia Funge, from Haberdashers Abraham Darby School, after victory in the shot and javelin.

In the senior age group, Jolyon Davis (Shrewsbury College) comfortably won the javelin with a massive 57.09m – adding almost five metres to his previous best.

Maddie Aiston (Thomas Telford) won the girls’ 100m and 200m and her team-mate, Maggie Preece, did the 1500m and 3000m double.

Another Thomas Telford double winner was Amelia Hancox, who took the discus and hammer titles.

The Shropshire team for the English Schools Championships, to be held at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham later this month, will be announced over the coming days.