Ten Qualify for Nationals

National Athletes

National Athletes

Bilton Grange athletes were able to take a break during Heats week and attended the East Area Athletics Meeting with the aspirations of qualifying for the Nationals at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham at the end of the month. In total, 42 athletes travelled to Bedford and were competing against 46 other schools from the East Area. Everyone hoped for good weather after the wash out of the meeting last year.Success came early this year with Marcus Wong, Brooke Millhouse and Lukas Lakin all qualifying for the hurdles finals with Marcus and Lukas winning these to earn the first two places at the Nationals. Fortunately, the success did not stop there and it was pleasing to have athletes approaching me at regular intervals to complete the forms so that they are able to attend the Nationals. While all this was taking place on the track, Oliver Robinson was having success in the discus circle and qualified for the Nationals. The next successes also came in the field with Cosima Berry finishing second in the triple jump with a National standard which enables her to attend the Nationals. Moments later, Lukas Lakin won the Long Jump, repeating the feat that he achieved last year and then Cosima won the High Jump competition. It was an exciting event and in the process of winning the event she broke the National Prep Schools record, setting a new record of 1.54m. Jack Rosser qualified in second with the shot put and then Guy Jamieson and Alice Bletsoe produced two excellent performances on the track, running at the front, to qualify in the 800m.The day was concluded in style as our Under 12 boy 4 x 100m relay team, consisting of Lukas Lakin, Freddie Wood, Rory Bennett and Charlie Bastable, qualified for the Nationals with excellent performances in both the heats and the final. I have only mentioned those that have qualified for the Nationals although it is important to recognise the performances of all the other athletes who have produced fantastic performances and have narrowly missed out on the Nationals. Many found it a hard learning curve as they have produced National standards over the term although were not quite able to reproduce these on the day. Well done to all the athletes and best of luck for those going to the Nationals.CJH


Tags: Athletics, Prep, Sport