Story By Athlete - Neva Jansen
Continuing from the outstanding performances at the SEAA Championships, on 14th June, a handful of SpeedPro athletes competed at their respective County Schools Championships. There were some phenomenal performances, with countless medals, a few Personal Bests, and several Season's Bests achieved.
Surrey County Schools Championships
At Kingston, SpeedPro had Tommaso Crosara in the Junior Boys' 300m, Thomas Whorton in the Intermediate Boys' 800m, Keiyan Waikwa in the Intermediate Girls' 300m, Lia Clements in the Junior Girls' 100m and Mahira Narvrkar in the Intermediate Girls' 200m.
Tommaso Crosara secured a silver medal in 36.38 seconds and earned a place on the Surrey Team for the English Schools Track and Field Championships in July. Thomas Whorton won bronze in a tactical and well-executed race, running 2:03.79, his first-ever medal at these Championships.
Keiyan Waikwa ran a strong race to achieve a Season's Best of 44.35 seconds. Lia Clements performed excellently at her first Schools Championships, clocking a Personal Best of 13.77 seconds. Mahira Narvrkar produced her second-fastest 200m time of 28.45.
A solid showing from all SpeedPro athletes at Surrey Schools.
London County Schools Championships
At Battersea Park, SpeedPro had Neva Jansen competing in the Intermediate Girls' Discus, Freya McAndie in the Junior Girls' 300m, Soraya Stevens in the Intermediate Girls' 80m Hurdles and Triple Jump, and Beatrice Eminson in the Junior Girls' 800m.
Neva Jansen comfortably won the girls' discus and secured a spot on the London Team for the English Schools Track and Field Championships.
Freya McAndie easily won her heat in 43.8 seconds and followed it up with 43.4 seconds in the final, taking silver. She was just 0.74 seconds off the English Schools qualifying mark. Freya has the talent and work ethic to hit that standard. It'll be exciting to see what she can do next season.
Soraya Stevens had two consistent performances, earning bronze medals in both events. She ran her first-ever 80m Hurdles race in 13.67 seconds and achieved a Personal Outdoors Best of 10.14m in the Triple Jump.
Beatrice Eminson earned a bronze, running a tactical race in 2:24.62. However, we know more to come; her decision to race for the medal paid off. Overall, the London girls did a fantastic job.
Middlesex County Schools Championships
At Lee Valley, Holly Townsend competed in the Intermediate Girls' 800m. Holly was arguably the standout performance of the weekend, winning silver with a 2-second Personal Best of 2:22.73.
Holly competed in her first County Schools Championships, and witnessing her rapid progress this season has been incredible. We're all excited to see how fast she can go by the end of the season and into the next.
English Schools Championships
Tommy Crosara and Neva Jansen had a fantastic weekend in Birmingham.
Neva competed in the Intermediate Girls' Discus and made it into the top eight, finishing sixth overall. Tommy Crosara had a phenomenal outing, running a massive Personal Best of 35.76 seconds in the Junior Boys 300m heats before becoming English Schools Champion the following day.
Some incredible performances in Birmingham, and we wish the rest of the team the best of luck when they return for Nationals next week.
Open Meets
Beyond the schools' competitions, we've seen more brilliant results.
In particular, Thomas Whorton, who has recently explored the 400m hurdles, ran an enormous Personal Best of 59.70 seconds in the 400m Hurdles at the SAL on 13th July. That time, he met the national standard, and impressively, he ran it over the men's height. Seeing how fast he goes at Nationals over his hurdle height will be exciting.
We also had SpeedPro athletes make their presence felt at the Mick Marlow Memorial Meeting in Bracknell, a lively evening with great vibes, a brilliant atmosphere, and some standout performances to top it off. Neva Jansen delivered a series of strong throws in the discus, showing absolute consistency and composure in the circle. Meanwhile, Thomas Whorton stepped up in the BMC 800m, racing hard and clocking a solid Season's Best of 2:01.20, another clear sign that he's rounding into form at the right time in the season.
It's been a great two months for SpeedPro. Let's see what August has to bring.
