12 Medals For Princethorpe At The ISA National Athletics Championships
22 Jun
Princethorpe is celebrating after bringing home a haul of 12 medals from the Independent Schools Association’s (ISA) National Track and Field Athletics Championships that was held on Monday 19 June at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
Princethorpe took a team of 18 athletes from Years 7 to 11; the pupils had all qualified for the Nationals at the Regional Championships earlier in the season. It was an excellent opportunity for them to compete against high calibre opposition at a pre-eminent event.
Princethorpe’s medal haul included six Gold medals. Olivia Monk stormed down the track to win both the Year 10/11 100m and 200m Sprints in explosive times of 12.65 and 26.21 seconds respectively. Then Grace McCollin won the Year 8/9 75m Hurdles finishing in a super time of 11.47 seconds and took another Gold in the Year 8/9 200m Sprint running 25.71 seconds. Issey Cleary won Gold in the Year 7 Girls Long Jump, jumping a fantastic 4.46 metres, and Grace McCollin and Penelope Jones helped the Midlands Year 8/9 Girls' Relay team finish first in the 4x100m Relay competition, earning themselves gold medals in a stunning team time of 50.57 seconds.
Claiming a Silver medal were Penelope Jones who ran the Year 8/9 100m Sprint in 13.27 second, Ben Smith who finished second in the 1500m in a time of 4.24.56 minutes and Issey Cleary and Lillibee Harris who helped the Midlands Year 7 Girls’ Relay team run the 4x100m course finish second and take a Silver medal in a team time of 56.99 seconds.
Dami Ajagunna earned herself a Bronze medal after throwing 19.58 metres in the Year 7 Javelin while Lauren Tebbatt took Bronze in the Years 8/9 Javelin throwing 24.90 metres and Martina Grace claimed a Bronze in the Years 10/11 1500m running the distance in 5.26.87 minutes. A number of pupils only just missed out on medals after finishing in fourth place.
Foundation Director of Sport, Lee Cassell, was delighted commenting, “A huge well done to all of our athletes for an excellent performance. They responded so well to the top-class competition they faced and we had a number of new personal bests. Their tenacity, determination, good humour and genuine camaraderie made for a fantastic experience for the whole team, congratulations to them all.”
Competing for Princethorpe were: Year 7s Issy Cleary, Lillibee Harris, Charlie Leech, Henry Sims, Olly Moore, James Bostock, Dami Ajagunna and George Knott, Year 9s Lily Hunter, Lauren Tebbatt, Penelope Jones, Grace McCollin and Josh Harris, Year 10s Olivia Monk, Martina Grace, Lim Self and Emily Evans and Year 11 Ben Smith.