Newport Harriers
South East Wales Junior League

After a dreadful week leading up to the 3rd round of the South East Wales Junior League, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a warm sunny day at the Michael Sobell Stadium at Aberdare. We had a very good turn out considering it was now the holiday season, so the team was bound to keep the officials busy for the afternoon.

Starting with the real youngsters, the Under 11 boys had a really dominant afternoon, winning both short sprints with Ieuan Wilkins and Tristan Cuer, and they nearly did the double over 200m. It was another double first at 800m for Carwyn penny and Edward O'Keefe. Andrew Morris and Ryan Martin provided excellent support in the field events, then they rounded off the day with Alex Cisuelo by winning the relay.

The girls were not to be out done, and they matched their male team mates in the sprints and went one better, with Amelia Reynolds blowing away the old 150m league record. The girls also put in a strong performance in the field with Gabrielle having a busy day, whilst Katlin Scarfi, Morgan Woodward and Danielle Morgan all picked up wins in the their events. Emma Ligthard completed the successful team with a nice 800m run.

The under 13 boy and girls found they had tougher opposition, but a strong team in each category pushed the other clubs hard all afternoon. There were notable wins for Ryan Morgan and Oliver Hudson in the sprints, and apart from a couple of gaps the boys were backed up strongly by Jack Feal and Liam Bradley on the track. On the field, there were wins for Stevan Russell and Tom Williams and another for Oliver. With Kyle Arnold and Joel Fowler completing the boys team it was no surprise when they won their match  The girls match was harder, and wins from Emma Hennessey, Emma O'Donovan and Melissa Roberts in the individual events plus the relay team where they were joined by Sophie O'Brien was only good enough for 4th.

The Under 15 boys were just piped by Cwmbran despite some excellent results from James Morgan in the 100m and Javelin, Mike Payne in the 400m and Long Jump - Mike missed the League record by just 2cm. With Tyrone Fowler, Declan O'Brien, Curtis Goodger and Matt Arnold also providing to results it was just the gaps and the disastrous relay that cost them the result.

The U15 Girls went on better, as girls do. Bethan Wakefield had a storming run in the 100m and only just missed the double before anchoring the victorious 4x100 in fine style pulling the team back from 2nd to a clear win as you can see above. Melissa Arthur had her usual run of success with easy wins in the Shot and Javelin backed up by a 2nd in the Long jump. There were also wins for Lauren Archer over the longer sprint, Megan Coe was out on her own in the 300m and Chloe Powell picked up useful a win in the Shot and a PB in the 100m. Delwyn Louden completed the winning team that won the relay.

Under 17 and under 20 women were extremely thin on the ground from all clubs so it was no surprise we didn't shine there, thanks to Sian Jordan and Ceara Rice for flying the flag anyway. The boys did fare better even with a small team, Tom Morgan was in fine form in the high jump, the 100m and the Javelin. Tom Aviss provided equal support in winning the long jump B, the Discus and taking 2nd in the Triple. Tom Kendal completed the Tom trio with another Javelin win and 2nd in the long jump. Emrys Penny was also on form on the track with a PB in the 1500m, a stunning win the in 800m and showed a good turn of speed over the 400m. Richard Williams had a brace of wins in the Triple and Discus which he backed up with a 2nd in the shot. Such a consistent performance meant the team won by over 40 points.

Despite there only being two under 20 men, they finished 2nd. Ashley Price covers the sprints well and Lewis Lynch did the heavy throws taking a win in the shot.