An intense and entertaining day of athletics saw the Midlands triumph as the North West hosted the Sainsbury’s School Games for the first time.
The home team took an early lead as they racked up gold after gold as the sun shone on the Regional Sports Centre in Manchester. Their first gold medal went to Carys Mcaulay to add the title to her English Schools and SIAB crowns. She was joined on the winners’ podium by Naomi Ogbeta and Kevin Metzger in the triple jump, and a fantastic 3,000m from Harriet Knowles-Jones cemented the region’s lead.
Millie Forest added the ambulant shot title followed by Emma Hamplett in the javelin and Jade Mullin in the seated discus.
After a brief break from the action on the track, the Midlands started to look the team to beat as Alicia Barrett added another gold to her collection in the 80mh to follow in her sister’s footsteps. English Schools’ champions Ryan Gorman and Charlotte Mclennaghan made it a Midlands double in the 200m, while Youth Olympic Triathlon champion Ben Djikstra showed his versatility on the track with a fine 3,000m win.
In the field, the golds continued for the Midlands as Rory Dwyer ended his brilliant season with the high jump title and a new championship best of 2.09m. He was joined by Joel Leon Benitez in the pole vault who capped his season in style with a convincing win.
Elsewhere, Josh Kerr of Scotland showed his class in the 1,500m to add to his English Championship 3,000m crown, and Daniel Rowden of the SE continued to dominate the 800m with another fine performance.
Michelle Hughes also made it a clean sweep of titles in the 300mh, and the South West’s Will Battershill smashed Zak Seddon’s previous championship best by 0.6s in the 1,500m steeple chase. There were also new championship bests for George Armstrong in the discus, and Jake Norris and Amy Herrington in the hammer.
The European IPC bronze medallist Ben Rowlings also added the gold to his collection in the 100m wheelchair boys’ race.
As usual, the relays ended the day’s proceedings off with the Midlands taking two of the four races, with the exceptions being the ladies 4x300m and men’s 4x400m.
Manchester was also confirmed as the venue for next year’s competition at the closing ceremony.
For full results, please see https://www.2014schoolgames.com/2014/results/athletics/schedule
