West Mids XC League - Sunday 8th November
Junior XC Team extend lead at the top
The young athletes full of high spirits & determination went into the race at Wolverhampton, leading a field of 20 regional clubs and did not disappoint, extending their overall lead over the chasing pack with a mixture of outstanding individual & team performances.
U11 Girls
The U/11 Girls maintained their position at Number 1 with another set of fine performances, Phoebe Ellis put a classy performance in to finish 1st again, Constantia Liburd proved her strength to finish in 5th place, Emily Cutler was fantastic in her 1st Cross Country race for the club to finish 11th, just beating the improving Lily Carmichael into 12th place while Georgia Wright romped home in 15th place to ensure that the 1st 5 Club runners through were within the top 20 !!!
Ella Bromley, 31st, Poppy Carmichael,35th in her 1st Cross Country race for the club, Megan Hughes 51st, Ella Machin-Bradbury 54th, Charlotte Vessey 59th, Abigail Shocklidge 60th, Millie Mason 61st, Luisa Moen 71st, Katie Woods 78th, Eva Spellman 85th, Charlotte Valentine 88th, Milan Clues 97th and Charlotte Lodge 99th in her 1st Cross Country race for the club. These young girls are once again proving to be a strong force for the club and for the future of our athletics.
U11 Boys
A fantastic team performance that sees the team just one point outside the medal positions with three races to go.
Haydn Arnall was again the lead athlete home for the team (15th) with Cameron Roberts improving by 9 places from the last race (22nd), Tom White in his first race finished in an outstanding 24th place with Joe Musgrove (possibly the youngest runner in the race) 38th and Alexander Thomson (61st ) completing the scoring places.
Joe Childs (67th), Rhys Dickerson (68th), Noah Slinn (70th), Lloyd Faulkner (73rd), Riley Pitts (75th).
U13 Girls
U13 girls- a fantastic turnout of 19 club runners in this race with Isobel Hughes top scoring in 9th place, followed by Katie Clubb in 11th and Alison Inwood 16th, Becky Pinto 23rd and Charlotte Murphy in 27th. Out of a field of 120 runners all the girls performed really well and most improved their position from the first race. Overall the team has moved into 2nd place.
Rebecca Shears (30th), Jeorjia Laws (38th), Ciara Moore (47th), Maddie Spellman (62nd), Natalie Goddard (68th), Daisy Cummings (69th), Kirsty Goddard (79th) Emily Byrd (81st), Harriette Vessey (94th), Emily Valentine (98th), Katrina Daley (108th), Phinolla Hindle (109th), Megan Exley (111th), Casey Dove (117th),
U13 Boys
The U13 boys put in another very competent team performance, and consolidated their 4th position overall. Billy Bowman-Shaw led them home in 6th place, strongly supported by Jack Murphy (12th), Kyran Wilson (15th), Adam Wright (24th), Harry Hughes ( 48th), Harry Taylor ( 63rd), Michael Kinder (72nd), and Nathan Hollowell ( 85th). With over 100 runners in the field, this was a great effort, and it was excellent to see 8 runners competing, up from 5 in the first race.
U15 Girls
The Young U15s pulled out all the stops to improve their team standing from 5th to 4th. Both Sarah Bennett (10th) & Genevieve Roberts (13th) improved their previous placings to lead the team home, Clarissa Blake (35th), Mary Hughes (55th), Megan Love (71st) & Harriet Snead (88th) completed the team.
U15 Boys
Ben Jennings again led the U15B team home finishing in 20th place closely followed by Jacob Allen with an excellent run in 24th, James Smith & Carrick Baldwin both with another year to run at this age group showed their potential over the longer distance by finishing 38th & 49th respectively. Alex-John McLaren (68th) & Nicholas Scales (69th) fought their own battle around a testing course with Alex-John just edging out his team mate.
U17 Girls
Charlotte Inwood returned to top form to win the race, closely followed by Emily Waugh in 3rd and Gabby Moriarty in 10th to keep the team in 2nd place overall. Briony Banks, Eleanor Barnes and Lauren Byrd provided strong support to close the gap on leaders Halesowen
U17 Boys
In the final race of the day with the rain now lashing down, the U17 men put in a superb performance. The absence of 2 of the top 3 runners in the first race made no difference to their overall score, with three runners still finishing in the top ten – Rory Grant (5th), Guy Marshman (7th) and Kieran Garlick (9th). Close behind were Rory Bowman–Shaw (13th) and Robert Male (15th), while Danny Wardle came in a very respectable 32nd in his first West Midlands league outing this year. The only disappointment is that only 3 runners count in this age group – if it had been 5 as for the younger age groups, Rugby and Northampton would be leading the team event with 5 home in the top 15. As it is, they are still a close second, with the chance to catch the leading club, Cannock and Stafford, over the final 3 races.
