DYFED schools athletes travelled to Cwmbran Sports Centre to compete at the Welsh Schools’ annual Sportshall finals and saw three of the teams finish fourth and the under 15 boys in sixth.
Llandovery Colleges Toby Baldwin was a convincing winner in the under 15 all-rounder event and thanks to his first places in the 2 laps and long jump along with a silver in the shot, he will now head to Manchester to contest the individual competition at the UK finals in April.
Niamh Roberts and Victoria Rejinak came second and third, respectively, in the girls.
There were several good performances particularly in the under 13’s team event from Ellie Loweth, Phoebe Davis, Nia Williams, Amy Mullen, Iona Melrose, Amy Tucker, Abbie Thomas, Nicole Squire, Isabell Sadler, Ellie Poffley, Zara Evans.
The boys equivalent who finished in fourth were Kieron Heaven, Ben Proctor, Shon Jones, Keiron Heywood, Daniel Kite, Stephen Reed, Luca Gianni, Kory Ash, Jamie Zygadlo, Tristan Nunes and Cai Ifans.
Squad members included in the under 15 category were Elin Jones, Rebecca Williams, Ellie May Austin and Lucas Steadman.
The Harriers seniors were in action at the Llanelli Half Marathon & Neath 10 Miler. In Llanelli, the first Harrier home was Paul Clarke, running solidly at six minutes 29 pace the middle distance specialist showed a strong winter base that bodes well for the track season ahead.
A finishing time of one hour 24, he was just 10 seconds off his PB enabling him to finish 34th overall and 20th in his age category. Vince Bailey ran well in the V40 category finishing 21st in one hour 32, whilst Lisa Forest also hit her target for the day in dipping under two hours to complete the race in one hour 59.
In the Neath, ten miler David Jones continued his comeback and with a strong run, came seventh overall in a strong field. He ran consistent sub six minute miles, recording a finishing time of 58 minutes 24. The former eight min 40 3K Welsh international looks to be steadily re-gaining form as the season progresses.
Jamie Best had a typically strong run to record a personal best for the distance of 64.45. Both runners are pictured below.
In other results, a small squad of west Wales athletes made the long trip up to Loughborough for the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships. Running alongside the best, Liam Edwards ran 00:12:53 in the under 13 boys leading the team to 24th spot.
Eva Edwards, in the under 15 girls, finished in 00:19:36, Cerys Davies 00:26:36 under 17 women and senior man Huw Davies crossing the line in 00:57:59.
William Edwards was chosen to represent Wales in the Under 20 international match against England in Cardiff and finished 2nd in the age group competition with a best jump of 1.99m, while Trystan Leech and Sharon Leech finished up the field in the 5K and 10K St David’s Day Races clocking 00:19:08 and 00:40:50 respectively.
On Saturday (Mar 18), Dyfed Schools endurance athletes will head to Brecon to contest the Welsh Schools National Cross Country Championships.
Age groups will vary from the Year 7 youngsters through to the U20 seniors with places for the Welsh team at the Schools International and Home Countries up for grabs.
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