Day two of the Visa BUCS Athletics Championships saw Loughborough claim a host of medals and fresher Izzy Jeffs pick up the first gold medal of the weekend in the javelin for the Loughborough Student Athletics Club.
As well as Jeffs, Harry AA (100m) and Tim Williams (Hammer) both picked up gold while there were silvers for Ricardo Twumasi (Triple Jump) and Matt Devereux (Pole Vault). Rachel Tyler (Discus), Paul Walker (Pole Vault) and Sophie Thomas (Shot) all picked up bronze to take the LSAC total medal tally to nine.
Arguably, the only setback to the LSAC charge on the BUCS title was the blow of three-time defending BUCS champion Meghan Beesley being disqualified in semi-final 2 of the women’s 400m hurdles due to IAAF Rule 168.7 regarding hurdle fault of the trailing leg.
Beesley’s inability to regain her title makes way for teammate Justine Kinney to bid for gold as she comfortably qualified as fastest in her race. Thankfully, there were no such issues for Niall Flannery in the same event after arguably the most convincing win of the day. Flannery will be looking to challenge the Championship Record of 49.55 seconds in tomorrow evenings final.
After a disappointing start to the day in the javelin for Sophie Thomas returned strongly in her second event where a first round throw of 12.66m was good enough for a bronze medal in the shot put.
There was a further medal for LSAC from Tim Williams after a 61.15m personal best in the men’s hammer final saw him on top of the podium. Credit must also go to Craig Murch and Joe Bloomfield for finishing just outside the medal positions; the former gaining a personal best in the process.
There were two medals in the men’s pole vault, Matt Devereux slipped into silver medal position in the men’s final, after leading for much of the afternoon while Loughborough colleague Paul Walker also medalled with third place.
On the female side of the same event, the four Loughborough athletes of Sally Scott, Abi Heywood, Sophie Upton and Emma Anderson all safely progressed from their respective qualifiers with jumps of 3.30m.
In the women’s discus Rachel Tyler picked up LSAC’s second bronze of the second session with a throw of 39.33m before African Violet donned the podium yet again as Ricardo Twumasi leapt just 2cm shy of gold in the men’s triple jump. The evening's field events drew to a close with Emma Lowry and Chloe Boulter finishing fourth and sixth respectively in the high jump; both clearing 1.69m
On the track, 1500m runner Stephen Mears progressed to Monday’s final after a fourth place finish in heat two. Unfortunately he will not be joined by Chris Matthews who failed to qualify. Similar news occurred in the men’s 5000m, not even a personal best from Jamie Knapp could see him or Alex Wall-Clarke progress to Monday’s final.
In the sprints, after earlier qualification as second fastest semi finalist, Harry Akines-Aryeetey stormed through to win the men’s 100m in a modest time of 10.42 seconds taking the team’s third gold of the day. Amy Allcock was the sole LSAC female representative in the 100m final after Holly Croxford narrowly missed out on progression finished seventh in her semi.
Allcock seemed upbeat despite the defeat saying, “It could have gone better, but a BUCS final? I can’t really ask for more”.
Laura Wake produced an impressive performance ranking her first overall going through to the 400m semi-finals. The defending indoor and outdoor BUCS champion recorded a time of 55.42 seconds. Richard Davenport eased through his 400m heat in comfortable fashion along with Mark Hunt.
Earlier, Chris Perry also had a successful morning with a personal best time of 9:27.46 in the men’s 3000m steeple chase, a which time saw him finish third in his heat.
There was a clean sweep in the 800m as all four Loughborough athletes which included, Abbie Vernon, 2008 BUCS indoor silver medallist Carolyn Plateau, Guy Learmonth and Andrew Richardson all made successful bids for the next round.
Saturday evening saw a mixture of BUCS relay heats and UKA events which were watched by an incredible and very vocal 40,000 spectators. LSAC will have been pleased with the response of their relay quartets in the face of the increased pressure however, as all four teams, 4×100 and 4×400 in men’s and women’s both eased into the finals.
