Junior School athletics and cross country round-up

It has been a bumper year for our young athletes in Junior School with medals and trophies galore making their way back to the King’s School. 

Athletics and Cross Country clubs in Junior School are organised by J4 teacher, Mr O’Neil who is ably assisted by Mrs Grove, Mrs Willis and other staff. 

He said: “We have had a fantastic year with a brilliant group of young athletes and have enjoyed great successes, bringing back a superb haul of medals from all the competitions. One of the stand out things about King’s Juniors for me is the incredible level of participation we have; more than 40 pupils regularly attend each training session. 

“Every year, so many of our pupils are proud to pull on a green vest to represent their school and this year has seen more pupils than ever selected to race, jump and throw for King’s Juniors.

“The commitment and dedication the children show week after week to training drills and improving their times and techniques, as well as supporting and encouraging each other, is nothing short of amazing.”

Here is a round-up of the school’s achievements this year, and a gallery of images from the events. 

Athletics 

The athletics season ended on a high with seven pupils qualifying for the ISA national finals which were held at the impressive Commonwealth Stadium in Birmingham.

Ben Marshall and Poppy McKenna won gold in their respective events of shot put and 600m, becoming national champions, and two of our pupils – Eric Slater and Poppy McKenna were selected for the Northern relay squad at the same event, both earning a bronze medal. 

Earlier in the season, Junior School athletes enjoyed success in a number of competitions, including AJIS athletics which saw King’s bring home 15 golds, six silvers and two bronze medals. In the ISA athletics, the J4 boys were crowned champions and King’s Juniors were ranked second overall in the North of England. 

In the Tri-athletics, the boys won their section and King’s Juniors were crowned overall champions for the tenth consecutive year.

In the AJIS indoor athletics, the young athletes maintained their form, winning seven golds, 12 silvers and three bronze medals. 

 

Cross Country 

As a team, King’s Juniors have performed exceptionally in Cross Country this year. 

In the AJIS competition, every squad member returned to King’s with a medal, an unbelievable feat! Our U10 boys and girls won the silver and bronze medals respectively, and the U11s won gold for the boys and silver for the girls. Individual medals were also won by Poppy McKenna, Milo Hughes and Poppy Hayworth.

In the ISA competition, there were gold medals for the U9 and U11 girls, as well as the U11 boys, and a silver for the U9 boys. Individual medals were won by Poppy McKenna who became northern champion with gold in the U11 girls event, as well as William Sedwell (U11 boys silver), Milo Hughes (U11 boys bronze) and Ava Phillips (U9 girls bronze).

Twelve athletes qualified to represent the North in the ISA National Cross Country final, putting in some exceptional performances. Huge congratulations to Poppy McKenna who won individual silver in her category.