Team wise, the main focus this Summer, after being promoted last Summer to Div 1 of the KYAL (U13/15) was to maintain our position in the League, writes head coach Darrell Smith. In addition, establish an U17 Team in the Southern Track League. Individually we were looking for our Athletes to place at Kent Champs and maybe qualify for National Champs.
Kent Club Champs
On May 14/15th the U15s and U17s had their Kent Club Champs at Bromley. The highlight was Bronze in the U15G Shot for Briana Karunga and a 4th for Holly Diprose in the U17W 1500m. In the U17M 100m Toby Vagg was an impressive 7th and Liv Mtungwazi was one place short of making the U15G 100m Final.
Kent Schools Championships, Medway Park, Gillingham
By June, the season was fully in swing and the temperatures were hot on Sat 10th June at Medway Park. Representing their School districts but very much SAC Athletes, Holly Diprose converted her previous two 4ths at 1500m at this event with a 1st place which was probably her best race of the season.
Other performance there included a 6th in the 400m for Luke Bridges and 5th for Hattie Carson in the Long Jump.
U13/U15s Kent Young Athlete League – SAC stay in Kent’s Premier League
Our Season started well with 6th at our first KYAL match and Norman Park on the 29th April, staking a claim for Div 1 Athletics in 2024.
In June the U13/U15s were in action again at Bromley. A tough match we slipped to 7th and into the relegation zone. It was clear that it was going to be a close-run thing to achieve the goal of "avoiding the drop".
In the July Match we fought back to 6th (by 4pts) to earn the critical match points which meant a straight fight between ourselves and Invicta East Kent at the last match. We put in a great effort on the 12th August to extend our lead over Invicta and secure premiership Athletics in 2024. In fact, our U13Gs actually won their age-group. A new level for the Club.
Southern League, Kent Division – a foothold for U17s
This Summer saw the Club field its first Team in the Southern League Div 3 (Kent). An adult League but also perfect for our U17s. Over 4 matches the Club ended up 5th. A total of twelve U17s competed for the Club ably assisted by SAC Seniors. I’m confident we can rise up this League over the next few years as more Athletes emerge from the U15s.
Kent U13 Champs – grand finale
Always at the end of the Season, the Kent U13 Champs provided a late flourish for the Club. Ten Athletes competed with three achieving medals. Bronzes for Matilda Murray in the 70m Hurdles, Olwyn Mtungwazi in the Shot and Andrij Znetyniak in the Discus. A special mention for James Trenter who was 4th in the 75m Hurdles and 7th in the Javelin in only his 2nd competition.
So, a successful Season with 75 athletes competing for the Club this Summer. Seventeen Club records were broken. Twenty-six Athletes competed at one or both of the County Champs achieving a gold and three Bronze. Its worth reflecting that in 2016 we had twenty-one Athletes compete for the Club and were 6th in Div 2 of the KYAL with just 3 Club records.
Sevenoaks AC athlete, Holly Diprose, won the U16 Girls 1500m Kent Schools County Champs, at Medway Park, Gillingham on June 10th, writes Darrell Smith.
Bringing together the best young athletes in the County, this event is one of the highlights of Kent Athletics Season and serves as a selection race for future Kent County teams.
In hot conditions the pace was fast but even paced, setting all up for fast times. Going into the last lap, Holly was closely tracking the leader. But down the back straight she hit the front and moved away clearly to win in a time of 4.51.67 - a Personal Best and Club Record. In fact it’s faster than the Sevenoaks ACs senior women’s record!
Congratulations to Holly Diprose – County Champion. Her first individual Kent title, this represents a step forward for Holly who had placed 3rd in this event for the last two years. Her performance has earned her a run for Kent at the forthcoming Inter-Counties Match.
Fourteen Athletes signed up for the 2023 Kent Track and Field Champs at Norman Park, Bromley. We had some talented Athletes on show and I was hoping for good performances and lots of pbs, writes Darrell Smith.
Day 1
A great start to the Weekend. A Bronze for Brianna Kuranga in the U15G Shot. Was this the Club's first Throws medal?
Later, Toby Vagg was 7th in the U17M Kent 100m champs. A pb of 11.8 in his Heat and 11.9 in the Final
Day 2
Sophia Stewart was 6th in her 300m Heat in pb of 48.74. Running the distance for the second time she judged her effort well, especially as she was running in the outside lane.
Probably the best performance of the weekend was Holly Diprose's 4th in the U17W 1500m in a Club Record of 4.54.31. This despite a tactical first half and boxed most of the Race.
In the U15G 100m Heats, Sophia Stewart was 6th in her Heat in 14.5 and Liv Mtungwazi 4th in hers in 13.48. Liv progressed to the Semi Final placing 5th in a Pb of 13.26 missing the Final by one spot.
In the 800m U15B Lucky Hayes ran a pb 2.25.44 to place 5th in his Heat and Andrew Simmons was also fifth in his U17M Heat, again in a pb of 2.19.21. Both will be in their same respective age group next summer.
Eliza Nicholson placed 5th at the British Schools (SIAB) Cross Country Championships (U16 Girls) at Sefton Park, Liverpool on 25th March 2023, writes head coach Darrell Smith.
Representing England for the first time, the Sevenoaks AC Athlete held back in the first kilometre of the 4K race but started to catch runners as she neared the finish. Just passing an Irish athlete in the last few strides she secured 5th, part of an England Team victory. The results are here.
Eliza had only been running competitively for 2 years and is part of a successful group of runners who were 2022 Kent Cross Country Champions.
January saw the start of a whole series of Championship events in the UK cross country calendar, writes head coach Darrell Smith.
First, the Southern XC Champs held on 28th Jan at Beckenham Place Park. In the U15Bs, first home was Ryan Alford Smith in 114th. Next Andrew Simmons in 150th and then new addition to the Club, Luke Bridges in 154th. With just 2 of our medal winning U15Gs team from the Kent Champs we did not have a team, but Ella Baker was 37th and Amelie Jones 161st. In the U17W Eliza Nicholson was 4th, a precursor for what was to come later.
Then came the South East Schools XC on 4th Feb in Ardingly. Following her run in the Kent Schools where she placed 8th,Holly Diprose (pictured) had to go to the SE Schools at Ardingly and “get something” to defend her place in the Kent Team for the English Schools XC Champs on March 18th. Holly showed real grit to do just that placing 29th. She now joins Ella Baker (SAC) in the Kent Team for the biggest race of the year. Add to this Eliza’s run at the London Schools we now have 3 competing at the English Schools.
The biggest Club race in England, the National XC Champs in Chester on Feb 25th saw 3 of our most committed runners make the trip. Eliza Nicholson’s 8th place was the standout performance as she continues to improve. A 95th by Holly Diprose and 114th for Ella Baker (coming back from injury) were good runs at this level and good preparation for the last few races of the season. Ryan Alford-Smith ran a well-judged race placing 213th.
In the Regional U11 Sportshall Athletics on 26th Feb, Harper Williams and Nicholas Waldock represented Kent at the above event. Congrats to them on their first Kent vests.
Our 3 top Female Juniors were performing again on March 11th at the UK inter-Counties in Loughborough. Ella Baker improved on her 114th at the National with a 69th in the UK Champs. She seems to be coming back after injury and Holly Diprose fought bravely to come in 198th. Both Girls compete for Kent next week and I believe both will finish on a high.
Finally, just when we thought Eliza Nicholson couldn’t improve on her 8th place run at Nationals she did just that with a 6th place. This despite, by her own admission, having a pretty bad start. In the 50s after 200m she had moved up to 20th by halfway. Then seemed to go into another gear and was in 12th with a mile to go. Moving up to 6th up the final hill to the finish.