PLYMOUTH’S sprint sensation Annabelle Fasuba was once again in record-breaking form as she won two gold medals for Devon at the South West Schools’ Championships at Exeter on Saturday.
The English Schools’ champion won both the junior girls’ 100m and 200m titles in championship best times.
In the 200m, she ran a stunning time of 23.90 seconds, which broke her own championship record by nearly a second.
Only Sydney Olympic medallist Katharine Merry has ever run faster over the distance at under-15 level in the UK – and that was 36 years ago.
Fasuba has moved to joint second on the UK all-time list, alongside Diane Smith, who like Merry, ran that time in 1989.
No other British athletes in that age group have ever broken 24 seconds.
Fasuba also broke her own 100m record, which she set 12 months ago, winning this year’s title in a quick 11.79 seconds. The Coombe Dean pupil has now run under 11.80 seconds three times already this season.
Her City of Plymouth team-mate Bryan Oldfield also showed his sprinting prowess by winning the intermediate boys’ 200m and taking silver in the 100m.
In the 200m, he clocked a PB time of 22.71 seconds in the heats before running 22.72 to win the final, while in a strong 100m field, he took second in 11.30 seconds.
There were also track titles for fellow City of Plymouth athletes Rory Summers and Nicolas Maczugowski.
Mount Kelly’s Summers won the senior boys’ 400m in 49.05 seconds, while Tavistock College’s Maczugowski claimed the senior boys’ 400m hurdles crown in 53.72 seconds.
Also over one lap, Nia Harradine-Cole claimed a bronze in the senior girls’ 400m in 59.25 seconds.
Tavistock AC and Mount Kelly runner Freddie Whybrow smashed his 1,500m PB for the second week running to win bronze in the junior boys’ age group.
Last weekend, Whybrow ran 4:18.87 to win the Devon Schools’ title, which was a new best by nearly four seconds, but on Saturday he ran a stunning time of 4:13.15, which ranks him in the UK’s top 10.
In the field events, Devon’s throwers once again impressed.
Last year’s English Schools’ junior girls’ hammer champion Hazel Stead took victory in the intermediate girls’ event at Exeter with a throw of 48.85m, with her Tavistock AC team-mate Charlotte Doney, representing Cornwall, winning bronze with a big PB of 40.81m.
Phoebe Milburn, who has won three English Schools’ medals, triumphed in the senior girls’ hammer with a throw of 48.20m. Louisa Hess took bronze with 41.07m.
City of Plymouth AC and Plymouth College athlete Nubia Evans-Shields, a multi-English Schools champion, won the senior girls’ discus with 39.97m, while Cornwall’s Tavistock AC athlete Charlotte Doney picked up silver in the intermediate discus with 32.06m.
Tavistock AC and Ivybridge College’s Owen Fileman won two silver medals in the senior boys’ throwing events. He came second in the hammer with 46.15m and claimed the same position in the discus with 38.08m.
There was a bronze medal for Tavistock’s George Brown in the intermediate boys’ hammer with a 36.62m effort, while Sasha Kilbane won the same colour in the junior girls’ event with 37.40m.
In the jumps, Devonport High School’s Barnaby Basterfield took silver in the junior boys’ triple jump with 11.74m.
Basterfield with join fellow Plymouth & West Devon athletes Fasuba, Elsie Goodspeed, Kilbane, Whybrow, Tegan Brown, Palmer, Stead, Caleb Gifford-Groves, David Oldfield, Bryan Oldfield, Evans-Shields, Hess, Milburn, Fileman, Adam Dingley, Maczugowski and Summers in the Devon squad for next month’s English Schools’ Championships at Birmingham.
Meanwhile, Tavistock AC youngster Eldon Young represented Devon at the British Inter County & English Fell Race Championships at Clougha Pike in Lancashire at the weekend.
Young impressed in a strong field to take sixth place in the under-17 boys’ race.
