Cardiff & Vale Schools Senior Cup Final (From Penarth Times)

Cardiff & Vale Schools Senior Cup Final

8:28am Thursday 8th May 2008

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COMPETITIVE track and field athletics made its earliest appearance at Jenner Park for more than a decade when the Cardiff & Vale Schools Senior Cup Final was held at the venue recently.

The event, for pupils in years 11 to 14 and traditionally the first event in the local secondary schools' programme, used to be held in early May but the ever increasing time demands of the external examination system have pushed its date into late April.

The Cardiff Athletic Stadium at Leckwith has hosted the event since 1997 but, with the redevelopment requirements for the replacement Cardiff City ground, that site has been reduced to rubble while the replacement athletic stadium, across Leckwith Road, is still a building site, which may not be completed until July.

That delay has had a major impact on the Cardiff & Vale Schools 2008 summer programme, which starts in late April and finishes on July 1.

Thankfully, the Vale Council has stepped in to help overcome the major headache by permitting track and field fixtures at Jenner Park before April 30, the traditional end of the soccer season at the stadium.

This first fixture, held in warm, sunny weather with little wind, re-affirmed the strength of the Cowbridge boys but brought disappointment for the girls' teams of Llantwit and Bro Morgannwg.

Two new cup bests were set. Cardiff High year 12 student Alex Obiako bettered his 2007 winning distance by a metre and 40 centimetres, leaping out to 13.77 metres in the triple jump, an improvement of 47 centimetres on the previous best, while the 800 metres was an extraordinary event with the first three athletes finishing inside the old mark of 2 minutes 4.3 seconds.

Cowbridge year 13 Huw Adams must have had a huge boost from his victory with a time of 2 minutes dead in such a high quality race.

Four more Vale boys won events. Jamie Jones, who started his sixth form studies at Colston's in Bristol last year, made a welcome return to Barry colours and, although not fit enough to compete on the track, made an impact by claiming victory in the shot while team-mate and fellow sixth former Rhys Knapman just got the better of Bro Morgannwg year 11 Aled Williams in the 200 metres.

Llantwit year 11 Sam Booker has been concentrating on rugby but demonstrated his athletic talent with an 8 centimetres victory in the high jump while the Cowbridge total was boosted by the win of year 12 Luke James in the long jump.

The standard in the girls' competition was lower but three Vale schools still provided winners.

Bro Morgannwg year 11 Leah Grisdale was the only double winner, taking both the high and long jump events, while her team-mate, Savannah Taylor, was a surprise first in the 100 metres.

The experienced Llantwit year 11 duo of Ruby Miller and Ayla Phillips also claimed victories. Miller finished ahead of Maddi Edgeworth (Cowbridge) in the 800 metres while Phillips, better known for her hammer performances, looks in line to gain district honours in the shot event as she was only girl over eight metres with the 4 kg implement.

In the boys' team competition, Cowbridge saw off the challenge from Cardiff High to retain the Senior Cup but there was no such joy for the girls from Llantwit, who after four years of success, were unable to field a full team and could finish no higher than sixth.

The Bro Morgannwg team put up the best showing of the Vale girls' teams but their inability to field a relay team proved to be their undoing. They tied with Cardiff High on 76 points but lost the cup on the tie break of individual winners.

Senior Boys Team: 1 Cowbridge 96; 3 Bro Morgannwg 81; 5 Barry 70; 6 Llantwit 68; 8 St Cyres 22 100: 3 Aled Williams (BroM) 11.5; 4 Rhys Knapman (Bar) 11.6; 5 Fred White (Cow) 11.7; 6 Karl Steele (Bar) 11.9; 8 David Griffiths (Lwt) 12.3 200: 1 Rhys Knapman (Bar) 23.4; 2 Aled Williams (BroM) 23.5; 3 Fred White (Cow) 24.4; 7 Ryan Watson (Lwt) 25.5 400: 2 Huw Adams (Cow) 54.6; 5 Jordan Roach (St Cy) 57.9; 7 Andrew McNicol (Lwt) 62.2; 8 Tom Morgan (BroM) 70.5 800: 1 Huw Adams (Cow) 2.00.0; 5 Tom Whitmarsh Knight (BroM) 2.07.0; 7 Kyle Garrison (Lwt) 2:48.8 1500: 2 Tom Whitmarsh- Knight (BroM) 4:35.7; 3 Joe Beech (Cow) 4:53.2; 5 David Lakin (Bar) 5:21.0; 6 Kyle Garrison (Lwt) 5.36.1 100H: 2 Corrie Ellis (BroM) 15.7; 3 Andrew Price (Cow) 15.9; 4 David Lakin Barry 16.0; 5 Sam Booker (Lwt) 16.7 HJ: 1 Sam Booker (Lwt) 1.78; 3 Curtis Mathews (Bar) 1.65; 5 Andrew Price (Cow) 1.55; 6 Dyfed Cynan (BroM) 1.55 LJ: 1 Luke James (Cow) 6.03; 4 Jordan Roach (St Cy) 5.33; 5 Tom Morgan (BroM) 5.13; 6 David Griffiths (Lwt) 4.96; 7 Karl Bryan (Bar) 4.69 TJ: 2 Dan Thomas (Cow) 12.42; 4 Dyfed Cynan (BroM) 11.28; 6 Sam Booker (Lwt) 10.86; 7 Karl Steele (Bar) 10.68; 8 Ashley Jones (St Cy) 9.80 SP (5kg): 1 Jamie Jones (Bar) 12.13; 3 Corrie Ellis (BroM) 11.09; 6 Kyle Paylor (Lwt) 10.78; 9 Fred Wright (Cow) 10.57 JT (700g): 2 Justin Davies (Cow) 36.79; 3 Danny McGowan (Lwt) 36.63; 5 Ashley Jones (St Cy) 31.18; 6 Aled Williams (BroM) 26.50; 7 Jordan Lewis (Bar) 24.11 4 x 100: 2 Cowbridge 47.0; 3 Barry 47.1; 5 Bro Morgannwg 47.5; 6 Llantwit 48.8 Senior Girls Team: 2 Bro Morgannwg 76; 5 Cowbridge 44; 6 Llantwit 40; 7 St Cyres 25 100: 1 Savannah Taylor (BroM) 13.8; 5 Grace Osborne (Lwt) 14.6; 6 Heather Jarvis (Cow) 14.9 200: 2 Danielle Mill (St Cy) 27.7; 4 Leah Grisdale (BroM) 29.0; 5 Ruby Miller (Lwt) 30.1; 6 Heather Jarvis (Cow) 31.7 300: 2 Savannah Taylor (BroM) 46.7; 4 Grace Osborne (Lwt) 49.2; 5 Alice Thomas (Cow) 49.7 800: 1 Ruby Miller (Lwt) 2:44.5; 2 Maddi Edgeworth (Cow) 2:47.4; 3 Lana Evans (BroM) 2:49.9; 6 Emma Tanner (St Cy) 3:05.5 1500: 2 Lana Evans (BroM) 5:28.2 80H: 3 Elinor Lewis (BroM) 13.1; 4 Maddi Edgeworth (Cow) 13.8; 5 Lois Gutherie (St Cy) 15.7 HJ: 1 Leah Grisdale (BroM) 1.45; 2 Maddi Edgeworth (Cow) 1.40; 4 Danielle Mill (St Cy) 1.25 LJ: 1 Leah Grisdale (BroM) 4.36; 5 Grace Osborne (Lwt) 3.75; 6 Georgia Evans (Cow) 3.74 TJ: 2 Elinor Lewis (BroM) 9.76; 5 Heather Jarvis (Cow) 7.71; 6 Ruby Miller (Lwt) 7.42 SP: 1 Ayla Phillips (Lwt) 8.55; 3 Kirsty Hewitson (BroM) 7.59; 6 Danielle Mill (St Cy) 6.13; 7 Gemma Bradbury (Cow) 5.49 JT: 3 Gemma Bradbury (Cow) 21.99; 4 Kristy Hewitson (BroM) 21.90; 6 Bethan Hartland (St Cy) 19.57; 7 Ayla Phillips (Lwt) 17.04 4 x 100: Cowbridge DQ; St Cyres DQ

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