16 East Lothian pupils and Team East Lothian athletes perfom at the Scottish Schools Indoor Champs
Sixteen pupils from East Lothian schools and Team East Lothian made the trip to the Emirates Arena for the Scottish Schools Indoor Track & Field Championships. The two-day event saw over 1000 pupils from schools across Scotland competing for medals and personal bests.
Team East Lothian’s Cameron Steven (Dunbar Grammar) [pictured left] qualified comfortably in his heats of the Over-16 Boys 800m, to take on Scottish Under-17 record holder Ben Greenwood in the final. It was a well fought race with Steven pushing Greenwood over the first 600m of the race, with Greenwood only pulling away in the last lap to take the gold medal. It was a fine run from the Dunbar pupil and PAiS athlete who claimed a big season’s best in the final as well as another national silver medal, just outside his indoor best.
One of the break through competitors of the championships for East Lothian was Team East Lothian’s Eloise Gray (Dunbar Grammar) who recorded a series of personal bests in her first ever schools championships. As one of the youngest athletes in the field, it was encouraging to see Gray hit personal bests and just missing out on a berth in the 200m and 60m finals. In the heats of the 200m, Eloise recorded a fine time of 26.95 in the heats qualifying for the semi final, the next day she produced another set of excellent results in the 60m with a personal best of 8.33 in the semi finals.
VIDEO: CAMERON STEVEN (Dunbar Grammar) winning silver in the Over-16 Boys 800m
Fellow Dunbar Grammar pupils were also in fine form and setting personal bests. Catriona McPheat, part of the East Lothian PAiS programme, set a huge personal best in the Under-16 girls 300m, with a strong run of 44.52s. McPheat later backed this up with a 3rd place finish in the semi-final and the previous day set a new best over 200m with 28.68s. Charlie Hamilton almost equalised his best set on Sunday in the Under-16 boys 60m Hurdles, recording 9.84s for 7th place in the heats. Jordan Robbins in the Over-16 boys sprint hurdles set a personal best of 9.46sfor 6th place in his heat. Fraser Kelly made big progress in the 1500m, with a 5th place finish in the heats and rewarded with a new personal best of 4:38.53. His sister, Marissa, had an indoor best over the 800m with 2:58.03 in the Under-16 girls age group.
There was a good return to competition after a spell of injury and illness for North Berwick pupil Michael Olsen. Olsen (Edinburgh AC) had a strong series of 60m runs running 7.24s to win his heat, and then 7.19s to also win his semi final. The winning streak didn’t continue in the final, despite another strong run and Olsen had to settle for joint fifth place, but can take confidence from his return to fitness.
Musselburgh Grammar’s Max Leslie (Edinburgh AC) was just outside the podium in the Under-16 Boys 200m but came away with a new personal best. Winning his heat in 24.27s, Leslie progressed from the semi final into the final, where he recorded 24.27s again for an excellent fourth place. Returning for the 60m the next day, Leslie just missed out on a place in the final recording 7.90 in the heats and then 7.89 in the semi final.
East Lothian PAiS athlete, Cameron Tait, was rewarded with a personal best in the Under-16 boys 200m with 25.21s. Tait also qualified for the 60m semi final with a time 7.86s, and completed a busy championships with a strong 8th place finish in the long jump with 5.40m. Team East Lothian’s Tarryn Wood (Preston Lodge HS) set a new personal best in the Over-16 Girls long jump to make it into the final eight. There was also a new indoor best in the high jump for Wood, who leaped 1.46m for 13th place. Fellow PL pupil, Shelby Garrley, competed in the Over-16 girls shot putt finsihing 12th with a best throw of 7.92m. Knox Academy pupil, Leona Boardman threw a new life time best in the Under-16 girls shot putt of 7.58.
Portobello pupils, but Team East Lothian interests, Rosa Gally, Kate Johnstone, Chris Stewart competed at the championships. Rosa Gally had two fantastic runs in the Over-16 Girls 300m re-writing her personal best with 43.40s in the heats, and finishing 3rd in the semi finals with another strong run of 44.11. Chris Stewart finished 16th in the long jump with a frustrating series of no jumps, but still jumping a respectable 4.36m. Returning from injury and moving up an age group, Kate Johnstone finished fifth in the semi final of the Over-16 girls 60m with a best of 8.25s on the day.
