Zach’s triple triumph continues Eastbourne Rovers winning streak at track and field championships

U13 boy Zach Soan went one better than his impressive results from last year’s event to become a triple county champion, dominating in all of his individual events.

Zach's first gold medal came in the 75m, finishing comfortably ahead of second place in a time of 9.96sec. Next up was the long jump, where he leaped to a new PB of 4.75m, before he rounded off with another well executed performance in the 150m.

After setting a new PB of 20.65s in the qualifying heat, he improved that further to 20.52sec in the final, sealing his third gold and a clean sweep.

Also enjoying gold medal success was Calista Scott-Smith, who won the U13 girls’ high jump with a clearance of 1.42m, setting a new PB to clinch the title.

This followed on from a bronze medal she’d secured earlier in the day in the 70m hurdles (12.99s), dipping under 13 seconds for the first time this season.

Milli Phillips was rewarded with a bronze medal in the U13 girls long jump setting a new PB in the process (4.29m), and ran close to her PB in the 150m to finish first in her heat, qualifying for the final where she finished in an excellent 6th place.

Team-mates Milly Macey and Isla Brown competed well in the 75m setting new PBs, with Isla also achieving a PB in the Long Jump, whilst Milly finished 6th in the 70m Hurdles final. The four girls then combined in the 4 x 100m relay only narrowly missing out on a bronze medal by a mere two hundredths of a second.

The U11s took part in a multi-event ‘Quadkids’ competition, which consists of a sprint (75m), a middle distance race (600m), a howler throw and a standing long jump. Points are awarded for each event based on the time or distance achieved, with the cumulative total after four events determining the overall placing.

In the girls competition, Emily Petrova performed brilliantly on the track, registering new PBs and the fastest times in the girls competition for both the 75m (11.79s) and the 600m (1:54.91), plus set a PB and finished fourth in the Standing Long Jump (1.87m). With a solid howler throw she secured a brilliant 5th place overall with 211 points.

Jessica Webster finished 14th with 184 points after setting new PBs in the howler and the 600m.

In the boys’ event, Aidan Wai saved his best performance for the last event, showing his talent for distance running by winning his 600m heat and achieving an overall points total of 201 to finish in 18th place.

Jacob Patton set PBs in all of his events, impressing in the Standing Long Jump and the howler throw and finished in 31st place with an overall points total of 187.

After their winning performances, Zach and Calista have been selected to represent Sussex in the South of England U13 Inter-Counties Championships in August.

The rest of the athletes are looking forward to representing the club at the remaining Sussex Track & Field League matches in July and September.