Students medal haul at England athletic trials

Athletes from Leeds Metropolitan University overcame uncharacteristically warm British weather to claim an impressive medal haul at the recent England U20 and U23 Athletic Trials.

It was a Met one, two in the U23 Discuss - Shaunaugh Brown won gold with a massive 49.11m throw, whilst Hannah Evenden had to settle for silver despite a season's best performance of 44.73m. There was similar success for Leeds Met students in the U23 Shot Put. A throw of 16.08m was enough to secure gold for Rachel Wallander, with Brown adding a bronze medal to accompany her gold.

It was not just the throwing events that Leeds Met students were exemplifying their athletic proficiency, and the U20 400m hurdles produced another bronze and gold double. Megan Southwark took almost half a second off her PB to run out surprise victor in 59.49, ahead of bronze medallist Sophie Wood, who produced her second fastest time ever of 60.20.

Not to be outdone the men also attempted to monopolise the medals. In the U23 long jump Daniel Gardiner overcame a hamstring injury to jump 7.37m, enough to earn him the bronze, whilst Jermaine Olason took gold with a distance of 7.55m.

Mick Hill, Director of Athletics at Leeds Met, believes the students success at the trials puts them in a strong position to compete for medals in the Olympic Stadium next year, as the new venue plays host to the BUCS Championships: "The results were excellent considering the very hot conditions and the level of competition," the former Olympian javelin thrower said. "Winning medals at a National Championships is very difficult and our athletes did very well to get in amongst them. These performances show our athletes are still in great shape, and with another winters training will be even better next year when they will get the chance to compete in the Olympic Stadium at the BUCS Championships."

The day's success was tempered, however, by the tragic injury suffered by no.1 ranked U23 javelin thrower Matthew Hunt. Hunt suffered a suspected ruptured groin on his first throw of the competition, and is awaiting scan results to find out if he will need to undergo season-ending surgery.

Hill spoke of his disappointment for Matthew, but believes he still has the chance to make the 2012 Great Britain Olympic Team, he said: "I feel very sorry for Matthew Hunt, who is having a scan on his injured groin today to determine the extent of the damage he has done to it.
"He will almost certainly miss the remainder of the season and thus the chance to represent GB at the European Under 23 Championships in Ostrava later this month.
"He is already looking forward to getting back into training and preparing for the 2012 season that will hopefully see him make the GB Olympic Team."