Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Third-place finish at Lily B League meeting in Epsom

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club finished third at the opening fixture of the Lily B League at Epsom on Saturday, writes George Mallett.

The event, enjoying its 50th anniversary, provides competition for Surrey’s girls from U13 to U17 level.

Many competitors have gone on to achieve junior international honours.

Many of Hercules’ athletes were competing for the first time in their gold and red vests.

Neva Jansen (U15) excelled in both the hammer and discus throw, winning both with distances of 17.10m and 23.46m respectively. Her performance in the hammer is the 25th best in the country for her age group this year.

Jansen was ably supported by Visne Bariman, whose 16.69m saw her win the B-string in the hammer, and Charlotte Gurney whose 14.62m saw her take the B string win in the discus.

Bariman showed impressive versatility by also clearing 1.25m in the high jump.

Willow Scales enjoyed a busy day in her U15 category. She won the A-string high jump with a 1.56m clearance, the joint 15th best in the country for her age group this season. Scales was also second in both the 75m hurdles in 12.6 seconds and the javelin (20.74m).

Scales’ older sister Mabel-Rose won both the U17 high jump and long jump, the latter a highly impressive leap of 4.90m. Ella Ianotti backed her up with a 3.79m effort in the long jump.

Florence Foster flew 3.72m to finish second in the U13 long jump, with Poppy Guest fourth for the B string (2.98m). Marly Taylor’s 1.35m saw her take the U13 high jump win.

Flo Freeman finished first in the U15 75m hurdles B string in 12.8 to help secure valuable points.

Freeman’s afternoon also included a second-place finish in the long jump, supported by a fourth-place finish for Tallulah Broadbent in that discipline’s B string.

Hercules athletes excelled in both the sprints and distance events. Isabella Harrison (U13) was second in 29.2 over 200m, with high-jump winner Taylor taking the B string (29.0).

Fellow U13s Poppy Guest and Tilly Crome were second in the A and B races respectively, finishing in 5:23.1 and 6:34.6.

The second of the league’s three fixtures takes place at Guildford on June 25.