youngsters finish track season on high

The fourth and final fixtures of the 2023 NEYDL were held on Sunday 16 July.
Morpeth Harriers were in action in Division 2 at Shildon, and they ended their busy season on a high by finishing in second place on the day behind division winners, the combined squad of Birtley AC, Jarrow and Hebburn, and Phoenix Flyers.
The added fact that Morpeth only finished a mere 16 match points adrift of the league winners, speaks volumes of how well that they performed, despite missing a few key athletes in their line-ups.
Twelve A String wins, Nine B String wins, and three relay victories obviously contributed greatly to the club's success, and a genuine superb effort across both genders, brought smiles to the faces of season long hard-working Morpeth Team Managers David Swinburne (Male), and Julie Roche and Judith Nutt (Female).
The final match result also saw Morpeth finish fourth cumulatively out of eight teams, but only two league points adrift of equal second and third placed combined forces of Houghton/Derwentside/Tyne Bridge and Blyth/Alnwick.
Morpeth also ended the season having scored overall more on-the-day match points than the latter pairing.
In the match itself, Morpeth Under 17 Men showed some great strength, especially in the sprints, which saw Harry Scott win the A String 100m (11.6s), and namesake Harrison Scott (no relation) win the B Race in 11.8s, with third member of the sprint trio Connor Phillips finish in 12.23s.
Harry Scott very nearly won the 200m A Race, but just got ran out by Tynedale’s Alex Lyons by a fraction of a second as he clocked 23.7s.
Harrison Scott took the B Race in 24.2s, and Connor Phillips was fourth fastest overall with 24.93s.
Moving up in distance, Oliver Tomlinson won the Under 17 Men’s 1500m in 4m24.47s, and Harry Armstrong was second in the B Race in 5m14.04s.
Oliver Tomlinson provided Morpeth’s only Under 17 Men’s challenge in the Field events.
He won the Discus by throwing 16.6m and was second in the Javelin with a best throw of 18.7m.
Tomlinson, combined forces with Connor Phillips, Harry Scott, and Harrison Scott to gain victory for Morpeth in the Under 17 Men’s 4 x 100m Relay in a time of 48.9s.
Morpeth had some excellent results from their Under 17 Women, who achieved four A String and one B String win, along with a relay win.
Victoria Hodgson was in fine Hurdling form, winning the 80m event, in 12.5s, in a marginal new personal best of 12.5s, and the 300m event in 49.8s.
Amelia Hamlin won the flat 300m A Race in 43.4s, and Anya Kelly was second in the B Race in 48.0s.
Freya Caygill finished second in the A Race of the 200m in 27.3s, and Amy Longstaff finished second in the B Race in 27.5s.
Longstaff finished second in the A Race of the 100m in 13.2s, and Caygill’s similar clocking saw her take the B Race.
Another Morpeth runner in the Under 17 Women’s 100m, was Jasmine Emolaga, who posted a time of 13.85s.
Kate Kennedy of Morpeth won the 800m in 2m35.45s.
Kennedy also helped in Morpeth Under 17 Women’s Field Event efforts by finishing second in the High Jump with her clearance of 1.30m, and third in the Shot Putt with a best of 6.43m.
Anya Kelly finished second in the Long Jump with 4.45m.
Victoria Hodgson, Amy Longstaff, Freya Caygill, and Amelia Hamlin combined to bring Morpeth Under 17 Women’s 4 x 100m Relay squad home to win in 52.8s.
Morpeth’s small band of six athletes in the Under 15 Boys events did their level best to achieve some good results.
Will Hodgson and Thomas Roche enthusiastically shared duties in the sprints.
Will finished third in the A Race of the 100m in 12.7s, just missing out for second in a hairsbreadth, but got second place in the 200m A Race in 26.0s.
Thomas meanwhile finished second in the B Race of the 100m in 14.1s, and third in the B Race of the 200m in 28.8s
Thomas Wilson also ran in the 200m, posting a time of 33m32s.
Roche also finished second in the 300m in 47.3s.
Ben Moll of Morpeth finished second in the A Race of the Under 15 Boys 800m in 2m19.28s, and Harry Douglass on his debut finished second in the B Race in 2m27.10s.
In the 1500m, Daniel Scott finished fourth in the A Race in 5m08.48s, and Thomas Wilson on his debut, finished second in the B Race in 6m40.19s.
Daniel Scott was Morpeth’s sole Under 15 Boy Field eventer, finishing 4th in the Long Jump, with a best of 4.03m, and second in the Shot Putt with 5.89m.
Morpeth’s Under 15 Boys finished second in their 4 x100m Relay, courtesy of Daniel Scott, Ben Moll, George Moll (Under 13), and Will Hodgson, posting a time of 57.4s.
Unfortunately, Morpeth only had four Under 15 Girls in action.
On the Track they only had Mya Young, who finished seventh in the 200m (31.6s), and fifth in the 800m in 2m49.40s.
Alexandria Hodgson was the best performer in this age group however, winning both the Discus and Hammer events, with respective bests of 18.0m, and 37.1m.
Molly Roche added more points to the tally by winning the B String Discus with her best throw of 9.95m.
Another Morpeth Discus performer was Emma Tomlinson, who threw a best of 9.25m.
Tomlinson and Roche also partnered each other in the Javelin and Shot Putt events.
In the Javelin, Tomlinson threw 10.8m for third in the A String, and Roche finished fourth in the B String with 5.96m.
Roche finished fourth in the A String Shot Putt with a best of 4.98m, and Tomlinson was second in the B String with 4.83m.
The eight athletes competing for Morpeth in the Under 13 Boys section, probably the best turnout for the season, pulled off a series of fairly respectable results on the day, which certainly contributed well to the on the day success.
Daniel Vermaas was one who rose to the occasion, by competing in three events, and emerging with one A String win in the High Jump, by clearing 1.25m.
The High Jump in the Under 15 Boys was a good event in Morpeth’s perspective, as Evan Laude won the B String, with his clearance of 1.20m.
Vermaas and Laude also took part in the Long Jump, where Vermaas finished fourth in the A String, with a best of 3.74m.
Laude produced a best jump of 3.43m, which saw him place third in the B String.
Morpeth’s additional competitor in the Long Jump was Jack Rothwell, who jumped a best of 3.11m.
Jamie Ellis finished fourth in the A String Discus with 11.8m, and William McBryde won the B String by throwing a best of 10.1m.
Ellis also finished seventh in the A Race of the 100m in 16.0s.
In the 200m, Daniel Vermaas finished fourth in the A Race in 30.8s, and George Moll finished second in the B Race in 31.7s.
Jamie Ellis was an additional runner in the 200m, posting a time of 33.48s.
There was an excellent result for Morpeth in the Under 13 Boys 1500m, where Jack Rothwell finished third in the A Race in 5m25.97, and Evan Laude took the B Race in 5m38.77s.
Three runners from Morpeth lined up in the Under 13 Boys 800m events.
Jacob Thompson finished fifth in the A Race in 2m47.53s, and Jack Dhawar was also fifth in the B Race in 3m07.96s.
Additional runner William McBryde posted a finishing time of 3m16.46s.
Morpeth won the Under 13 Boys 4 x 100m Relay in a time of 61.9s.
The six athletes from Morpeth who turned out in the Under 13 Girls events, also managed to pull off a good set of results to add to their clubs’ tally.
They included two A String event successes, one on the track, and the other in the Field events.
Sophie Pledger won the 100m, posting a winning time of 14.0s.
Pledger also finished a good second to Birtley’s double North Eastern Champion Olivia Murphy in the 800m, posting a time of 2m38.11s.
Faye Heatley finished second in the B Race of the 800m in 2m49.12s.
In the 200m, Abi Potrac finished second in the A Race in 31.3s, and Emily Vermaas finished third in the B Race in 35.3s.
Lucy Raper finished fourth in the 1500m A Race in 5m51.97s, and Zoe Tomlinson finished third in the B Race in 6m03.89s.
Raper was also Morpeth’s other A String winner in the Under 13 Girls events, producing a best of 17.4m, to win the Discus.
Zoe Tomlinson threw 6.31m, to finish third in the B String.
Tomlinson also finished third in the Javelin, throwing a best of 9.71m.
For Raper, another good result came in the High Jump, where she finished second in the A String with her clearance of 1.10m.
Abi Potrac cleared 1.05m to win the B String.
Potrac also produced a good result in the Long Jump, finishing as second in the A String with 3.66m.
Faye Heatley took the B String with her best jump of 3.53, just beating Isla Coker of Birtley/Jarrow and Hebburn/Phoenix by 1cm.
Morpeth’s Under 13 Girls finished fourth in their 4 x 100m Relay, posting a time of 65.6s.
MATCH RESULT
1st Birtley/Jarrow and Hebburn/Phoenix F 695pts, 2nd Morpeth Harriers 679pts, 3rd Blyth/Alnwick 589pts, 4th Houghton/Derwentside/Tyne Bridge 568pts, 5th Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 471pts, 6th Chester Le Street/Durham 410pts, 7th Middlesbrough AC 340pts, 8th Tynedale Prudhoe 236pts.
FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS
1st Birtley/Jarrow and Hebburn/Phoenix F 32pts (2860pts), 2nd  Houghton/Derwentside/Tyne Bridge 23pts (2318.5pts), 3rd Blyth/Alnwick 23pts (2207.5pts), 4th Morpeth Harriers 21pts (2290pts), 5th Chester Le Street/Durham 18pts (2064pts), 6th Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 15pts (1817pts) 7th Middlesbrough AC 8pts (1410pts), 8th Tynedale/Prudhoe 4pts (1013pts)