Seventeen Millfield athletes selected for English Schools Championships

Seventeen Millfield athletes have been selected to compete in the English Schools Athletics Association (ESAA) Championships next week.

The national schools competition will see athletes represent Somerset and Millfield in various track and field events. Millfield athletes make up almost half of the 40 sporting hopefuls in the Somerset squad, the largest amount of selections from any school in the county.

All selected athletes are ranked amongst the top 16 in England, at Under 19 level, and were selected after qualifying events earlier this month.

Congratulations to; Upper Sixth Will Aitkin (Senior Boys 1500m), Seb Clatworthy (Senior Boys High Jump), Max Nicolle (Senior Boys 2000m Steeplechase), Millie Quaintance (Senior Girls Javelin), Harriet Tuson (Senior Girls 400m), Jamie Holland (Senior Girls Shot Put), Abbie Lovering (Senior Girls 400m Hurdles), Lower Sixth Harry Barton (Senior Boys 110m Hurdles), Lucy Chalmers (Senior Girls 400m Hurdles), Sophie Hamilton (Senior Girls Javelin), Kai Snell (Senior Girls High Jump)

Year 11 Lucy Fellows (Intermediate Girls Long Jump), Maya Kendell (Intermediate Girls Shot Put), Year 10 Maddy Beeching (Intermediate Girls, triple jump), Year 9 Stefan Chirita (Junior Boys Triple Jump), Bill Godden (Junior Boys Discus), Oscar Webb (Junior Boys High Jump).

The English Schools Championships have been the starting point for many renowned sportspeople including previous English Schools Champions and OMs Jazmin Sawyers, who has recently been selected for the Tokyo Olympics, Joel Leon Benitez, Elise Thorner, and current Upper Sixth student and decathlete, Jami Schlueter. Millfield’s Director of Athletics, Alan Richardson and PE teacher Gary Jennings both also competed in the competition during their school days.

Alan said, “The English Schools Athletics Association Championships is a breeding ground for future champions and a place where young athletes get their first experience of championship competition. So many of our Olympians and Olympic medallists have begun at this championships and so it is a wonderful stepping stone for the future elite athletes of the GB team.”

On what experience it offers the students, he said, “It provides a wonderful development and learning opportunity for young people that can be transferred across to other areas in their life such as dealing with pressure or working towards peaking performance. Being selected for this championships is a huge reward for these 17 young athletes of which they should be very proud.”

The championships are being held at the Regional Athletics Centre, Manchester from 9-11 July 2021.