Athletic success for Cookstown High School

COOKSTOWN High School proved once again this year that they are a force to be reckoned with in District, Ulster and Irish Schools Athletics. The first competition of the season was the ‘E’ District Schools Athletic Championships which were held at Antrim Forum. With weather conditions varying between hailstones and sunshine, the thirty one competing schools had an excellent day. Fifty five Cookstown High School pupils competed and from these fifty five, fourteen athletes came 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their events to qualify for the ‘Ulster Schools Athletic Championships to be held the following Saturday.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Jun 2012, 13:00 BST

Ulster Qualifiers

Mini Girls

Shot: Carla Badger (1st)

Junior Girls

Triple Jump:Lyn Somerville (1st)

Javelin:Kerri Scott (1st) Claire McCammon (2nd)

High Jump:Clare Spence (2nd)

Discus:Kerri Scott (2nd)

75m Hurdles: Hannah Warwick (3rd)

Intermediate Girls

Javelin: Jacqueline Burns (1st)

Discus: Jacqueline Burns (1st)

Minor Boys

Shot:Sam Hessin (1st)

Junior Boys

800m:Josh McAdoo (3rd)

80m Hurdles:Luke McCrea (3rd)

Intermediate Team

400m Hurdles:Timothy Sloan (1st)

Senior Team

Discus: Gavin Fields (3rd)

400m: Gavin Fields (3rd)

Ulster Schools Athletic Championships

On Saturday 19th May, a number of our athletes competed in the Ulster Schools Athletics Championship held in Antrim Forum. Cookstown High School competed very well with most of our athletes finishing in the top eight in their events in Ulster. We managed to achieve even greater success in Ulster Athletics by returning to Cookstown with 3 Ulster medals.

Year 8 pupil Sam Hessin, in his first year of competition in the Minor Boys Shot, finished in Silver Medal position with a putt of 8m 30cm.

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Year 9 Pupil, Kerri Scott competed for the first time in the Junior Girls Javelin. Kerri is a still a year young in this age group and still managed to finish in Bronze Medal Position with a throw of 24m 5cm.

Year 11 pupil Jacqueline Burns, who is also a year young in the Intermediate Girls Javelin won a Ulster Gold Medal, achieving a new personal best throw of 36m 98cm.

Kerri and Jacqueline as a result of the above performances will go on to represent Cookstown High School at the Irish Schools Athletic Championships to be held in Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

Irish Schools Athletic Championship

On Saturday 2nd June, two of our athletes headed across country to take part in the All Ireland Athletics Championships in Tullamore. Here they took part alongside all of Ireland’s top school athletes. Once again we were hoping that both Jacqueline and Kerri would finish in the top six and even bring home a medal. We certainly didn’t leave disappointed.

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Jacqueline Burns competed in her second Irish Schools competition in the Intermediate Girls Javelin. Jacqueline was a year young for this age group so we were delighted when she threw a series of impressive throws. Her longest throw of 36 metres 81cm was enough to secure her way into 1st place. Jacqueline returned home to Cookstown with a gold medal to display along side her silver medal from last year. Jacqueline will undoubtedly prove strong opposition once again next season.

Kerri Scott was competing for her first time in the Junior Girls Javelin.

Kerri was also a year young for her age group so we were simply hoping that she would produce a series of good throws and perhaps produce a personal best performance. Kerri took a few throws to settle into her usual stride and it wasn’t until her third throw when she showed what she was really capable of throwing 24m 89cm. This throw resulted in Kerri winning an All Ireland Bronze Medal. Kerri will certainly be a force to be reckoned with next season.

Ulster Representatives

From this season’s excellent performances Jacqueline Burns has been selected to represent the Ulster Team in the Interprovincials to be held once again in Tullamore at the end of June.

Year 9 District Athletics Finals

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As usual Cookstown High School had two year 9 Athletic teams competing in the District Final. Competition was excellent and the boys team finished in 5th place whilst the girls team finished in Silver medal position. The girls then went on to compete in the Ulster Year 9 Competition on the 6th June. In the Ulster Competition, the Year 9’s finished in a very credible 6th position. Best performances were from Kerri Scott, who threw a new personal best of 26m 33cm in the Javelin to finish first and Clare Spence who finished 4th in the High Jump

Girls Team: Clare Spence, Kerri Scott, Corie Harkness, Hannah Taylor, Rebecca Lindsay, Jenny Crozier, Hannah Warwick, Emily McAllister

Boys Team:- Michael Kerr, Harvey Barnes, Josh McAdoo, Luke McCrea, Cameron Mitchell, Mark Thompson.

The Year 8’s also took part in the Year 8 section of this competition to experience what they would have to compete in next year. Both the boys and girls competed well in their individual events with particular mention to Jack Haycock who brought home a bronze medal in the Javelin.

County Sports Results

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Always a very relaxing and enjoyable day, the competition this year was held again in Omagh. A very enjoyable day was had by our 48 pupils and results were excellent once again. We returned with a total of 24 Gold, 26 Silver and 17 Bronze Medals, an overall total of 67 medals. And….. Year 11 pupil Jacqueline Burns set a new County Record in the U16 Girls Javelin with a throw of over 31 metres.

Congratulations to all the athletes who have represented Cookstown High School so well throughout the season and especially to Jacqueline Burns and Kerri Scott for keeping Cookstown High School’s name very much alive in Ulster and Irish Athletics.

Thanks also to Mrs Heather Campbell for providing assistance with coaching and giving expert advice to our athletes in the Javelin. Both the staff and pupils alike really appreciate the time and effort she has put in once again this season.

Related topics:Ulster