Sport Round Up - February 2025

In Athletics, Millfield athletes competed in the South West Schools' Cross Country Championships in Newquay, a regional event with teams from counties including Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, and Wiltshire participated in various age-group races. Upper Sixth Nate Ground won Somerset Schools' Senior Boys Team Gold. Somerset Schools' Senior Girls Team Gold was won by Upper Sixth Annabelle Souter, Erin Shepherd, Lower Sixth Abigail Bushell, Eva Herbertson and Lottie Quinn.

At the Welsh U20 Indoor Championships in Cardiff, Lower Sixth Tom Webb won gold in the 1500m, while Andre Onyekwe won gold in the High Jump. Year 10 Hope Lewis won bronze in the 800m.

There were top eight finishes for Lower Sixth Gemma Tolputt in the 800m (fourth), Upper Sixth Carys Leyshon in Long Jump (fourth), Lower Sixth Zoe Allen in Shot Put (fifth), Lower Sixth Carys Leyshon in Shot Put (seventh), Carys Leyshon in 60m hurdles (fifth), Upper Sixth Lily Eastmond in the 60m (seventh), Lower Sixth Leah Ukeje in the High Jump (seventh), Lower Sixth Nathan Phillips in Long Jump (eighth) and Lower Sixth Leah Ukeje in Long Jump (eighth).

At the England U20 Indoor Championships in Sheffield, Upper Sixth Tiana Rizzo reached the semi-final in the 60m, Lower Sixth Andre Onyekwe finished fourth in the High Jump and Tom Webb finished sixth in the 1500m.

Following an invitation to compete in this year’s championships, Tiana Rizzo competed in the 60m. at the UK Indoor Championships, Birmingham. The UK Indoor Athletics Championships is the highest level domestic indoor event in the UK where top British athletes compete. It serves as a key selection event for international championships and a platform for emerging athletes.

In Cricket, Year 10 Woody O'Brien travelled to Sri Lanka with the Somerset U15 team in half term. Woody took three wickets across the tour, took one catch and influenced a run out too.

Year 9 Connor Pearce went to Sri Lanka with the Somerset U15s in half term. Connor scored 115 runs across the tour and had noticeable contributions of 38, 35 and 25.

Year 11 Noah Lewis-Jones went to Sri Lanka with the Somerset Academy in half term.

In Equestrian, Millfield riders competed in the National NSEA Pop Up Dressage series. In Class 3 Prelim 2, Lower Sixth Mariella Frost - Royal Magner on 64% placed 11^th. Year 11 Agatha Stamper - Annagh Golden Dun on 63% placed 13^th. Year 9 Camellia Vickers - Miami on 64.30% placed 24^th. Year 11 Tatoum Scott-Dunne – Anton on 61.50% placed 31^st. Year 9 Kiya Kornthatchapong – Cadoc on 61.30% placed 32^nd. In the Class 5 Elementary 2, Lower Sixth Amber Moxon riding Ballyheerin Bay Dancer on 63.30% placed fifth.

In the first weekend of February, a new group of students participated in the NSEA County Show Jumping Competition held at Kings Sedgemoor Equestrian at 0.80m and 0.90m. Notable results with double clears in the 0.90m came from Year 10 Jimena De Arquer Fernandez on In-Salah D’estel and Year 9 Kiya Kornthatchapong on a school horse 'Cadoc' and

Students competed in the British Show jumping at CCR Equestrian. Year 10 Blaire Carling had a double clear in the 0.95m and placed ninth; she achieved the same result in the 1.05m. In the 1m, Year 9 Darcie Slater placed seventh.

Lower Sixth Amber Moxon posted two Double Clears jumping on a ticket in the 1.10m and a first attempt 1.15m Members Cup classes.

In the 0.90m Class team Lower Sixth Mariella Frost, Gracie Durbin, Year 11 Alice De Riols De Fonclare and Agatha Stamper. There was an individual placing of sixth for Agatha Stamper.

The 1m Class team was Lower Sixth Gracie Durbin, Manige Deleersnyder, Year 11 Agatha Stamper and Year 10 Elsa Weaver. There were individual placings of third for Year 11 Agatha Stamper, fourth for Lower Sixth Gracie Durbin and fifth for Year 10 Alexia Favre. 

Millfield riders competed in the Chard Equestrian British Show Jumping. In the Senior 1m Open Class, Year 10 Zoe Przedborski won the Class with a Double Clear, Lower Sixth Manige Deleersnyder was in second place with a Double Clear and Year 10 Jimena De Arquer Fernandez was in third place.

In the 105 Senior Open Class, Year 10 Zoe Przedborski came third, Lower Sixth Manige Deleersnyder was seventh and Jimena De Arquer Fernandez was 10^th.

Year 10 Jack Guppy qualified and competed in the British Eventing Bates Championships at Aston Le Walls in the BE 100 Class, placing 10^th.

Year 11 Agatha Stamper competed in the 0.90cm and 1M NSEA Arena Eventing at Allens Hill Equestrian, placing seventh.

At the NSEA Show jumping at Bicton Equestrian. Millfield posted two team wins in both heights and therefore qualified for the New Windsor Challenge Team Class at the National Championships held at Addington Manor in October.

In Fencing, 34 Millfield fencers qualified for Youth Nationals through Millfield’s Regional Championships.

Upper Sixth Jamie Hague became U18 South West Sabre Champion.

Year 10 Mateo Elliott Became U16 South West Epee Champion.

Year 11 Monty Price-Bailey became U16 Welsh Epee Champion.

In Football, Millfield footballers had a fantastic tour in Barcelona during half term where they had the chance to experience lots of different footballing opportunities, including training and playing in professional clubs' facilities.

Rhomey Ashby-Hammond, J'adore Lawson, Jaden Rose and Sam Tisdale were awarded their international caps for the England Independent Schools FA U18 team following a 4-0 victory over English Schools FA at St George's Park.

The Boys' First Team won the ESFA School Cup quarter final 3-0 win against Lord Williams School, Oxford. They now play Hampton School at home in the semi final on 19 March. They also won their ESFA Super League round of 16 up against Champions Sports Academy, Dorset. The team have been drawn away to play Bradfield College in the quarter final on 6 March.

In Golf, 18 students headed off to the warmer climates of Spain to play in the Millfield and Desert Springs European Schools Team event. The format is Teams of four, Millfield had five teams, one being made up with staff members for the first two days. The first two days are 4BBB and Millfield Team 2 of Year 10 Jack McMeekin, Year 9 Zane Bignell, Sophia Nesbitt and Tate Sinfield-Day were in third position with 154 pts. The last day, it is the best two individual scores from the Team to count. Millfield had some good individual scores recorded: Lower Sixth Abigail Moore won the Girls’ Scratch Event with a gross 75 (+3), Year 11 Charles Wright came second in the Boys’ Scratch with a gross 76 (+5) and Year 9 Tapi Katsvara came runner up in the Boys Handicap Stableford with 38. Other notable scores were Year 9 Tate Sinfield-Day in 10th (34 pts), Year 9 Jack Issacs in 13th (33 pts). In the team event, the Millfield 1 team of Abigail Moore, Karoline Tochtermann, Charles Wright and Year 10 Oli Hopkins finished fourth with 217 pts and Millfield 2 finished fifth with 216 pts.

Year 10 Oli Hopkins recorded a gross 75 to finish joint second in the Somerset OM event at Stockwood Vale. Other Millfield scores for this event were Lower Sixth Wills House and Year 9 Zane Bignell both returning a gross 76, Year 11 Toby Morris returning a gross 78, Lower Sixth Luke Burbridge a gross 80, Joss Monachello a gross 80 and Year 10 Jack McMeekin a gross 81. Well played to all and great to see many of our students playing.

In Hockey, the Girls’ First XI competed in the ISHC (Independent Schools Hockey Competitions) Finals Day at Nottingham Hockey Centre. The team competed in the semi-finals and won 2-1 against Haileybury before coming second in the finals after narrowly missing out on penalty strokes.

The Girls’ First XI have had a successful campaign in the England Hockey Tier 1 West League, making it through to the quarter finals of the England Hockey cup on the fifth of March.

The Boys’ First XI recently won their match in the Independent Schools Hockey Competition against Bishop Vessey's Grammar School.

The Boys’ U14A team have had a successful run in the England Hockey Tier 1 competition, making it to the quarter final which where they will play Cheltenham College.

In Modern Pentathlon, Millfield hosted the Pentathlon GB Ranking 2 event on Sunday 2 February, marking a fantastic opportunity to showcase a full pentathlon ranking event, including an OCR course for the first time.

Lower Sixth Chloe Johnson delivered a brilliant performance, securing first place in the Open Women’s category, achieving personal bests along the way. Seb Forrest put in a strong performance, finishing fourth, while Upper Sixth Zac Cooper finished 25th in the Open Men’s. Year 10 Mateo Elliott claimed second place with personal bests. Year 10 Ruby Bodman also put in a solid effort, finishing seventh.

In Netball, the Senior First team reached two national finals in the space of four days. They have qualified for the National Schools tournament as well as the National Cup Finals which will both be taking place in March. The U16A team also won their quarter final of the cup which sees them through to the semi finals in March.

Lower Sixth first team Netballer Freya Artell has been selected into the Gibraltar Netball U21 Squad with her sights set on Netball Europe.

In Rugby, Millfield hosted the Millfield Girl’s 7s Festival for U14, U16 and U18 age groups. Millfield entered a team in each age group.

Millfield hosted the U18 Millfield 7s Festival, entering three teams. One of the Millfield teams won the festival.

Upper Sixth Ernie Jackson, Codi Purnell, Ben Morrow and Evan Morris all played in the Academy Finals Day at Kingsholm. Ernie Jackson won in the final with Northampton saints against Bath and Millfield teammate Codi Purnell.

Millfield U18s were runners-up in the PGS 7s.

Millfield u16s were runners up in the Gordon’s 7s.

Millfield First VII won the Hampton 7s.

In Swimming, a fantastic February saw unprecedented success at the Somerset County Championships as well as international opportunities in Belgium, Luxemburg, Lisbon and Dubai. The following represented their country: Upper Sixth Toby Godsell and Lower Sixth Filip Nowacki for England, Lower Sixth Sophie Davies and Year 11 Jack Arnold for Wales and Upper Sixth Charlotte Hardy for Scotland. Across the aforementioned international competitions there were three senior school records broken, Lower Sixth Meghan Higgs in 50m Freestyle and and Fillip Nowacki in the 100m and 200m Breaststroke.

In Squash, Upper Sixth Olivia Owens has been picked for European Championships in April 2025 in Prague. She is currently No1 on the National U19 Rankings for February.

Lower Sixth Gilad Wiegenfeld played in the German Junior Open (Gold Event).

In Tennis, Lower Sixth Joshua Craze competed in the J30 Lexus Liverpool ITF Junior Tournament. Joshua qualified through to the singles main draw after winning through three tough rounds of qualifying matches. Joshua won his first round in main draw before then losing a very close three set match against the eventual tournament winner.

Joshua and his partner won the doubles event, beating the number 1 seeds in the semi-finals and won a convincing final without dropping a set to take home the trophy.

Year 9 Tommy Weston competed in both singles and doubles in the Lexus Junior National Tour U14 Grade 2 Boys in Sunderland. A great achievement to be competing at this level amongst the Top 25 U14 Nationally ranked boys. Tommy narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Round of 16 draw, losing in a very close three set match.

Lower Sixth Leah Fosbury competed in the North & Midlands West Tour Grade Four at Knutsford Tennis Club, winning the 18&U Girls’ Singles event.