Sport Round Up - January 2024

In Athletics, Millfield athletes competed in the Cardiff Met Open on Sunday 21 January, with many personal best performances achieved. Upper Sixth Olivia Sparks claimed an indoor PB in the 300m, as did Tamara Jackson in the 60m and Rory Forbes in the 800m. Bellsie Honey ran a British Championships qualifying performance in the 60m. Lower Sixth Carys Leyshon achieved a 60m PB and a High Jump PB. Year 11 Tom Webb claimed a 1500m PB in the Intermediate Boys category with a run of 4:00:86, which is also a Millfield School Intermediate Boys Record. Zoe Allen ran an indoor PB time in the 200m. 

In Cricket, Upper Sixth Dominic Kelly represented England U19 at the World Cup in South Africa.

The Girl’s U14/15 indoor cricket team progressed through Round 1 of the Somerset Lady Taverners U15s indoor competition. They play the next round on 8 February. 

In Cross Country, students took part in the 2024 Somerset Schools AA Cross Country Championships. 

In the Junior Girl’s event, Year 9 Ruby Bodman was 3rd, Vienna Townsend was 5th and Hope Lewis was 7th. The Junior Boy’s event saw Year 9 Hugo Escobar Barfoot finish 8th, Xavier Bailey finish 9th, Mateo Elliot 12th and Beau Ashman 34th.   

In the Intermediate Girl’s, Year 10 Jemima Davey was 2nd, Year 11 Macey Burge was 8th, Year 9 Gabriella Franklin was 18th, while Year 10 Ella Shepherd was 20th. In the Intermediate Boy’s event, Year 11 Tom Webb was 1st, Cai Lewis was 2nd, Dexter Townsend was 4th and Year 10 Jasper Girven was 15th. 

Lower Sixth Annabelle Souter, Erin Shepherd and Upper Sixth Mackenzie O’Dea ran in the Senior Girl’s event, with Annabelle and Erin finishing 1st and 3rd respectively. In the Senior Boy’s event, Lower Sixth Jamie Bedford was 5th, Nate Ground was 6th, Sebastian Forrest was 8th and Upper Sixth Jack Harvey was 12th.  

In Equestrian, at the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) show jumping at Moreton, Year 9 Larissa Morley won the 1m class, qualifying for the National Show Jumping Championships in October. 

Millfield riders competed at the NSEA Eventers Challenge at West Wilts on 20 January. Year 11 Mariella Frost placed second with a double clear in the 90cm class and has qualified for the National Championships at Hickstead in May. Year 9 Elsa Weaver placed third in the 1m class, also qualifying for the National Championships. 

In Fencing, Upper Sixth Maisie Everett competed in the U20 Epee World Cup in Udine Italy in January. This was Maisie’s first U20 international selection for team GB. She put in a fantastic performance against experienced fencers, narrowly missing out on the second round by one point. 

Coaches Glen Golding and Nat Lewis were selected as Team GB Para fencing coaches for the inaugural Cardiff Para Fencing World Cup. Both led Team GB fencers to multiple medals and personal bests. 

Year 11 Evie Colyer finished in eighth place at the Leon Paul London U20 FOIL BRC, while she also claimed 14th place at the Manchester FOIL U17 BRC.
 
Year 11 Kaden Woname was selected to represent his country Ghana at the U20 Sabre Grand Prix in Boston, where he competed against some of the best U20 fencers in the world. 16-year-old Kaden was able to score some fantastic hits against older and more experienced opponents. 

Millfield Epee fencers produced brilliant performances at the South West Regional Epee Championships. The event saw Millfield finish with one regional champion, two silver medals, six bronze medals and 17 qualifiers for the National Championships. 

In the U18 Girl’s event, Upper Sixth Maisie Everett was regional champion and qualified for the National Championships. She will be joined by Haleena Callaghan, who finished in second place. In the U18 Boy’s event, Lower Sixth Sebastian Forrest was 2nd (qualified), Stefan Chirita was 7th (qualified), Max Snaith was 12th, Zac Cooper was 13th and Lewis Jones was 14th. 

In the U16 Girl’s event, Year 10 Dora Ji was 3rd, Year 11 Yashika Gupta was 5th, Goksu Sisman was 6th and Jia Kapur was 7th, all qualifying for the National Championships. In the U16 Boy’s event, Year 9 Mateo Elliot was 5th (qualified), Year 10 Henry Callaghan was 11th and Year 9 Theo Taylor was 14th.  

In the U14 Girl’s event, Year 9 Stephanie Davison was 7th (qualified), Ruby Bodman was 9th and Valentina Kemp was 12th. In the U14 Boy’s event, Year 9 Jason Shi was third (qualified). 

In Hockey, Lower Sixth Joe Casey and Makenzy Beard have been selected for the Wales U18 and U21 teams. Read the full story here.

OM and England and GB Goalkeeper Toby Reynolds-Cotterill visited campus to deliver goalkeeping masterclasses to students.

In Netball, Year 10 students Sloane Nicholas and Tabitha Olivier have both been selected for the U15 squad for Team Bath. 

Both the first and second teams have successfully advanced to Round 5 of the Sisters and Sport Cup.  

Millfield won the Limitless Independent School League, powered by Next Gen. 

Lower Sixth student Matilda Moore has been selected for the Northern Ireland’s U17 Short Squad. Matilda will be attending Netball Europe in March. 

In Rowing, Millfield competed in the British Indoor Rowing Championships in Birmingham on Saturday 9 December. Notable performances came from Upper Sixth Lucy Buckingham, who finished seventh in the Sixth Form Girl’s 2000m category, and Year 10 Zara Barnett, who was 10th in the Year 10 Girl’s 500m category. 

In Rugby, the Millfield Boy’s First XV won the School’s Championship for the second year in a row, winning two out of the three games. 

Four former Millfield rugby players have been selected to represent their countries at this year's Six Nations. Huw Jones, Adam Hastings and Josh Bayliss were selected for Scotland, while Ieuan Davies will represent Wales U20. Read the full story here.

OMs Ioan Emanuel and Ieuan Davies caught up with former coach Mr Cooksley at a recent Wales U20 fixture.

Students have playing in academy fixtures for various clubs. Upper Sixth Henry Bonetti, Owen Erasmus, Alex Deering, Steffan Emanuel, Lower Sixth Codi Purnell and Ellis James all represented Bath. Lower Sixth Ben Morrow represented Saracens, Osian Catlin represented Midlands West, while Upper Sixth Will Howells and Lower Sixth Evan Morris played for Ospreys. Upper Sixth Maddy Gissing and Claudia Alder played for Bristol Bears, while Claudia also represented Hong Kong. Lower Sixth Emma Phillips was selected by Mauritius, while Upper Sixth Lucy Wintle has been in the Wales camp. 

The Girl’s sevens season is underway with tournaments being played throughout January. Millfield will host their Girl’s Sevens tournament on Wednesday 7 February. 

40 students were involved in the Millfield Boy’s Sevens tournament on Sunday 28 January. 

The Boys U15s team will compete in the Cup quarter final vs Whitgift on Monday 5 February. 

In Ski Racing, Year 10 Victoria Meneghetti will represent Great Britain at the annual international junior ski competition, Trofeu Boruffa, in Andorra, where she will compete in Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Super G. Read the full story here.

In Squash, Lower Sixth Olivia Owens won her first U19 Girls Gold in the England Squash Event at Pontefract Squash and Leisure Club. 

In Tennis, Lower Sixth Connie Cox won a Women’s Grade 3 title at Taunton in December. 

In Trampolining, 22 students competed at the South West Schools’ Trampoline Championships in December. Both senior girl’s teams won their event and qualified through to the Southern Regionals in January. In addition to this, seven gymnasts qualified through to the next round as individuals, finishing in the top five in their category. There were exceptional performances from the following: Lower Sixth Ellis James (second place elite), Year 11 Ethan Jones (first place novice), Isla Miller (second place intermediate) and Year 10 Brychan James (first place intermediate). 

At the Southern Zonals Championships in January, 10 students represented the South West of England. Year 10 Brychan James finished second in the intermediate event and has qualified through to the National Finals in March.