Sport Round Up - January 2023

In Athletics, Upper Sixth Lucy Fellows competed at the England Athletics Combined events championships in Sheffield. She put together some fantastic performances in her individual events scoring 3,707 points and taking the silver medal. She missed out on the national title by just 20 points.

Lucy has also been selected to represent England at the 14th edition of the Indoor Combined Events Tallinn meeting. The competition will be held at Lasnamäe Indoor Arena, Tallinn (Estonia) on 4/5 February.

At the annual Cardiff Metropolitan University Christmas Classic, four Millfield students competed with distinction producing a series of personal best performances against senior and U20 competitors.

In the Women’s 60m hurdles, Lower Sixth Mayalee Osola finished third with a personal best of 8.83s, achieving the 2023 UK Athletics Indoor Championships qualifying standard. Upper Sixth Lucy Fellows also ran a PB of 8.87s to finish 4^th.

In the Women’s 60m, Lower Sixth Bellsie Honey was 1^st, producing personal best performances of 7.68s in the heats and 7.70s in the final. Both times surpass the qualifying standards for both the 2023 UK Athletics Indoor Championships and the England Athletics U20 Indoor Championships. Lower Sixth Tamara Jackson placed 4^th in her heat with a personal best time of 7.88s, before placing 7^th in the final.

In the High Jump, Upper Sixth Lucy Fellows cleared 1.60m to finish 6^th, while Lower Sixth Mayalee Osola finished 8^th, clearing 1.55m for a personal best.

Lower Sixth Tamara Jackson competed for the first time in the 4kg Shot Put, and won the competition with a 9.92m personal best.

On Sunday 22 January, Millfield Athletics attended the annual Cardiff Met New Year Open at the National Indoor Athletics Centre, Cardiff. Some athletes were competing indoors for the first time, with most of them having limited indoor competition experience behind them. The group conducted themselves admirably in a busy environment. With an array of personal bests, either outright (PB) or indoor (PBi), the group represented Millfield well.

In the Female Pole Vault, Lower Sixth Mayalee Osola cleared 2.71m (PB) while Emma Gooding cleared 2.21m. In the Female 60m Hurdles, Upper Sixth Lucy Fellows ran an 8.85s PB, while Mayalee Osola ran an 8.97s. In the Male 60m Heats, Upper Sixth Toks Akanbi-Mortimer ran a 7.52s PB, while Year 11 Oscar Webb ran an 8.26s PB. In the Female 60m Heats, Lower Sixth Bellsie Honey finished in 7.82s, Upper Sixth Ella Wintle in 8.18s, Lower Sixth Lucy Wintle in 8.18s (PB), Upper Sixth Sabrina Jones in 8.28s (PB), Lower Sixth Olivia Sparks in 8.33s (PB), Year 10 Zoe Allen in 8.45s (PB), Ari Kasunmu in 8.48s (PB) and Watita Dankaro in 8.68s (PB). In the Female 800m, Lower Sixth Melissa McCusker finished in 2:36.94. In the Female Long Jump, Upper Sixth Lucy Fellows claimed an indoor PB with a jump of 5.96m. In the 4kg Female Shot Put, Lower Sixth Lily Chorley threw a 7.66m PB, while Year 11 Amalia Eneanya-Bonito finished first with a PB of 11.34m. Lower Sixth Bellsie Honey came 8^th in the Female 60m finals. In the Male 1500m, Lower Sixth Rory Forbes ran a 4:04.82 PB, Upper Sixth Elliot Gladwell ran a 4:12.01 PB, Year 11 Jamie Bedford a 4:25.84 PB and Upper Sixth Charlie R a 4:31.27 PB. In the Female 1500m, Year 10 Gemma Tolputt ran an indoor PB of 4:49.99, while Annabelle Suffield ran a 4:56.53 (PBi). Lower Sixth Tamara Jackson cleared 1.41m in the Female High Jump to claim a PB, while Year 11 Oscar Webb achieved an indoor PB, clearing 1.80m in the Male High Jump. Lower Sixth Gerard McGrady ran a 25.98s PB in the Male 200m. In the Female 200m, Lower Sixth Bellsie Honey ran an indoor PB of 26.35s, Lucy Wintle a 26.70s PB, Olivia Sparks ran an indoor PB of 27.02s, Upper Sixth Ella Wintle ran 27.27s, Year 10 Zoe Allen ran a 28.49 PB, Ari Kasunmu a 29.25 indoor PB and Watita Dankaro at 29.47 indoor PB. In the Male 400m, Lower Sixth Ricardo Reyes ran a 54.52s indoor PB, while Gerard McGrady also claimed an indoor PB, running a 55.69s. In the Female 400m, Lower Sixth Melissa McCusker finished in 63.24s (iPB).

In Cricket, Lower Sixth Dominic Kelly is representing England U19’s in the U19 Ashes Test Series. The team are based in Queensland with the 1st Test starting on the 29 January at the Allan Border Oval and the second Test beginning on 6 February at the Ian Healy Oval. The Australian U19 Team are touring England in July and August 2023 for the reciprocal tour. 

OM Joseph Eckland has been selected to play in the ODI/T20 leg of the Ashes U19 Tour with England.

Year 9 Hanson Martin is schooling and playing cricket in South Africa at our exchange Partner, St Stithians College in Johannesburg. Hanson has started well with the ball, taking 9 wickets in 2 matches last week.

Millfield successfully hosted a two-day ECB Post Level IV Coach Education course on behalf of the England Women’s Cricket Pathway in early January. Director of Cricket, Mark Garaway led the two-day programme on behalf of the ECB which included guest presenters and players from four teams within the ECB’s Professional franchises system and delegates from three different cricketing nations. 

Year 10 Laila Moledina has been selected for the Western Storm Emerging Player Programme.

In Cross Country, following on from their team victory at the South West Regional Final, the Millfield Intermediate girls team were back in action on Saturday 3 December, competing in the English Schools Cross Country Cup Final hosted by The Grammar School at Leeds.

With a 155 strong starting line-up, the intermediate girls took the team bronze medal. Year 9 Jemima Davey was 6th, Year 10 Gemma Tolputt was 8th, Year 10 Annabelle Suffield was 23rd, Macey Burge was 50th, Matilda Cowan was 82^nd and Evelyn Wheeler was 143rd.

On Saturday 21 January, 12 Millfield students represented Mendip at the Somerset Schools Cross Country Championships at RNAS Merryfield, Ilton. In cold and icy conditions, students produced excellent performances, with three students crowned county champions and taking a clean sweep of the girls’ categories: Junior Girls – Year 9 Jemima Davey, Intermediate Girls – Year 10 Gemma Tolputt and Senior Girls – Upper Sixth Freya Buglass. In the Intermediate Girls category, Year 10 Annabelle Suffield was 4^th, while Year 10 Macey Burge was 6^th. In the Senior Girls category, Lower Sixth Mackenzie O ‘Dea was 4^th. In the Intermediate Boys, Year 10 Tom Webb was 2^nd, Year 11 Jamie Bedford was 3^rd, Year 10 Cai Lewis was 4^th and Year 10 Oliver Tomlinson was 27^th. In the Senior Boys, Upper Sixth Charlie Rule was 3^rd, while Lower Sixth Jack Harvey was 4^th.

In Equestrian, on Sunday 8 January Year 11 Harriet Blair qualified for the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) Jumping with Style championships with a 3^rd place in the 90cm and 1m classes.

On 15 January, Millfield Blue team, consisting of Upper Sixth Cisca Norris, Year 11 Harriet Blair, Year 10 Lexi Chaney and Year 9 Mimi Woodliffe took first place at Moreton to qualify for the NSEA Hickstead Elite Show Jumping 1m team championships. Lexi Chaney also won the 1.10m (individual) and qualified for the NSEA Hickstead Elite championships.

On 25 January, Year 10 Lexi Chaney was placed 1^st in the 1.10m and 1.15m British Showjumping classes at Chard Equestrian.

Year 9 Isla Sully has been listed on the European long list training on both of her horses. She has also been selected as one of 12 National Academy athletes.

In Fencing, the Millfield Fencing team took part in the South West Epee Championships.

Year 10 Andéol Drion was U16 boys Epee champion.

Placing second in their respective age groups were Lower Sixth Patrick Jackson, Haleena Callaghan, Year 10 Evie Colyer and Year 9 Dora Ji.

Lower Sixth Maisie Everett finished in third place in the U18 girls’ Epee category.

In Football, Upper Sixth student Charlie Binns was selected to play for England ISFA vs Australia U18s.

In Golf, Upper Sixth Harriet Lockley finishes joint 11^th in the South American Women’s Open in Ecuador. She also competed in the Portuguese Women’s Championship, finishing an excellent joint 7^th with a score of +1.

Year 11 Samuel Hughes has been appointed Junior golf captain at The Mendip Golf Club.

Year 9 Toby Morris won The Warminster Putter and Handicap Singles trophy at West Wilts Golf Club.

In Hockey, OM hockey players Toby Reynolds-Cotterill and Stuart Rushmere travelled to India to take part in the 2023 FIH Men's Hockey World Cup, with Stuart representing England and Toby representing Wales.

In Netball, the U15A squad have reached the semi-finals of the Independent Schools National Cup.

The second team have progressed onto the 5^th round of the Sisters in Sport Shield.

The first team have progressed onto the 5^th round of the Sisters in Sport National Cup.

The first team have reached the quarter finals of the Independent Schools National Cup.

Ten students were selected into the Somerset County Netball Academy: Year 10 Sasha Camm, Tilly Anderton, Grace Williams, Year 9 Georgie Gordon, Elis Davies, Mila Brooke, Tabitha Olivier, Katriel Chukwuedo, Joely Chamberlain and Sloane Nicholas.

Lower Sixth student Sarah Long has been selected to represent the Isle of Man in the U17 Europe Netball Tournament taking place in Belfast on the 24 – 26 February.

In Rugby, six former Millfield Rugby players have been selected for their respective home nations for the upcoming Six Nations tournament. Mako Vunipola (England), Josh Bayliss (Scotland), Huw Jones (Scotland) and Rhys Davies (Wales) are on the team sheet as well as U20 players Sam Harris (England) and Eddie Erskine (Scotland). Read the full story here.

In Ski Racing, Year 11 Katie Saunders was selected to represent Great Britain at the world’s pre-eminent children’s ski race, the Alpe Cimbra FIS children’s cup in Italy. Katie came 20^th in the Slalom and 10th in the Giant Slalom, racing against the top Alpine skiers in the world. The GB team came 7^th overall against the 45 ski nations, which is their best result ever. Read the full story here.

Upper Sixth George Black has been selected for Team GB’s 2023 Friuli Venezia Giulia 2023 Winter European Youth Olympic Festival squad.

In Squash, Upper Sixth Amelie Haworth was 14^th in the U19 girls event in the British Junior Open held in Birmingham. Lower Sixth Ayaan Vaziralli was 14^th in the U17 boys’ event. Year 11 Soha Khatri was 41^st in the U17 girls’ singles. Year 9 Shun Kariyazono was 7/8^th in the U15 boys’ singles.

Lower Sixth Amelie Haworth played in the professional competition Hythe PSA in Kent, finishing as runner-up.

In the US Junior Open, Lower Sixth Ayaan Vaziralli finished 11^th/12^th in the U17 boys’ singles, with Year 9 Shun Kariyazono placing 7^th/8^th in the U15 boys’ event.

In Tennis, the team of Year 11 Simon Hegarty, Year 10 Joshua Craze, Flynn Godfrey, Charlie Ruffell and Rafe Samuel were crowned 2022 Year 9/10 Boys National Schools Champions in Bolton last month, overcoming strong opposition from Ellesmere College, High School of Glasgow and Ewell Castle in the National Finals. The boys were victorious exactly 10 years to the day a Millfield team last claimed a National Schools title.

Upper Sixth students Francesca Davis and Calum Jessett have both signed to Division 1 US Colleges where they will continue their tennis journeys from Fall 2023. Francesca will attend William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia) whilst Calum will attend Fairfield University (Fairfield, Connecticut). Gaining a scholarship to such prestigious institutions is testament to the hard work and dedication both have demonstrated towards their tennis and academics during their time at Millfield.

In Trampolining, 12 students attended the Southwest Schools’ trampoline championships. All 12 students bounced to the best of their ability, many receiving their highest marks to date. There were four top-six placings, all of whom qualified through to the Southern Zonals as individuals. Year 9 Brychan James won his intermediate age group while his brother, Year 11 Ellis James, finished second in his elite age group. Both the Year 10-14 Intermediate girls’ team and our Year 7-9 Intermediate boys team also qualified through to the Southern Zonals.

On 15 January, eight Senior School pupils then went on to compete at the Southern Zonal Trampoline Championships. Each student performed two good routines and many receiving personal best scores from the judges. Notable results: Year Ellis James finished second in the Year 10–14 Boys Elite competition. Year 9 Brychan James finished second in the Year 7- 9 Boys Intermediate competition and Noah Chambers and his team with Brychan and two Millfield Prep pupils won the Year 7-9 Intermediate Boys competition. All three boys now qualify through to the National Finals in Northampton in March.