Alyson clocks Scottish U20 100m Record amid three wins at Loughborough

Monday 23rd May 2022

Alyson Bell on her way to 11.58 run in the Women’s 100m (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Results

Alyson Bell clocked a Scottish 20 Record at the Loughborough International to continue the feelgood factor in our women’s sprinting – only 24 hours after a National Record for the 4x100m Women in Birmingham.

It was one of the main highlights of a solid day from Scotland with individual event wins for David Smith in the high jump, Nick Percy in the discus and Sarah Tait in the 3000m steeplechase.

There were a number of other second and third place finishes in events bolstered by guest appearances.

After racing in the 4x100m Relay for GB Juniors, Bell pulled on Scotland blue for the Women’s 100m at Loughborough – and set a new Scottish U20 100m record.

The Giffnock North athlete finished third as she posted a new mark of 11.58 which is also a World Juniors qualifying time.

‘I bumped into Alisha Rees in the stadium not long after the race and she told me she had the Scottish U20 Record at 11.59,’ smiled Alyson.

‘I’m really pleased because I felt it was there after the BUCS event a couple of weeks ago.  It was great to represent Scotland as an individual and I’m very happy with the time.

‘I’m studying in Edinburgh now and have been doing gym work there and I feel that’s helped make me stronger.’

Photos from Bobby Gavin on Facebook

David Smith was a Loughborough winner again as he took the Men’s High Jump competition with a best clearance of 2.19m.

David had three attempts at the Commonwealth Games standard of 2.23m but will focus his attention on that over the next few weeks.

‘I’ve been at Glasgow 2014 and in the final at Gold Coast 2018 so I would love to make it to Birmingham for a third time with Team Scotland,’ he said.

Nick Percy was another winner as he took the Men’s Discus competition with a throw of 63.02. Nick had been over 63m the previous day at the Birmingham Diamond League.

‘I’m consistently over 63m now and that’s a good base – hopefully the much bigger ones are coming soon in the next competitions,’ said Nick.

‘You always want to do well for Scotland here and I love to win full points for the team. It’s a good place to throw and I’m pretty sure that’s the last three Loughborough Internationals I have won.’

Kirsty Law was third in the Women’s discus final at 55.35m. Gus McInroy represented Scotland in the shot with 15.17m.

David Smith and Sarah Tait enjoyed event wins in the high jump and 3000m steeplechase (photos by Bobby Gavin)

Sarah Tait was a winner for the second year in a row as she broke the field to win the Women’s 3000m steeplechase.

The GB U23 international had the fastest PB on paper and justified her status as favourite to give Scotland full points. Michael Cameron had a solid run in the Men’s steeplechase, as he finished third.

Highland duo Megan Keith and Stephen Mackay swapped Inverness Harriers vests for Scotland vests – and both had fine 1500m performances.

Megan was third in 4:21.56  as Jess Judd dominated in the Loughborough vest while Stephen took second in a thrilling Men’s contest over the same distance.

Also on the track, there was a fine run for second place by Carys MacAulay in the Women’s 400m match.

The Scot pushed her English opponent right to the line and was pleased with a time of 53.25 as Lily Beckford won in 53.20.

‘That’s about 1.5 seconds quicker than in Birmingham on Saturday and I was determined to do better,’ she said.

‘I am not sure quite why but Saturday was the biggest event I’ve been involved in and they did hold us for a while and I’m not sure I dealt with that as well as I might have.’

Brodie Young clocked 47.30 for Scotland in the 400m Match on a day when he also raced for GB Juniors in the relay.

Falkirk duo Olivia Vareille and Kane Elliott represented Scotland in the 800m – Kane was in contention for much of the race before he finished fifth in 1:52.28. Olivia clocked 2:11.27 for seventh with Hannah Cameron, running for the National Athletics League, fourth in 2:09.01.

In the 200m races, Adam Thomas was sixth with 21.28 and Taylah Spence fifth with 24.77.

Krishawn Aiken was fifth in the Men’s 100m with 10.46 seconds and Scott Connal clocked 14.59 in the 110m Hurdles.

Back to the field and Teddy Tchoudja took third in the shot with 14.35m as she represented GB Juniors with Scotland’s Amy Kennedy at 12.46m. In the javelin, Katie Burr threw 41.72m.

Claire McGarvey cleared 1.70m in the Women’s High Jump and Nony Mordi was at 12.06 in the Triple Jump.

Stephen Mackay on his way to second place in a the Men’s 1500m (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Brodie Young was the Scotland selection for the Men’s 400m (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Mary Dry was back in a Scotland vest in the hammer and finished seventh with 66.40m. Courtney MacGuire came up with a 3.95m leap in the Women’s Pole Vault competition.

In the Men’s Long Jump, Paul Ogun had a best leap of 7.21 and Reuben Nairne cleared 4.85m in the Pole Vault.

Unfortunately, the Men’s 4x100m team of Adam Thomas, Stephen Dunlop, Michael Olsen and Krishawn Aiken were a DQ as they had hoped to chase the Commonwealth Games standard of 39.51 seconds.

In the 400m Hurdles, Emily Craig took sixth place in 61.42 with Rachel Callan, racing for GB Juniors, just behind in 62.26. Jack Lawrie clocked 50.81 for fourth place in the Men’s 400m Hurdles.

*Steven Bryce won the Para 1500m with a fine run of 4:07 which was close to his PB.

*With a few issues, including an injury to Kyle Alexander, Scotland did not field teams in the 4x400m Relay events.

The overall Match score was:

1 England 186; 2 Loughborough Select 138; 3 National League 133; 4 GB&NI U20 125.5; 5 Scotland 93.5; 6 Wales 89

Javelin thrower Greg Millar was our Scotland captain at Loughborough (photo by Bobby Gavin)

Stephen Bryce in action on his way to a win in the Para 1500m race (photo by Bobby Gavin)

 

Tags: Loughborough International, Loughborough International 2022, Scotland