The Junior section continues to grow both in numbers (117 Athletes) and in the range of age groups, writes head coach Darrell Smith. We had 17 U17/U20s compete for the Club in 2025.
One of the main Team objectives for the season was for our U13/U15s to earn promotion to Division 1 of the Kent Young Athlete League. We didn’t quite get there, placing 3rd in Div 2 and missing Promotion by one Team spot.
I look back on the 4 matches with great pride. Our Team is well balanced across the age groups and we were consistent in all matches, which was critical to our eventual 3rd place. I’m pretty sure we will be even stronger next year and we can make an even stronger challenge to get back to the Top Division in 2027.
And it’s clear that we are competing against clubs with much bigger teams. Blackheath Harriers fielded over 200 Athletes over the 4 matches, whereas SAC fielded just 54, and that 54 were 80% of our total Athletes eligible to compete.
Once again, we competed in the Southern League, an adult League which I feel serves as an excellent vehicle to allow our U17s/U20s to continue to compete for the Club in a League.
Thirty Athletes competed at County Champs (Indoors, Kent Club Champs and Kent Schools, Kent Relays) with 9 medals won over the course of the Season. We had two Kent Champions, Liv Mutungawazi won Kent Indoor and Outdoor Champs at 200m and Imogen Mace winning the Kent Schools U14 Javelin Champs. Both Girls qualified for the English Schools and placed 8th and 9th respectively. Also representing Kent, U13s Georgina Davidson-Nwosu (Discus) and Cora Old (800m) placed 3rd and 9th respectively at the Derek Crookes Inter County Match.
Twenty Club Records were broken and in terms of UK Rankings, we had 8 athletes ranked in the top 100 in the UK in their age groups with 6 in the top 35.
Kent Young Athlete League Match, 5th July Gillingham
Our U13/U15s repeated their Team performance from the 2nd match with a 3rd place Team finish, further establishing their position and pulling further away from 4th placed Folkstone, writes head coach Darrell Smith. With the final match on the 16th August, the Team looks to be in a strong position to hold onto 3rd but not quite within reach, this year, of making the top 2 teams and gaining promotion.
In the U13Gs there were wins for Autumn Harden in HJ (1.20) and Georgina Davidson-Nwosu in the Shot (6.91), Discus (23.03), and Javelin (18.89). In the U13B there were wins for Teddy Grobel in the Hurdles in a very fast 13.1. Charlie Bayliss won the Shot in 7.48. In the U15G Olwyn Mtungwazi won the Long Jumping 4.92 and Imogen Mace win the Discus (21.48) and Javelin (29.02).
Kent Schools, 14th June, Gillingham
Ten Sevenoaks AC Athletes competed for their respective Schools at the All Kent Championships at Gillingham on the 14th June. Special mention to Imogen Mace (Javelin) and Liv Mtungwazi (200m) who won their respective events and have both been selected to represent Kent at the All England Schools Track and Field Champs on the 12th July, Birmingham.
U13 Kent Call ups
In addition to Liv and Imogen, two more Athletes have been selected to represent Kent and County Matches. In the U13 Girls, Georgina Davidson-Nwosu (Discus) and Cora Old (800m) are representing Kent at a Inter County Match on 3rd August.
English Schools Track and Field Champs, Birmingham, 12th and 13th July
Two of our best made it all the way to the English Schools Champs, the premier event of the Summer. Liv Mtungwazi thought she hadn’t made the U16G 200m Final but then found out just minutes before that she was allowed to run. Liv finished 9th in the Final, her first National Final. In the U14G Javelin, Imogen placed 10th in her first National Final. Both will take this experience forward.
There were pleasant weather conditions for this second match of season at Norman Park, Bromley, writes head coach Darrell Smith.
Third after the first match, the Team went in a little bigger in number and stronger than the first match. And so it proved with the Team moving up to 3rd overall.
There were individual wins for Matthew in the 800m, Teddy in the Hurdles and Long Jump, George in the Shot (7m59cm a Club Record) Olwyn in the Discus and Long Jump (5m05cm a Club Record) and Cora in the 800m (2.35.2 a Club Record).There was also a win for our U15B 4 x 300m, the last event of the day.
However it was the overall Team performance that stood out. Despite all our Age Group Teams (U13G,Y13B,U15G) and all finishing 4th in their respective age-groups, we still managed to come 3rd overall.
The full results are here. Our next match is on the 5th July at Medway Park Maidstone.
Nine Sevenoaks AC Junior Athletes competed at the Kent Track and Field Championships at Ashford on 10th and 11th May, coming away with two Bronze, a Silver and one Gold, writes head coach Darrell Smith.
On the Saturday , Brianna Kuranga threw 9m 62cm in the U17W Shot to place 3rd and Liv Mtungwazi was winner of the U17W 200m clocking 25.01.
On day two, Liv Mtungwazi came back after winning the 200m on the Saturday to place 3rd in the U17W 100m. Then at the end of the day a superb throw by Imogen Mace of 32m 32cm in the last round of the U15G Javelin secured her place 2nd. Her first medal at County level.
The full results are here.
A cool morning turned into a warm afternoon as SAC embarked on its first match of 2025, writes head coach Darrell Smith.
A combination of Easter and Track maintenance hindered our preparation for some of the Field events but we still managed to fill 82% of events.
The Team as a whole ended up 4th out of 8 Teams, just 24pts short of Folkestone AC who were 3rd. There are three more matches over the course of the Summer and I’m hopeful we can move up the leaderboard.
In terms of individual performances:
In the U13G an outstanding set of throws by Georgina Davidson-Nwoso meant wins for her in all 3 throws, Discus, Hammer and Shot.
The stand-out performance in the U13Bs was William Chetty who won the High jump in 1.25 after just 2 practice sessions.
In the U15Gs Imogen Mace threw a Club record of 26.77 to win the U15G Javelin and U15Bs 4 x 300m Team were winners in the last event of the day to cap off a successful day.
The next Match is on 18th May at Bromley.
