The indoor season of 2019/2020 was an interesting one for Lexie - it started with a change of coach and saw her take a greater focus on Hammer throwing as well as continuing with her Shot. It has been a huge change for her, much more intense training and with older athletes too. It's fair to say that it's taken a bit of time for her to get used to it, but she's a toughie and she's worked hard to establish herself in the group and worked hard at training too.
That persistence and focus has certainly paid off over the indoor season. Her pb was sitting at 10.22m with the Shot and that was from back in June 2019 at School Intercounties and she hadn't thrown close to that for quite a while. The indoor season aim was to medal at the Northern Indoor Championships and regular readers will know that Lexie has a history of coming 4th at the Northern's and she's done that twice. Her Shot technique has been changed a lot and the power was improving across the Winter - she started her campaign in November at the Gateshead Indoor Series and hit 9.73m which wasn't a bad start. The distance improved at the December competition at Gateshead with a best of 10.04m - her first throw over 10m since June 2019 and there was a big smile on her face.
She went in 2020 with much greater confidence and despite a best of 9.73 in the January Gateshead meeting, her confidence was still high and she was training very hard. She then had a guest place at the North East Youth Open and hit a best of 10m dead, which was a good confidence builder ahead of the Northern's which were the following weekend.
As the entry levels were quite high, the Shot at Northern's was split with two qualifying pools followed by a final later in the day. It was a bit of a nervous affair, but mainly only for me as I was officiating and was meant to be spiking, so I had to change the duty for both competitions to avoid any controversy. However, for Lexie, it wasn't controversial as she easily won her pool with a best throw of 10.03m. Both she and I then paid particular attention to the throwers in pool B and only one was past her mark. She went into the final very confidently and despite not quite hitting 10m, her best of 9.93m was enough to win the Silver medal and she was delighted (except for wanting to throw further).
The medal gave her a greater hunger and more determined to do more. The next major target was the Scottish National Indoor Championships in Glasgow and the hard work in training continued - this includes a bit of running, oh yes, Lexie is back running again !
The February Gateshead event saw her hit a new pb, by all of 1cm, when she hit a 10.23m best. Next up was the North East Indoor Championships on the 15th February and Lexie wasn't at her best and she sat second for most of the competition before a best of 10.08m got her the Gold medal.
So off we went to Glasgow for the Scottish National Indoor Championships. Again, it was a high entry level and for her age group, Scottish Athletics decided to have a qualifying standard of 9.50m with athletes competing in two pools and the top 8 would go through, unless more than 8 hit the standard. It was a great idea (although they could have published the pools a little earlier) and Lexie went in pool A. The plan was for one throw and hit the standard - the plan was executed to perfection with a 10.25m pb thrown on her first throw. She shook the officials hands and took her leave from the competition. Into the final we went and she was feeling very confident indeed. That confidence all came out in the first throw - a massive 10.88m and a huge pb. Her second throw was a foul and her third proved that the first one was no fluke, as she hit 10.85m. Another foul and throws of 10.42m and 10.66m followed - a brilliant series of throws and just at the right time to secure her the Silver medal. Lexie was thrilled to hit the English Schools entry standard, albeit it she won't get the opportunity to compete this year.
Overall, it's been an excellent indoor season for Lexie - top marks to Nick (& Sophie) for keeping her focused and working hard in training. We were really looking forward to seeing what happened with the Hammer once we got outside, but we'll just have to keep waiting.......
That persistence and focus has certainly paid off over the indoor season. Her pb was sitting at 10.22m with the Shot and that was from back in June 2019 at School Intercounties and she hadn't thrown close to that for quite a while. The indoor season aim was to medal at the Northern Indoor Championships and regular readers will know that Lexie has a history of coming 4th at the Northern's and she's done that twice. Her Shot technique has been changed a lot and the power was improving across the Winter - she started her campaign in November at the Gateshead Indoor Series and hit 9.73m which wasn't a bad start. The distance improved at the December competition at Gateshead with a best of 10.04m - her first throw over 10m since June 2019 and there was a big smile on her face.
She went in 2020 with much greater confidence and despite a best of 9.73 in the January Gateshead meeting, her confidence was still high and she was training very hard. She then had a guest place at the North East Youth Open and hit a best of 10m dead, which was a good confidence builder ahead of the Northern's which were the following weekend.
As the entry levels were quite high, the Shot at Northern's was split with two qualifying pools followed by a final later in the day. It was a bit of a nervous affair, but mainly only for me as I was officiating and was meant to be spiking, so I had to change the duty for both competitions to avoid any controversy. However, for Lexie, it wasn't controversial as she easily won her pool with a best throw of 10.03m. Both she and I then paid particular attention to the throwers in pool B and only one was past her mark. She went into the final very confidently and despite not quite hitting 10m, her best of 9.93m was enough to win the Silver medal and she was delighted (except for wanting to throw further).
The medal gave her a greater hunger and more determined to do more. The next major target was the Scottish National Indoor Championships in Glasgow and the hard work in training continued - this includes a bit of running, oh yes, Lexie is back running again !
The February Gateshead event saw her hit a new pb, by all of 1cm, when she hit a 10.23m best. Next up was the North East Indoor Championships on the 15th February and Lexie wasn't at her best and she sat second for most of the competition before a best of 10.08m got her the Gold medal.
So off we went to Glasgow for the Scottish National Indoor Championships. Again, it was a high entry level and for her age group, Scottish Athletics decided to have a qualifying standard of 9.50m with athletes competing in two pools and the top 8 would go through, unless more than 8 hit the standard. It was a great idea (although they could have published the pools a little earlier) and Lexie went in pool A. The plan was for one throw and hit the standard - the plan was executed to perfection with a 10.25m pb thrown on her first throw. She shook the officials hands and took her leave from the competition. Into the final we went and she was feeling very confident indeed. That confidence all came out in the first throw - a massive 10.88m and a huge pb. Her second throw was a foul and her third proved that the first one was no fluke, as she hit 10.85m. Another foul and throws of 10.42m and 10.66m followed - a brilliant series of throws and just at the right time to secure her the Silver medal. Lexie was thrilled to hit the English Schools entry standard, albeit it she won't get the opportunity to compete this year.
Overall, it's been an excellent indoor season for Lexie - top marks to Nick (& Sophie) for keeping her focused and working hard in training. We were really looking forward to seeing what happened with the Hammer once we got outside, but we'll just have to keep waiting.......
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