Celebrity support for junior hopefuls
NBA star sends message to wish youngsters luck BASKETBALL
HILLINGDON AC made the best possible start to 2015 by winning the Middlesex Cross Country Championships at Alexandra Palace.
The senior men were victorious over the 7.5-mile course despite atrocious conditions underfoot.
James Laing (fourth), Rob Thompson (eighth), Daniel Dalmedo (11th), Daniel Thompson (14th), Martin Bateman (18th) and Ed Campbell (27th), notched HAREFIELD Academy are one of four London school teams heading to the University of East London today (Wednesday) in a battle to be crowned the inaugural Jr NBA Basketball England League Champions.
The Northwood Way school will be representing the Portland Trail Blazers on the day and will be fighting for the title with Platanos Basketball Academy (Dallas Mavericks) from the Western Conference and St Bonaventure’s RC School (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Evelyn Grace Academy (Miami Heat), from the Eastern Conference.
“I would like to wish the team from Harefield Academy the very best of luck in the semi 82 points. The total narrowly beat Highgate Harriers, who scored 87, and Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets AC, with 67.
It completes a Middlesex double for the seniors in 2014/2015 following their win in the Middlesex 10K in September. It was also the second time the club has won the Middlesex Cross Country in three years, having secured victory in the 2013 event.
A total of 14 Hillingdon AC finals of the Jr NBA Basketball England League,” said Portland Trailblazers and GB player Joel Freeland.
“As members of the Portland Trailblazers, do your best, work as a team and may the best school win.”
The Jr NBA Basketball England League began with 30 youth teams across London who played an eight-game season followed by single-elimination play-offs to determine the league champion.
Each of the secondary schools represented one of the 30 NBA teams and received corresponding NBA t-shirts for their games.
And now, the four teams will pair off ahead of the NBA Global Games London 2015, an NBA regular-season game featuring the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks at The O2 on Thursday.
The winning team will be hosted at an official dinner with NBA legends before the game. men completed the race and there were 154 finishers in total.
The senior women finished fourth over 5 miles, thanks to Jennifer Harvey (10th), Steph Wigram (12th), Hannah Wells (19th) and Andrea Taylor (38th).
A fourth scorer in the top 20 would have seen them finish in the medals, with six Hillingdon fin- ishers in total out of a field of 70 runners.
Iit was a similar story for the U20 men, with Ruben Vos ninth and Dominic Speight 12th.
A third scorer would have seen them secure team medals.
And for the U17 Men, Liam Holbrook took 10th and Joseph Doyle got 15th, although a third scorer would have also seen the U17s in contention for team honours.