Historic treble for Loughborough High School netballers
LOUGHBOROUGH High School is celebrating after it had three teams reach the East Midlands netball regional finals with one clinching a place in the National finals.
It was the first time the school had achieved all three teams getting to regional level simultaneously and the regional tournament hosted the top ten teams in the region for the U14, U16 and U19 age groups, culminating in the winner and runner up of each age group qualifying for nationals.
All three of the Loughborough teams started the day successfully - the U19s kept their composure to beat Nottingham Girls High School 10-8, then facing the tough Wellingborough team, but came through winning 4-2 in a heavily defensive match. Finding form, they then beat LSST Priory 12-9 and Repton 22-2. Loughborough won their group to go through to the semi-final.
The U16s looked strong from the get go, winning their group convincingly, beating QE Horncastle 18-4, Repton 17-8, Oundle 16-4, Rushcliffe 17-3. Whilst the under 14 team had a much more competitive morning, they lost to Gainsborough 5-8, but managed to win the rest of their matches against QE Derby 9-3, Oundle 5-4, West Bridgford 12-3 also qualifying for the semifinals as group runners up.
In the semi finals there was heartbreak for the U19s who were edged out 12-10 by Ecclesbourne and the U14s who were beaten 6-3 by Oakham but it was a different story for the U16 side.
The U16s played Nottingham High School in their semi-final, winning 18-8 to advancing to
the final against Northampton High School. The team were consistent throughout, taking the win 13-6 to be crowned East Midlands champions and progress to the National finals on March 16.
Sam Griffin who is the head
coach of the netball programme said: “I am extremely proud of the results we have had so far this season. The girls have worked extremely hard to be consistently strong and compete at a regional level.
“The U16s have been training
for National level since they were U12 and finished 9th at Nationals at U14 level, we have developed and progressed since then so we will be aiming for a higher finish this year and to show we can compete with the best teams in the country.”