Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club – up and coming talent – 2024 under 17s
Written September 2024.
The 2023/2025 summer season has been a great one for our senior elite athletes – see here.
With a focus on athlete development within our juniors seeing a lot of talent coming through, the future is bright for the club and we look forward to developing even more talent next season.
The start point for most young athletes is the club’s academy – see here – developing early potential and talent. In competition this season, in the Alder Valley League, academy athletes enjoyed 40 third places, 50 second places and over 30 first places and secured over 100 PBs!
We have specialist event training for young athletes with potential & talent and the club provides experienced, qualified coaches in all events – for running see here – for jumping see here – for throwing see here – and we are seeing a lot of talent coming through.
Please see below for examples of our 2024 under 17s (school years 10&11) in alphabetical order.
Please also see here for examples of our 2024 under 15s (school years 8&9).
Please also see here for examples of our under 20s.
The future is bright for the club and we look forward to developing even more talent next season.
About Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club – please see here.
About juniors – please see here.
About training – please see here.
About competition – please see here.
Lilianne Jervis-Allan (pole vault)
Lilianne is ranked #3 in the U.K. For her story please see here (as at September 2022).This season, she won the Buckinghamshire County Championships in May, won bronze at the England Athletics under 17 National Championships in July and won silver at the South of England championships in August. We look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as an under 20.
Sam Babis (sprints)
Sam joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in 2019 as an under 11, focusing mostly on sprints and long jump. As an under 15, under the coaching of Lesley and Nick Pearson, he focused on sprints, regularly competing for the club successfully. He also won 300m gold at the Berkshire County Championships, 300m silver at the Berkshire County Schools Championships and competed at his first English Schools National Championships. This year, as an under 17, he has further improved his 100m and 200m PBs, plus began competing in the 400m, winning 400m gold at the Berkshire County Championships, 400m bronze at the Berkshire County Schools Championships and competed in the 400m at the English Schools National Championships. He competed for the club in all sprints, including winning twice in 400m. Ranked top 50 in the U.K. for 400m, we look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as a second year under 17.
Emillie Edwards (long jump)
Emillie joined from Bracknell in October 2023 and has continued her progress under the coaching of Danny Sawyers. This season she has won three times competing for the club and won the Surrey County Schools Championships. Her PB has improved to 5.18m and she has represented Surrey at the Schools Inter-Counties and competed at the South of England Championships in August. She is ranked inside the top 50 in the U.K., her highest ever ranking and we look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as an under 20.
Connor Fitzgibbon (high jump)
Connor joined from Maidenhead in January and has continued his progress under the coaching of Val Stenning This season he has represented the club at all levels, including the National League, winning five times and he won the Berkshire County Schools Championships. His PB has improved to 1.88m and he competed at both the English Schools National Championships and the England Athletics under 17 National Championships in August. He is ranked inside the top 25 in the U.K., his highest ever ranking and we look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as an under 20.
Leon Francis (sprints)
Leon joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in 2021 and under the coaching of Lesley Pearson, has progressed to be our #1 ranked under 17 sprinter for 100m and 200m and #2 & #3 on our senior club rankings. This season, he has competed for the club at all levels, including the National League, won 100m bronze and 200m silver in the Surrey County Championships, 100m bronze in the at the South of England Championships, 200m silver in the Surrey County Schools Championships, 200m bronze in the English Schools National Championships and was selected to represent England for the first time, at the SIAB international. Ranked #9 in the U.K. for 100m and #5 in the U.K. for 200m, we look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as an under 20.
Jack Hawkes (sprints)
Jack joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in 2023, after impressing in sprints at school competitions. Coached by Earl Herbert, he was ranked #14 in the U.K. after the 60m indoor season, he unfortunately suffered a bad injury before the outdoor season, but returned in July to finish 2nd in his first 100m race for the club against under 20s and seniors. We look forward to seeing him fully develop his potential next season as an under 20.
Jake Hirst (discus and javelin)
Jake joined from Slough Junior AC in 2023 and has been progressing with our throws coaches. In javelin, having moved to the 700g this season as an under 17, he has improved his PB to almost 36m and has competed with the 800g alongside seniors. Coached by Jake and Barbara Norris, his discus PB has improved to over 31m and alongside competing for the club, he won bronze in the Berkshire County Schools Championships. We look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as a second year under 17.
Verity Howard (discus, shot put and javelin)
Verity joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in December 2022 and has been progressing with our throws coaches. Coached by Jake and Barbara Norris, her discus PB has jumped to over 24m and she is now ranked inside the top 100 in the U.K. She competes regularly for the club and is our #1 ranked thrower. We look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as a second year under 17.
Maria McMullan (triple jump)
Maria joined from Wycombe in 2021 and under the coaching of Danny Sawyers since 2023, she has jumped from a U.K. ranking of 53 to 9. This season her PB has improved to 11.44m, she has won three times competing for the club, has won the Buckinghamshire County Schools Championships and won bronze at the English Schools National Championships. We look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as an under 20.
Tobenna Okoro (sprints)
Tobenna joined from Basingstoke Athletics Club in 2023 as an already successful athlete at under 15s. Coached by Lesley and Nick Pearson, as an under 17 this season he has further improved his 100m and 200m PBs, plus began competing in the 400m, winning 400m gold at the South of England Championships, 400m gold at the Berkshire County Schools Championships and 400m gold at the English Schools National Championships with a PB. He was then selected to represent England for the first time, at the SIAB international, where he won silver, with another PB. He competed for the club in all sprints, including winning at 100m, 200 and 400m and ranked #3 in the U.K. for 400m, we look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as a second year under 17.
Saravina Qio (sprints)
Recommended by her school, Saravina joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in October 2021. Coached by Lesley Pearson, she was our #1 ranked sprinter in 2023 and this year, having moved up to under 17s, is again one of our top sprinters. She regularly competes for the club and has competed in the Berkshire County Championships and the South of England Championships. Having just lowered her PBs for 100m and 200m at Lee Valley at the end of August, we look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as a second year under 17.
Grace Sikora (100m, 200m, 300m)
Grace joined from Bracknell in October 2023 as an under 17, as an already successful athlete at under 15s. Training with one of our specialist sprint groups, this season she has again won the Berkshire County Championships at 100m, 200m and 300m, (including setting a new championship record for the 300m), won the 200m at the Berkshire County Schools Championships and competed at English Schools National Championships, where she won her heat to qualify for the final. She has competed for the club at all levels, including the National League and she has improved her PBs at 100m, 200m and 300m. For the end of the season in September, Grace has been selected by Berkshire to compete in the South of England under 15/under 17 Inter-Counties Championships. Ranked top 40 in the U.K. for 100m, 13 for 200m and 17 for 300m, we look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as a second year under 17.
Liliana Orywal-Sykes (pole vault)
Liliana joined from Reading in October 2022 and under the coaching of Nick Phipps, she improved her PB to 2.70m. She competed for the club, winning three times, won the Berkshire County Schools Championships, represented Berkshire at the South of England Inter-Counties and competed at the South of England Championships, winning silver and the England Athletics under 15 National Championships. This season, as a first year under 17, she has won the Berkshire County Schools Championships, competed at the English Schools National Championships, won the Berkshire County Championships and competed at the England Athletics under 17 National Championships and the South of England championships. She has competed for the club at all levels, including the National League, winning five times and has improved her PB further to 3.25m. Ranked #10 in the U.K. we look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as a second year under 17.
Luca Szalai (sprints)
Luca joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in 2022, having been recommended by a fellow athlete to join following school athletics success. As an under 17, under the coaching of Lesley Pearson, he first developed his sprinting in 2023 and won 6 out of his 9 races as he improved his PBs during the season. This season he has competed for the club at all levels, including the National League, won 200m bronze at the Surrey County Championships and 200m silver at the South East Schools Inter-Counties, plus improved his 100m and 200m PB even further. We look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as an under 20.
Alfie Thomas (sprints)
Alfie joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in 2023 and started competing this season. Under the coaching of Lesley Pearson, he has improved his 100m and 200m PB during the season and is ranked in the U.K. top 100 for both. We look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as an under 20.
Alex Warnes (long jump)
Alex joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in 2019 as an under 11. Progressing from the academy to be coached by Danny Sawyers’ for long jump, he broke through the 5m threshold in 2023 as an under 15 and has progressed his PB to over 5.5m this season. We look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as a second year under 17.
Isabella Winslade (triple jump)
Isabella joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club in June 2023 after success in the Berkshire Schools Championships the previous two years, winning gold each time. Under the coaching of Val Stenning for high jump and Danny Sawyers for long jump, she won four times when representing the club in 2023. This season, as an under 17, she has progressed into triple jump with Danny, won three times for the club, competed for the club in the National League, won the Berkshire County Schools Championships and competed at the England Athletics under 17 National Championships. She has improved her PB to 10.90m and is ranked #20 in the U.K. For the end of the season in September, Isabella has been selected by Berkshire to compete in the South of England under 15/under 17 Inter-Counties Championships. We look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as a second year under 17.
Michal Wloczewski (high jump)
Michal joined Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club this season. Coached by Val Stenning, she says “he has got potential and keeps getting PBs”. He competed for the club this season alongside under 20s and seniors and he won bronze at the Berkshire County Championships. We look forward to seeing him continue to develop his potential next season as a second year under 17.
Leila Zamani (long jump and sprints)
Leila joined from Bracknell in October 2023 as an under 17, having been as an already successful athlete at under 15s. Training with one of our specialist sprint groups and coached for long jump by her mum Jo Zamani, (ex Junior international), this season in long jump she has again won the Berkshire County Championships at long jump, (breaking the championship record which has stood since 1981!), won the long jump at the Berkshire County Schools Championships and competed at English Schools National Championships, won silver at the ISA National Finals and competed at the South of England Championships. She has competed for the club at all levels, including the National League, winning four times and has improved her PB to 5.53m to be ranked #13 in the U.K.. In sprints, she won gold at the ISA National Finals and competed for the club, achieving four 3rd /2nd places. and she has improved her 100m and 200m PBs. For the end of the season in September, Leila has been selected by Berkshire to compete in the South of England under 15/under 17 Inter-Counties Championships. We look forward to seeing her continue to develop her potential next season as a second year under 17.
The club are immensely proud of all these athletes and congratulate them on these achievements to date. We look forward to continuing to support them and seeing them develop.