NUNEATON’S talented teenager Ebony Wake continues to excite on the schools athletics front where her all-round ability has reaped her great success over the past year. The latest triumph for the 15-year-old Etone College student came in the England vest at the Home Schools International Match at The Kelvin Hall in Glasgow where Wake, coached at Birchfield Harriers by Paul Harrison, produced an inspired performance. Up against opposition from Scotland, Wales and Ireland, Wake was a class apart as she finished 152 points clear of her nearest rival and team-mate Lucy Turner in a three discipline multi-event. The local youngster came first in the long jump (677pts), runner up in the 60m hurdles (854pts) and scored 724pts in the high jump to confirm her overall superiority. Wake is the latest in a long line of pentathletes produced by Birchfield that includes former Nuneaton-based Judy Simpson, Clova Court, Denise Lewis, Kelly Sotherton, Julie Holman and the current Commonwealth champion Louise Hazel. There’s little doubt that it’s in the multi events where Wake excels the most and this is where her commitment and future lies. Currently ranked third as a national under 15s pentathlete (long jump, high jump, sprint hurdles, shot and 800m) she is also ninth on the all time under 15 standings with former World champion Jess Ennis being ranked 40th. In the Regional Schools Combined events showdown, Wake won by an emphatic 635 points at Derby then went on to compete in a similar national competition at Exeter in September. She entered the last discipline in first position but had to settle for a silver medal after the athlete in fifth ran a brilliant 800m to steal gold from the clutches of the Nuneaton girl. To close the year in style, Wake was one of four under 16s chosen for England in the International Combined Events earlier this month at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall where top talent from Ireland, Wales and the host nation were in opposition. Wake took the field by storm as she led from start to finish to win the individual honours by 152 points and inspire England to team gold. This latest victory culminated a superb 2011 in which she is currently third in the UK under 15 girls rankings as a long jumper with a season’s best leap of 5.75m, a distance that has her 12th in the under 20s category. Meanwhile in the high jump, Wake has cleared a personal best of 1.66m and lies sixth in the standings and there’s been plenty of eye-catching displays over the hurdles with her 11.5secs putting her 10th in the country at her age group. County recognition has also come her way and for the second time, representing Warwickshire, she achieved a splendid silver medal with a long jump of 5.59m at the English Schools Championships in Gateshead. | 
Sport 
