Gilliespie signs off with a season's best
Kieran Gillespie recorded a season's best score at the National Schools Decathlon.
His total of 3,986 saw him finish 22nd overall, despite battling illness throughout the two-day event.
Kieran will now sign off from schoolboy athletics as he prepares to study physical education at Leeds Beckett University.
It has been his best-ever season, proving himself as one of the top heptathlon and decathlon competitors in the country.
On day one Kieran had a sluggish start in the 100m, running 12.78 secs, before a 4.55m long jump.
The next event was the shot putt, where a throw of 9.06m made him feel better in himself.
The high jump produced a 1.56m clearance for the Wragby teen, a bit down on his best this year.
But the 400m was much better with a best-ever performance in a decathlon, clocking 58.90 seconds.
He finished the first day in 25th position.
The second day starts with the 110m high hurdles, and a near-personal best effort of 18.34 secs saw him move up to 24th. Kieran, from Wragby, consolidated this with a best-ever decathlon discus throw of 25.68m.
However, by now the headcold was really getting to him and he felt awful.
A 2.20m jump in the pole vault reflected that.
Kieran’s best event is the javelin, and this came just at the right time as he really went for it with a solid throw of 34.57m, which moved him up to 23rd.
The final event, the 1,500m, saw Kieran pull out a 5 mins 19.2 secs time to drag himself up to 22nd place, with a season’s best score of 3,986 points.