Sussex school athletes bid for English championships call-up

There was a healthy turnout from Chichester Runners & AC members at the Sussex schools track and field championships at Crawley.
Phoebe Pontet goes for gloryPhoebe Pontet goes for glory
Phoebe Pontet goes for glory

They were part of the West Sussex West team selected after the regional event in May and had in their sights on championship medals and a chance to impress the Sussex selectors and represent the county in the English Schools championships in Birmingham in July.

Seniors

Only the seniors who are able to double up and Sophie-Anne Haigh took full advantage with convincing wins in the 100m and 200m with times of 12.41 and 25.57 respectively.

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A strong wind meant track times were generally slower that athletes’ personal bests.

Cat Scott was just outside the medals in high jump and triple jump.

For the boys Brodie Keates was just outside the medals in the 1,500m while Ben Morton was runner-up in the 3,000m just breaking the ten-minute barrier.

Brighton College/Brighton Phoenix runner and ex-Chichester junior Toby Harries had his first race after a long lay-off through injury and came through with a speedy win in the 200m, clocking 21.75sec.

Intermediates

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In the intermediate girls’ sprints, Alyssa White dipped under 13 seconds to win the 100m in convincing fashion while Rachel Laurie was equally as impressive with a clear win in the 200m, with Rosie Compton picking up bronze.

Tahlia Juggins ran a personal best in the 300m while Milile Hopkins and Xenia Truman were fifth and fifth in the 800m.

Alice Cox-Rusbridge picked up bronze over 1,500m while Olivia Wiseman had the same result in the 3,000m behind talented duo of Almi Nurerkar and Oliva Macdonald.

Phoebe Pontet, in her first championships, gave a good account of herself for sixth place in the intermediate girls’ 80m hurdles, setting a new PB 13.94sec.

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Hannah Anwyl and Lucie Munday competed well in triple jump and discus.

For the intermediate boys, Isaac Kilroy was just outside 12 seconds in making the final of the 100m while Dom Easton dipped under 55sec to finish fifth in the 400m.

Alex Mani did well to finish in the medals in the 800m with a speedy 2min 7sec while Will Broom had to contend with a tactical race over 1,500m to finish third in 4.20, well outside his personal best of 4.06.

Leo Stallard and Ned Potter were either side of 10.00 in the 3,000m while Alfie Spurle and JJ Staples ran well in the 1,500m steeplechase to finish third and fifth.

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Max Lambkin recorded just under 16 seconds in a close 100m hurdles. Sam Price and Caelen Stanton competed well in the high jump and shot while there were three West Sussex West competitors in the discus with Jamie Holmes and Joe Spivy over the 30m mark and Finn Buckingham-Rhyder just three metres in arrears.

Juniors

For the juniors there was good sprinting from Jacob Piper and Joe Futers over 100m and 200m respectively with Joe Careswell doing well to make the final of the 300m, finishing fourth in just outside 40 seconds.

DJ Barth was sub-16 seconds in the hurdles while Gilbert Jones and Harry Angell shared the same height of 1.40 in the high jump.

One of Chichester’s juniors competing at the Hampshire championships on the same day was Liam Dunne who won the 800m title and must be in with a chance of going to the English Schools event.

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In the girls’ junior events Fleur Hollyer missed out on the final of the 100m by just 0.05sec but ran a storming first leg of the relay to help her team to bronze.

Maggie King and Charlotte Bullard finished fifth and tenth in the 800m while Olivia Toms and Nina Moranne battled hard in the 1500m with Toms just outside the medals in 5.06.

There were good performances from Leila Solly in the high jump, Maya Solly in the shot, Rebecca Mann in the javelin and a bronze for Alexia Everley in the discus.

PHIL BAKER & DAVID CHURCHER

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