Sussex did well, by placing fourth, with their depleted senior team at the South East Inter-counties match at Chelmsford on Sunday.
Bolstered by a string of Under 20 athletes Sussex scored 671 points behind winners Essex who scored 782 points, Kent who scored 707 points and Middlesex 686 points. All teams, apart from the Hosts, struggled to field represented teams with Hampshire only sending women to the match and Surrey not managing to get a team at all.
The results look more like an area League match and there were plenty of empty lanes.
The women did provide three “A” winning performances but mainly it was an ample supply of second and third placings.
U20 Grace Vans Agnew set the day off well with a fine win in the 400m hurdles in 64.52s which was only just outside her best while the ever reliable Elise Lovell chalked up victories in both the 100m hurdles and the long jump with 14.40s and 5.79m respectively.
There was nearly another win in the pole vault where U20 Natasha Purchas cleared 3.70m which was the same height of the Middlesex winner Megan Bailey and the placings were decided on count back.
Leah Harris took a most impressive second place in the 1500m in 4:40.87s and she has only ever run faster in a “mixed sex” race while U20 sprinter Louisa Saunders was second in the 400m in 57.72s but won the “B” 200m in 25.84s with Molly Adams placing second in the “A” race in 25.74s and winning the “B” 100m in 12.50s after another U20 runner Lili Parker had probably her most important run ever when finishing second in the “A” 100m in a personal best of 12.60s.
The most important men’s second placing were excellent runs in the 4 x 100m relay in 44.17s and the 4 x 400m relay in 3:34.11s.
U20 performers Bryn Smith, Jack Harris and Rafe Brooks all took second places with Smith clocking 22.46s for the 200m after placing third in the “A” 100m in 10.90s, Harris flying over 4.30m in the pole vault and Brooks leaping 6.41m in the long jump.
Bradley Eisnor clocked 15.85s in the 110m hurdles for his second place as well as clearing 1.75m to take third place in the high jump while Chris Dodd clocked 1:56.26s for second place in the 800m.
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