The Crawley youngsters made a tremendous start to their second year in Southern Premier 2 of the UK Youth Development League (Lower Age Group) at Crawley’s K2 stadium on Saturday.
Life is always tough for the smaller, out of London Clubs in the Premier Leagues.
Less than sixty points covered all six teams and it was very much like the General Election where the result was in or will be in doubt until the final moment.
In a tense and closely fought match Crawley battled against five strong Clubs including three highly rated London teams, the Crawley youngsters eventually emerged match winners scoring 490.5 points just three points clear of Windsor Slough and Eton’s who amassed 487 points.
Bedford scored 459 and Bracknell 447 while Herne Hill totalled 443.5 and Enfield and Haringey 431.
It was very much a team effort with not so many winning performances but plenty of second and third places to build up the points.
One of the most impressive efforts from the Crawley squad came from Jamie Kealey who after clocking an English school’s standard when taking second place in the U15 200 metres in 23.6s trounced the field in the 300 metres to finish some eight metres clear of his nearest rival in 37.8s another standard run.
Natasha Purchase also bettered the standard when she won the pole vault with a clearance of 3.00m and she then went on to finish second in high jump with 1.45m while Alice Steer took second place in the hammer throw with 29.92m. Steer has already exceeded the ES standard of 34 metres twice this season.
The determination of the Crawley athletes was probably best summed up by a brilliant run in the U13 1,500 m where Nathan Buckeridge looked set for a steady fourth place until the final straight.
Although smaller than his opponents and some ten metres down on the leader he found a devastating sprint finish to snatch victory in 4:58.1s. Crawley also completed the double in this event with Dylan Hanslow winning the “B” race in 5:02.2s.
DIVISION ONE NE
Brighton & Hove were squeezed into fourth place in Division One at the Julie Rose Stadium at Ashford and had several impressive winners.
None more so that Hannah Brockbank in the U15 discus throw where her winning effort of 30.05m was a personal best and Schools National standard rather than just an entry standard while Amber Pennington crept closer to the standard in the javelin throw with a winning effort of 30.43m.
Amber Anning, who has already three National standards under her belt this season, completed an impressive double winning the 100m in 12.7sec and the high jump with a PB of 1.55m while Tom Eames looked like he is set to gain a standard shortly when winning the 800m in 2:07.1s,
DIVISION 2 SW
The Horsham Blue Star and Chichester teams were involved in the South West 2 Division match at Carlshalton where the Chichester team finished third behind Walton 720.5 and Aldershot 580 with 564 points with the Blue Stars in fifth place with 481 points.
Alyssa Whyte (Chichester), who has already clocked a Schools standard over 100m this season in the Under 15 age group not only was a convincing winner over that distance in 12.7s but completed a sprint double and cracked the standard over 200m in 26.0s.
Club mate Ben Collins was an impressive winner of the 800 metres in 2:09.6s and the standard looks within his grasp over the next few weeks.
Ellie Walker (Horsham) set a new personal best of 1.54m to win the High jump while fellow Horsham athlete Ella Hannyngton took the U13 high jump with a PB of 1.43m after setting a PB in the 70m hurdles in 11.4s.
On an afternoon of many personal bests Rachel Laurie (Chichester) looked impressive when winning the U15 300m in 44.2s another PB.
DIVISION NE 3b.
East Grinstead won the battle of Sussex at Gillingham where four Sussex teams were involved.
Bexley won the match with 663 points ahead of Medway 661 with East Grinstead on 475.5 in third place followed by Hastings 451.5, Lewes 421 and Worthing in sixth place with 406.
Both Ben Hawkes (Worthing) and Freya Fitchett (Lewes) turned in standard breaking performances with Hawkes throwing the U15 hammer 46.39m for victory and Fitchett clearing 2.80m for second place in the U15 pole vault.
Kiera Aslett (Hastings) suggested that a standard for the 800m is within her grasp as she won her 800m event in 2:20.6s.