Sussex leading under-13 athletes gathered on Sunday for the annual South of England Derek Crookes Under-13 Inter-Counties meet.
Weather conditions were great for the event at Walton Upon Thames, and performances were strong.
Our girls placed an amazing 4th out of 11 counties – just 1.5 points away from the bronze position, and the boys were also a very respectable 6th.
The South is a very strong region in the UK, making it all the more amazing that the Sussex team had three outright wins as well as a county record.
A string of winners were Ada Greenaway (Brighton & Hove) in the girls' 800m in 2.21.85 and Monty Rowland (Brighton & Hove), winning both the boys' javelin (38.04m) and the discus (26.48m).
It was the 4 x 100m relay girls' (Livia De Menezes, Isabella Carroll, Sanaya Bhavik Mohandes and Brianna Ripley) that broke the Sussex record, clocking 53.24 (the previous record was 53.80).
Brianna (HYAC) displayed some phenomenal sprinting in the 100m and 200m, placing 2nd in both, in 12.64 (w/s +2.7) and 26.22 (w/s +4.1), respectively. Both times were wind-assisted, but amazing, nevertheless, for a first-year athlete in the age group.
There were many other outstanding results, personal bests (PBs) and top three placings.
Calista Scott Smith (Eastbourne) was 3rd in the girls' long jump, clearing 1.40 (the same height as the girl in 2nd).
Evie Hunter (Brighton & Hove) pulled out a solid performance in the girls' javelin to take 2nd in 31.73.
In the boys' 800m, Barnaby Moyes (Brighton & Hove) ran a very intelligent race, always keeping the front-runners in sight without getting sucked into running too fast. He held his own on the home straight to place 3rd in 2.18.56.
The busiest athlete on the day was Xander Wagjiani (Crawley), who competed in the high jump, 1500m and javelin. His points contribution was invaluable for the team.
There were also top 3 'B' string finishes for Amelia Dorrington (Brighton & Hove), winning the long jump (4.49m), Elzie Ortiz (Brighton & Hove) 3rd in the 800m (2.35.80), and Hayden Smallridge (Horsham) 3rd in the shot put (8.77m).
There were numerous other strong performances by Sussex athletes. See the full results here