Not to be outdone by the results of the Sussex team at English Schools, the Sussex men at the Southern Inter Counties meeting on July 12th lifted the trophy for the first time in the history of the match. The women's team battled into third place in their match to give the combined team a second place.
It was a wet, windy and cold Crawley not conducive to stand out performances but the team spirit engendered by Sussex Team Manager Craig Cox saw some epic battles by the team.
Jason Hussain after a long weekend competing in 100m (4th) 200m (1st) and anchoring the team into second place in the 4x100, followed it with a storming run in the 4x400 to take the team to second place which effectively sealed the men's win.
Amy Barclay, going beyond the call of duty, also ran 100m, 200m along with 110H and both relays for the women for massive points in their match.
Matt and James Lasis did sterling work winning 'A' and 'B' respectively in Hammer and Discus with Matt putting in a Shot for good measure, Louisa James winning 'A' Hammer with 59.11 Laura Duke the 'B' with 44.76. Sarah Hewitt and Laura Duke taking on duty for the women in the Throws along with Caroline Garratt Javelin.
Seb Rodgers donned the yellow vest to run 400H after a season of International/National competition to win easily in 51.77 with George Grainger taking second in the 'B'. George's training partner Matt Hewitt dipped again under 15 into a negative wind in the sprint hurdles into a close second and Rebecca Jennings had a -3.2 wind to win the women's 'B' 110H in 14.52.
A fine run by Max Thomas sealed the 800m with 1.53.83.
Livvy Connor (U20) having returned with PV Gold and a CBP from English Schools turned to Triple Jump with a creditable second place and 11.42 whilst Imogen Levy (U20) having an injury wrecked season took second in the 'B'. Also returning from English Schools was U17 High Jumper Lillie Franks putting in a solid performance with 1.65 for fourth place.
Also in the Horizontal Jumps Elise Lovell won LJ with 5.75 with U20 Jess Breach winning the 'B' for the women. Tom French took second in the LJ with 7.02 with Noel Butler winning the 'B' with 6.59. Tom followed it with TJ, an event he does not now do, taking a third place with his training partner Patrick Apantaku taking second in the 'B'.
The team gave full credit to their Team Manager Craig Cox who worked tirelessly to pull this team together, Leanne Buxton the English Schools Team Manager said "well done Craig and all the Sussex athletes- great weekend for the youngsters and seniors alike!" The tough job of Meeting Manager went to Chris Minn who commented "Praise must be given to the Officials and event staff who were first class in keeping the meeting running smoothly and adjusting events when required. Special thanks must go to all the Officials and Volunteers,"