The Annual South East Schools Inter-County match is always a tough fixture for Sussex. We are surrounded by larger Counties that are not only top in their area, but Kent, Surrey and Hampshire are amongst the best in the Country.
Sussex Schools have always supported this fixture, as they did this year at the Kingsmeadow track at Kingston. The girls were certainly in fine form, with six winning their events, each achieving a National or Entry Standard performance. At the same time, there were other non-winning performances, with all four of the different teams finishing fourth in their groups in the team events.
Grace Tuesday (Uckfield) is having a brilliant season and was an impressive winner of the JG 800 metres in 2:13.4, a National Standard, having set a new Sussex record for the distance earlier in the season. A few days later, she was to smash her County record at Worthing with 2:09.52s. In the same age group, Alice Howie (Davison) also achieved a National standard when winning the hammer competition, with a UK rankings leading 50.47m. And in the JB pole vault Braimoh Bursari (Imberhorne) topped the National Standard height when clearing 3.40m for the victory.
Javelin throwers Eloise White (Brighton College) and Dulcie Yelling (Varndean) turned in winning performances in the intermediate age group, with Eloise throwing an Entry Standard of 39.09 distance. Dulcie, who has a back injury, missed the javelin but still won an event, clocking 5:18.2s in the 1500 m steeplechase, also an Entry Standard.
As indeed was the 4:45.09s in the JG flat 1500m race, which Lewes Old Grammar’s Ava James won. In addition, in third place in this event was a 4:47.80 Entry Standard clocking by Hazelwick’s Alice Cox.
Ardingly's Biba Mills had a JG National Standard javelin throw of 36.02m in second place, and her schoolmate and fellow javelin thrower, Barney Hastings, gained an entry standard of 45.57m in the JB age group, which was good enough for second place.
Rebecca Roberts (St Oscar Romero) Entry Standard discus throw of 27.38m achieved second place in the JG event. Meanwhile, Charlie Fisher (Worthing High) clocked 11.50s to take the runner-up spot in the JB 100 metres with an Entry Standard run.
View the results HERE.
English Schools South East regional Combined Events Champs at K2, Crawley
We did not have many athletes competing across the age groups in the ESAA Combined Events; however, in the Senior Boys Decathlon, Will Sutton (CRA) and Stephen Yell (B&H) were the standouts who dominated the competition from the first couple of events. Supporting each other across the weekend, ultimately, only 100 points separated them at the finish, with Sutton winning gold with a PB of 5823 and Yell earning silver also with a PB of 5723.
Yell won the 100m, 400m, and 1500m and set PBs in six out of the 10 events. Sutton won the Shot Put, Pole Vault, Javelin, Long Jump and High Jump and returned his best-ever performances in every event across the two days to hold off the ever-advancing Yell. That is some performance.
View the results of the Combined Events HERE.