Chichester athletes finish in fine form

Chichester's under-15s finished their Sussex League west-division season at Horsham in fine form.
Sam Price, foreground, and Ethan Brown were among Chi Runners' stars at Horsham / Picture by Lee HollyerSam Price, foreground, and Ethan Brown were among Chi Runners' stars at Horsham / Picture by Lee Hollyer
Sam Price, foreground, and Ethan Brown were among Chi Runners' stars at Horsham / Picture by Lee Hollyer

They now have a break before contesting the Sussex grand final on September 2, when the top ten Sussex clubs will do battle at the Withdean Stadium, Brighton.

At Horsham, all clubs had a few athletes missing but Chichester’s boys in particular gave a good account of themselves, finishing narrowly second to a strong Crawley squad.

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It was in the field events where Chichester scored the best with a combination of Caelan Stanton and Gus Haplink posting the club’s only double win of the day in the shot putt, with both athletes over 11m.

Earlier they had teamed up in the hammer to drop only one point to the Horsham thrower, who is No1 in the county.

Stanton then produced a fine throw of 33.84m in the javelin only to see his Crawley rival exceed this distance by a single centimetre with his final throw.

Backing up as a B string, Ethan Brown won with a throw of just under 30m and also backed up for a B-string hurdles win and an - string pole vault first place of 2.80m, gaining revenge on his Crawley rival on countback, reversing the outcome of the previous match.

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Price scored good points in the long jump with Archie Lyne and the high jump with Cellan Robinson, the latter not only running his customary 100m but turning his hand to 800m as well.

Johnny Simmons backed up well in the sprints while there was a new 300m combination of Finn Buckingham-Rhyder and Lyne in the 300m. Buckingham-Rhyder showed his versatility with a good second place in the discus.

The squad finished the match in fine form with the relay quartet of Brown, Stanton, Price and Robinson too god for the rest to win by over half a second in a speedy 51.5sec.

The girls were missing more of the regular team but the five on duty gave a good account of themselves.

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As with the boys Chichester scored most heavily in field events, with another near-maximum score in the discus from Alexia Everley and Caitlin Brown, dropping just a single point between them.

Another runners-up spot was gained by Everley in the hammer with Brown unexpectedly repeating the feat in the javelin in her first competitive attempt at the event.

Holly Trinder and Annabel Eden scored well in the shot as did Coco Smythe in the long jump. On the track, Eden and Everley tackled the sprints as did Brown in the 1500m and Smythe in the hurdles, between them picking up enough points to help the combined team to a clear second place.

Match result

1 Crawley 227pts

2 Chichester 147

3 Horsham 119

4 Worthing 92

5 East Grinstead 70

6 Haywards Heath 52

Youth Development League at Portsmouth

A squad of ten Chichester athletes travelled to Portsmouth for the final round of the upper-age Youth Development League – and were rewarded with a number of personal-best performances.

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There were ideal conditions for sprinting, resulting in a new personal best for Alyssa White who stormed to a time of 12.1sec for the 100m, elevating her to equal 12th on the UK list for the season in the under-17s.

Also setting a new best time was improving Isabelle Cooper breaking the 13-second barrier for the first time with 12.9, also in the under-17 age group.

Sophie-Anne Haigh has had a season interrupted by injury which has affected her training but she ran a time of 12.6sec in second place in the under-20 age group but was given the same time as the winner.

White was again well ahead of the field in the 200m with a time of 25.2 while Grace Wills dipped under 2.30 in the 800m in her first race after a break in competition.

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In the field events, the best result for the girls’ squad was again from Lauren Cooper, a convincing winner of the javelin, on this occasion just short of 30m.

For the boys, there was a new combination in the under-17 100m with Isaac Kilroy running under 12 seconds for the first time in a UK competition with a time of 11.9sec, lifting him into the UK rankings as a result.

Another newcomer, Alex Ioan, ran a good 12.6sec as a B string and showed good form in the long jump, with 5.71 for equal second place.

Brandon Bell was just outside his best with 55.1 seconds for the 400m and backed this up with a good A-string 200m in 24.8sec, with Ioan a good 25.4 in the B string.

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Thrower James Gillett made up for a disappointing hammer competition with a 25m discus throw and a winning 9.60m effort in the shot putt.

With most of the regular middle-distance runners unavailable, it was left to improving Charlie Benson to fly the flag. This he did to great effect by lining up for the 1500 and 3000m and having a go at the steeplechase for the first time. He came out with two new personal bests.

PHIL BAKER

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