Chichester under-15s celebrate best result at league final in Brighton

Match Result:

1 Brighton & H 369pts

2 Chichester 334

3 Eastbourne Rovers 324

4 Lewes AC 254

5 Crawley AC 241

6 Worthing Harriers 178

7 Horsham Blue Star 95

8 Haywards Heath 81

9 HY Runners 68

The icing on the cake after nearly three hours of intense competition came from Chichester’s very strong boys’ squad, who won their of section of the match for the first time – breaking the domination of Brighton and Crawley over the past decade.

This came from a good all-round showing from 12 athletes who were given a perfect start from Daniel Ellis and Jake Teece in the opening event, with a double first place in the 80m hurdles.

Teece went on to partner Austin Stack for near-maximum points in the long jump after both setting good times in the 100m while Ellis set a new PB in the 200m supporting Harry Clark, the latter storming home in 25.1 seconds, his fastest ever.

Clarke supported Joel Worth in the high jump with the Chi competitiors setting two of the three best heights of the night, Worth clearing 1.53 and Clarke 1.50.

Clark showed his versatility by combining with Alfie Southgate for a double win in the shot put after Southgate had acquired near-maximum points with Ben Stewart in the hammer.

The middle distance runners did not disappoint with Stewart runnet-up to the new Brighton record holder in the 800m and Harry Dunne setting hia best time to win the B string – while Stanley Wilkes and Harry Cruttenden battled hard to score useful points in the 1500m.

Kai Lendrum ensured the points total kept moving in the discus and javelin supporting Southgate and Stack respectively, while Temo Nosiru set new best marks in both 100m and long jump and Toby Russell-Well s threw well in the javelin. In the girls’ match, while there were no individual winners from the Chi squad, all nine athletes contributed well to the overall team’s fine all-round showing.

It was in the four throws where Chichester gained most points. Ellie Bulback and Poppy Hine battled hard to gain two third places in the hammer which they nearly repeated in the shot put – but a total of 27 points from two events was a boost.

Equally impressive were Grace Haworth and Tilly Goodband in the javelin, with Kitty Goodband supporting Bulbeck in the discus to bring the total to 51 points from the four throws.

On the track Tilly Wyatt was again in action in competitive sprints with good showings from newcomers Macie Ship and Ashanti Walker in the 100 and 200m.

Middle distance pair Molly Smithers and Elodie Hill tackled the 300m and long jump and their preferred event, 1500m. With Ship and Walker teaming up in the high jump and Haworth and Goodband in the hurdles, Chichester could be proud of this season-end showing