Athletics:
Youngsters extend their lead

RUGBY and Northampton Athletics Club extended their lead at the top of the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League on Sunday despite missing several key athletes at the second match of the series.

The club took over 140 athletes to the Wolverhampton leg of the five-meet campaign and now outpace closest rivals Halesowen by 1,340 points after another impressive performance.

R&N finished top in five of the eight age categories, with the u11 girls, u11 boys, u13 girls, u13 boys and u17 women all sitting in gold medal position.

The u13 boys once again led the way, taking a one-two finish in the individual standings with Joe Musgrove (8:52) pipping team-mate Adam Searle (8:53) to gold.

Matthew Rushton (9:06) secured fifth position while Rhys James (7th, 9:14) and Ethan Kent-Whittaker (13th, 9:22) made up the rest of the club’s scorers.

Molly Williams took first place for R&N in the u11 girls by the smallest of margins, nudging ahead of Wolverhampton’s Aliya Westwood by one second. Holly Walker (5th, 6:52), Gabriella Peck (8th 6:55), India Phipps (14th, 7:04) and Elysia Lay (15th, 7:05) ensured the club ended top of the pile in the team results.

Amy Walker took individual third in a time of 9:34 to lead the u13 girls to a first-place finish alongside team-mates Georgina Woodward (9th), Olivia White (13th) and Ophelia Griffiths (15th), who all finished in a time of 10:05. Abigail Pearce completed the scoring pack in a time of 10:10, coming home in 19th place.

Kirsty Goddard (15:41) finished second in the u17 women to guide the scoring trio of herself, Emma Bond (10th, 17:24) and Nicole Johnson (13th, 17:59) to the top of the pile. Oskar Potomski (10th, 11:23) was the club’s top scorer in the u15 boys ahead of Joshua Lay (11th, 11:27), Cameron Roberts (28th, 12:14), Emile De Mallo (30th, 12:19) and Finn Hutton (31st, 12:23) as the club secured second.

Elsewhere, the u17 men ended in third place, just four points behind Halesowen, after scoring performances from Harry Hughes (6th, 16:35), Hizam Sheekh (10th, 16:48) and Ben Musgrove (17th, 17:17), while Ella Rose Bromley (14th, 13:12) top-scored for R&N in the u15 girls, with the team finishing sixth.

The club now turn their attentions to the third leg of the competition, which takes place on the territory of closest rivals Halesowen, on December 8.

Meanwhile, Jacob Allen secured R&N’s best-ever finish in the Birmingham and District Invitational Cross County League recently. A time of 36.11 secured fourth for Allen in Senior Mens Division One from a field of 295 runners.

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