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FRONT RUNNER: Daryanne Ryan leaves everyone in her wake during the Inter-Girls' 80m hurdles race

A TEAM of pupils from 11 South and West Dorset schools returned from the Dorset Schools Athletics Championships at King's Park, Bournemouth with a total of 28 medals - half of them gold.

Outstanding in the Junior Boys' group was the huge hammer throw of 37m by Colfox School's Alistair Tuck, a personal best that gives him a chance of selection for the national championships.

In the same section, silver medals and personal bests were won by James Hansford (Budmouth) in the 200m, Benedict Westhenry (All Saints) in the 1500m and Saxon Axe (Wey Valley) in the shot putt.

Jeff Robertshaw (Colfox) won bronze with his javelin throw of 36.83m and in the same event Connor Ford (Wey Valley) improved his personal best by 7.5m, to 35.50m, to place fifth.

Tom Collier (All Saints) recorded 13.2secs in the 100m to finish eighth while David Chadwick (Dorchester Middle School) threw 9.05m in the shot for sixth place.

In the Junior Girls' group, South and West won both gold and silver in the shot with Thomas Hardye's Shannon Fry throwing 8.80m and Hayley Rooks of St Osmond's recording 8.69m.

Tori Coltart (Wey Valley) won gold in the long jump with a national qualifying distance of 5.05m. Hettie Burn also achieved a national entry qualification of 11.9secs as she took the silver medal in the 75m hurdles. Annie McDonald of Colfox placed sixth in the 100m.

The Inter Boys' section saw Paul Ralph (Thomas Hardye) clear 1.65m in the high jump for the silver, Freddie Cook (Budmouth) win bronze in the 1500m steeplechase, and Max Welch (Thomas Hardye) miss a medal by a tenth of a second in placing fourth in the 100m.

Daryanne Ryan (All Saints) was in top form for the Inter Girls, taking gold in both the 80m hurdles (12.5secs) and the long jump (5.12m).

Megan Tuck (Colfox) was dominant in the field with gold, and personal bests, in the discus (32.63m) and the hammer, in which she improved by nearly three metres to a national standard of 37.08m - exceeding even her brother Alistair's throw.

Meanwhile, Rosie Smith (Thomas Hardye) set a new personal best as she placed fourth in the 1500m.

In the Seniors, Hannah Jeanes (Thomas Hardye) was unlucky when she was judged to have made a technical error in the 800m, but she bounced back with a personal best of 13.1secs to win gold in the 100m.

Verity Ockendon (St Antony's, Leweston) won the 1500m and Jemma Tewkesbury (Thomas Hardye) gave an exhibition of javelin technique by winning gold with a huge 40.40m throw, well above the national entry standard.

Of those athletes available for selection to represent Dorset in the South West Schools Inter-Counties, seven are South and West competitors (Shannon Fry, Hayley Rooks, Daryanne Ryan, Megan Tuck, Verity Ockendon, Hannah Jeanes and Alistair Tuck).

In the under-14 age groups Holly Butt (Colfox) won the girls' 100m and Kirsty Wickham (Beaminster) claimed the girls' 200m.

In the boys' events two throwers won gold, Lewis Mussenden (Budmouth) in the shot and Tyler Hindley in the javelin.

Bethany Letherby (Colfox) took silver with a personal best in the 800m, Will Challis also won silver in the boys' high jump as did S Atkinson (Wey Valley) in the long jump.

Bronze medals were won by J Rapson (St Osmond's) in the boys' 200m, Brandon Heal (Dorchester Middle) in the long jump and Abigail Strong (Wey Valley) in the girls' discus.

Catherine Greenslade (All Saints) was fifth in the long jump as was Wendy Robertshaw (Colfox) in the 800m while D Watts of St Osmond's set a personal best as he finished fourth in the 1,500m.

8:24am Thursday 26th June 2008

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