SOUTHAMPTON AC ladies kept alive their hopes of making it to the Southern Area final with a strong second-placed finish in the Hampshire Vets League.

They finished eight points adrift of Winchester & District, who have dominated the league for several years.

There were runners-up spots for Southampton’s Tracy Bezance and Danielle Marshall in the 200m V35 A and B string races - Bezance clocking 29.0 seconds and Danielle setting a personal best of 29.9. Vicky Bright came fourth in the V50 event in 40.3.

There were strong performances over the longer distances too.

Nicci Blandford came second in the V35 800m in 2.41.1 and Hannah Wilson finished third B-stringer with 2.58.8.

Blandford and Wilson teamed up again in the 3000m later in the evening, both placing third.

Bright came sixth in the V50 800m and Astrid Mangel was fifth in the V60 800m in her first ever attempt at the distance.

Southampton scored excellent points in the jump events. Bright finished joint first (V50) in the pole vault and Janet Dickinson defied a hamstring injury for second (V35).

In the long jump, Marshall came third with a best leap of 3.81m (V35) and Bezance won the V50 category with 3.96m.

Thrower Katy Odell (V35) came second in the shot put with 8.49m and Roz Hutton (V50) was fourth with 5.06m. Christine Smears came seventh in the V60 category with 3.77m.

In the discus, Ruth Elkins threw 20.82m for V35 third and Janet Dickinson won the V50 category with 26.19m.

Southampton’s 4x400m relay team were runners-up to Winchester in 4.52.9.

Match result: Winchester & District 123, Southampton 115, City of Portsmouth 107, Basingstoke & Mid Hants 99, Aldershot, Farnham & District 88, Havant 81, Overton 8.