Mitchell leads from start to finish (From Daily Echo)

Mitchell leads from start to finish

8:30am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in General Sport

Southampton’s Ceri Mitchell won the Southern Cross Country Championships at Brighton in majestic fashion.

Right from the start she was among the leaders, and when GB international Lauren Deadman made the break at the end of the first lap Mitchell moved away from the rest of the field with her.

Midway through the last lap on the biggest hill, she opened up a 20m gap which she maintained to the finish.

Mitchell must now be firmly in the eyes of the England selectors after a tremendous season.

Southampton’s senior women’s team of Mitchell, Laura Brenton 31st, Nicci Blandford 55th and Hannah Coombs 161st finished fifth team overall.

Ursula Puentener and Lynn Massey also did well, completing a very testing course.

In the under-20 women’s race, Katie Hickson was 25th and Sophie Darling 33rd.

Frances Arnott was 41st in the U17 women’s race. In the girls’ U15 race, Southampton were 11th overall with Abbie Fisher 45th, Alana Spiers 48th, Caitlin Stewart 78th and Briallen Taylor 112th. In the under-13 girls, the team were 29th with Rosie Lynch in 128th, Holly Powell 146th, Aimee Coppin 171st and Olivia Hollos 213th on her debut.

Only four men completed the senior men’s race with Tom Muddiman the best of them in 151st place, followed by Nick Wilson, Keith Hollis and Ian Richardson.

The U17 men came home 13th in the team competition with Niall Holt 59th, Amarpal Gill 119th, David Fisher 127th, Jack Lynch 132nd and Alex Ruggles 141st. The under-15 boys were fourth overall thanks to George Butler tenth, Peter Ellis 26th, Lucas Clements 45th and Jamie Abrahams 82nd. Luke Powell 26th, Sam Costley 49th and Owen Lawrence 76th competed in the under-13 boys.