SOUTHAMPTON AC made a winning start in their first Southern League meeting of 2013 at Stevenage.

Despite missing several key athletes, Southampton showed their strength in depth to win by over 30 points and stretch their unbeaten record to 11 matches in just over two years.

Emily Bonnett won the first race, the 400m hurdles, in 59.98 with fellow hurdlers Kat Witcombe (2nd in ‘B’), Jack Lynch (57.79 2nd in ‘A’) and Calum Rowe (59.5 1st in ‘B’) securing valuable points.

The men’s sprinters had an outstanding day in near perfect conditions, winning all the 100m, 200m and 400m races.

Southampton University student Malcolm Gledhill (10.95/22.07) and under 15 Oliver Bromby (10.99/22/26) were unstoppable in the short sprints.

Chris Greenaway ran 49.93 to win the 400m with Calum Bressington not far behind in 51.09.

Southampton were equally dominant in the middle distance events with Laura Brenton (2.19.51/4.48.65) and Ellie Monks (2.22.03/4.55.44) smashing their PBs in the 800/1500m.

Dudley Mason and Niall Holt took the 1500 in style.The outstanding performance of the day went to Louise Webb in the 1500m steeplechase. She won in 5.02.58, over 45 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

Making her debut for the seniors, Helen Jones won the ‘B’ string in 6.02.99.

The men’s chase was a different affair with two of coach Tony Fern’s athletes – Chris Hilton and Graham Fisher – going head to head and making a real race of it. Hilton, competing for Stevenage, won on the line in an exciting finish. Jacob Wiebel (5k 15.38), Peter Merritt (5k 16.08), Louise Webb (10.29.36) and Sophie Darling (3k 11.17.86) kept the momentum going, winning the longer races.

Points were harder to come-by in the throws. However, Dan Avery (hammer 48.40) and Derek Warn performed admirably, covering the hammer, shot and discuss between them. Warn also added pole vault and 110m hurdles to his day’s efforts. Emily Green and Emma Cowell dominated the women’s javelin, winning with 34.20m and 30.32m.

In the jumps, Nicholas Hunt (HJ 2.01/LJ 6.98/TJ 14.08), Chris Bull (LJ 6.35/TJ 12.94), Matt Watson (HJ 2.01), Emma Cowell (HJ 1.69) and Sam Bass-Cooper (PV 4.10) took maximum points.