FOLLOWING their surprise victory in the Hampshire qualifying round of the ESAA Track & Field Cup, the Mountbatten School & Language College U16 Girls team represented the county at the South West England Regional 'B' Final at Yeovil.

The team made a strong start in the track events, during the morning session, notching up a creditable 4 wins. Captain Emma Renouf set the tone with her aggressive front running in the 800m 'A' final; running from the front, she destroyed the rest of the field winning in a time of 2:34.

Coral Macey emulated her captain's performance by storming to victory in the 800m 'B' final. Trailing at the bell, Macey gradually closed the gap on the early pacemaker, Trudi Upson, overhauling the Downe House athlete in the last 150m. Macey established a new personal best performance with her winning time of 2:37. Sue Roberts, the 'pocket rocket' dominating the 100m from gun to tape, secured the third victory. The elegant Sarah Horkan achieved the fourth victory in the 200m.

Solid point scoring performances were also achieved by Verity King (80m Hurdles), Megan Partridge (l00m), Kerry Jones (200m), Georgina Barton (1500m) and Katie Whitlock (1500m). At the halfway stage of the final, the team were placed in a very creditable 5th place, trailing Downe House by 38 points.

The field events have been the team's Achilles heel throughout the summer, and the final was to be no exception. Some athletes, however, produced some fine individual performances to keep the school in contention throughout the afternoon session.

Notable performances came from Emma Anderson (High Jump), Kerry Jones (Javelin), Leanne Couchman (Discus), Hannah Prior (Shot Putt) and Sarah Horkan (Long Jump).

The final event of the day, the 4 x 100m relay, produced the team's fifth victory. The team of Roberts, Prior, King and Anderson proved to be too strong for the opposition, storming to victory by a clear 30 metres. The team eventually finished 7th, with all the athletes enjoying the opportunity to compete at a higher level. The one promising feature of the team is that 8 of the 12 athletes will be available to compete in the competition next year.

Schools competing: Truro HS Cornwall; Truro Cornwall; Taunton, Somerset; Okehampton, Devon; Nailsea, Avon; Abbey, Berkshire; Downe House, Berkshire; Mountbatten, Hampshire.