Although they both have good 200m backgrounds, on this occasion it was decided to forego the tight bends of the indoor track and focus on the 60m sprints.
Under-15 athlete Alyssa White, looking confident and using starting blocks for the first time in competition, produced a great drive out in her heat, along with an even better pick-up phase, which resulted in a fine win and a new personal best time of 8.24sec.
The semi-final saw another consistent 8.26-sec run for third place, which was enough to take her through to a highly-creditable seventh finishing position.
Under-17 Sophie-Anne Haigh, having missed last year`s indoor racing season though injury, looked relaxed, sharp and very much at home in her heat, running a new personal best 8.01sec for second spot.
The semi-final, however, went even better – in a high-quality line-up and with a great start, she again rewrote her PB, finishing second in the much-coveted sub eight-second time of 7.97sec. The final saw her finish in overall fifth place.
Both girls achieved national qualifying entry standards for the EA championships in Sheffield next month.
DAVID CHURCHER