Under-15s see off tough opposition to land victory for Chichester

Despite fewer A string wins than their rivals, it was the all-round performance of the whole squad which resulted in a total of 178 points, putting them six ahead of Crawley on 172 and nine in front of Horsham on 169.

Both East Grinstead and Worthing, with weakened teams, were well adrift of the top three at the end of the match.

Josh James and Peter Thomas were in good form for the boys, scoring wins in the javelin and discus respectively as well as notching second places in 1,500m, shot and hammer.

There was good sprinting from Collins Alfred and Ted Maddocks and solid middle-distance running from Casey Keates, Ed Gerwat and Ewan Willis.

Mitchell Rippon scored well in the jumps while Harry Pink supported Thomas in the throws.

For the girls there was a new combination of Amy Brown and Holly Beaton in the 100m with regular pairing Jess Breach and Zoe Nunn in the 200m.

The middle-distance quartet of Charlotte Reading, Rose Ellis, Nicola Mead and Lucy Ellis picked up useful points in the 800m and 1,500m while Molly Summers spearheaded the throws supported by Clare Fraser.

Caitlin Moore, Beth Rogers and Jess Breach did well in the long jump but it proved to have been the first event of the competition - the hammer - which resulted in the eventual team success.

While Thomas and Pink scored nine out a possible ten in the boys’ event, the girls’ pairing of Brown and Nunn went one better and notched Chichester’s only maximum of the match with a perfect score of ten points, which gave Chichester the narrowest of victories.