Sportshall success for Chichester youngsters

Chichester scored more than 200 points for third place in the boys’ event while the girls had to be content with fourth place fielding a weakened squad from their first match.

Once again Thomas Ackerman spearheaded the boys’ effort in the under-15 age group with convincing wins in both the four-lap race and the standing triple jump with and impressive 7.21m best jump.

He was joined by Alex Hill, making his first appearance for the club, in the eight-lap paarlauf relay.

Hill had earlier shown promise in the four-lap and did not disappoint as he and Ackerman proved too strong for their rivals to win by nearly two seconds.

Running with the under-15s, Jamie Johnson sharpened up his winter sprinting as a guest with quick times in both the two-lap and four-lap races.

An equally-impressive pairing for the under-13s were Collins Alfred and James Austin, who gained near-maximum points in the two-lap sprint with Alfred winning the A string in an impressive 22.5 seconds and the repeating the result in the vertical jump with another first and second between them.

To round off the day they ran winners Horsham, to a close second place in the eight-lap paarlauf relay.

In the same age group Peter Thomas continued his impressive outdoor form in the shot to record a personal best of 9.47m for second place, just over half a metre behind the winner who posted an impressive ten metres plus mark.

In his fourth event of the day, Alfred showed his qualities as an all-rounder with an 8.40m best to easily win the B string.

On the track, Casey Keates once again led the squad in the four-lap and six-lap ably supported by younger brother Brodie in the four-lap and Zac Hurst in the longer event.