Toth crowned English Schools sprint champion after edging out Shields

Toth’s biggest rival was Rotherham’s Ben Shields. Running in the colours of South Yorkshire, Shields clocked 10.84 to take the silver medal by the narrowest of margins.

Jenny Walsh (West Yorkshire) continued a rich vein of form to win the senior girls 800m, completing a double having won the schools cross country title in March. She went into the race as marginal favourite but it took a personal best of 2:07.58 to get the better of her West Yorkshire team mate Alex Bell who finished runner up exactly a second behind.

Abbi Carter (Humberside) added to her impressive list of titles when she won the senior girls hammer with a throw of 56.83, more than seven metres clear. It was an event which gave West Yorkshire’s Jess Mayho the bronze with 48.52. For Carter it was her fifth English Schools title, a remarkable record for the 17 year old Kingston upon Hull athlete.

There was also a senior win for West Yorkshire’s Lucy Holmes who took the shot title with 12.51.

There was no more impressive a winner on the track than South Yorkshire’s Natalia Hackett in the intermediate 3000m. Running the distance for only the third time on the track, the Hallamshire Harrier spreadeagled the field finishing 12 seconds ahead in 9:40.81. Just 15, Hackett is in her first year of the intermediate age group.

At junior level there were gold medals for Adam Hague (South Yorkshire) who retained his pole vault title with ease, Ben Buckley (North Yorkshire) in the 80m hurdles (11.43) and Daniel Gray (Humberside) in the 400m. His time of 49.79 ranks fourth on the UK all time list for his age group.

City of Sheffield were without too many of their star performers to make much of an impact in the second round match of the British League Premier Division at Hendon on Saturday. After holding third place at the halfway stage, they faded to sixth. They are sixth overall with two matches to go.

Northern champion Steve Evison had a fine run for Sheffield in the 800, running from the from and just getting pipped on the line and getting inside 1:50. There were Sheffield B string wins from Ric Beckford in the 110 hurdles (14.87), Tom Grantham, 400 hurdles (53.6) and Roger Skedd, pole vault (4.40).