THE Southend district was in dominant form at the Essex Schools track and field championships at Chelmsford.

The district won all the girls categories – Year 7, juniors and intermediate – while the boys took top spot in the Year 7 and junior categories.

Castle Point & Rochford also performed well with four runner-up places, while there were a host of fine individual performances from athletes across the south of the county despite the blustery conditions at Melbourne Park.

A select squad of athletes will now be chosen by Essex Schools team managers to be part of the county squad travelling to Gateshead for the English Schools Championships in just over two weeks’ time.

Among the star performers was Eastwood School’s George Elliott who won the junior boys 800m in a new championship record of 2m 1.48s, while FitzWimarc School’s Jack Longhurst shot to the top of the national rankings with his win in the pole vault where he cleared 3.50m.

Other athletes sitting pretty at the top of national rankings who bagged wins were Victor Adebiyi who won the Year 7 shot put with a huge throw of 11.44m and FitzWimarc’s Jess Down who won the Year 7 75m hurdles in 11.63s.

Southend High School for Boys pair Spencer Owen (75m hurdles 12.1s) and Samuel Jones (long jump 4.73m) both won golds in the Year 7 boys event, while Robert Runciman (CP&R, high jump 1.48m) and Basildon Academies’ Yvan Kombi (Basildon, 100m 13.7s) were also victorious in that age group.

In the junior boys, Taylor Hartman (SHSB, 400M 53.87s), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Eastwood, shot 13.18m) and Connor Peralta (Eastwood, javelin 40.75m) won golds for the Southend district while Jake Bailey cleared 1.69m in the high jump to get a win for the borough of Thurrock.

In the eldest age group, the intermediate boys, David Abiona (triple jump, 13.36m) and Archie Leeming (shot, 13.53m) both were gold medal winners for Castle Point & Rochford, while Perry Osbourne won the pole vault for Southend (3.70m).

Thurrock duo Thomas Head (hammer, 61.58m) and Khai Riley-Laborde (100m hurdles 13.19s) both also took home victories.

Victors in the Year 7 girls category included Lily Hewitt Bennett (SHSG, 200m 28.84s) and Katie Head (Thurrock, shot 8.50m).

Casey Kaye, younger sister of top under-20 pole vaulter Aaron Kaye, won her first Essex Schools title by clearing 1.33m to win the high jump on countback.

Shoeburyness High School’s Lucy Shaw continued her fine sprint season by winning the junior girls 200m (27.02s) with the Southend district also picking up wins through Michelle Hughes (75m hurdles 12.25s) and Tiffany Ren (discus 25.82m) in that age group.

Also in the junior girls, Castle View’s Jodie Judd won the 1,500m (4m 52.64s) with Georgia Sullivan also getting a win for the Castle Point and Rochford district in the shot (9.79m).

Finally, in the intermediate girls section, there was a comfortable win for the reigning UK School Games champion Poppy Lake (SHSG) in the high jump where she cleared 1.71m in blustery conditions. Moesha Howard also picked up a win for Southend in the 80m hurdles (11.85s). Gemma Holloway won the 1,500m race for Thurrock in 4m 42.13s and Amy Smith was the victor in the shot (9.27m) for Castle Point & Rochford.