Southampton AC’s U13 & U15 young athletes had a day to remember when they came sixth in the UK Youth Development League national finals at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.

Against the very best young athletes in the country, the team more than held their own, recording seven A string and three B string wins.

James Jerram’s performance in winning the U13B 800m in a new league record of 2 minutes 11 seconds also saw him win the performance of the match trophy.

The U13 girls had a superb day with six of the 10-strong team being from the U12 age group. Of the 16 individual events, the girls achieved nine medals with one pb.

The highlight, though, was the team spirit – exemplified by Jasmyn Allen making the long trip, not for an individual event but to take part in the 4x100 relay.

High jumpers Lucy-Jane Matthews and Isabel Richardson performed well, with Matthews producing a Grade 1 pb height to win silver in the A and Richardson (Grade 4 height) fifth in the B competition.

Matthews went over to the hurdles where she won gold in the A string in a Grade 1 time, joined by Ettie Hammond, fourth in the B string in a Grade 4 time.

Hannah Childs and Grace Griffiths both produced Grade 4 times to finish fourth and fifth respectively in the A and B string 75m races.

In the 150m, Childs was sixth in a the A string with a Grade 2 time and Griffiths produced a Grade 1 time to win the silver in the B string!

At the shot put, Samantha Callaway threw a Grade 2 shot to win silver in the A string and Griffiths produced a Grade 4 throw to win bronze in the B.

In the Long jump, Matthews won gold with a Grade 1 jump in the A string and Hammond claimed silver with a grade 4 jump in the B string.

Callaway and Poppy Wright both struck gold in the A and B string javelin events, Callaway with a Grade 1 throw and Wright with a Grade 2 throw.

In the 1200m, Ciara Blount was sixth in the A string race, and Wright, running around the track from the javelin to start the race, was seventh in the B string.

The relay saw the girls – Allen, Matthews, Childs and Griffiths finish fifth.

Southampton’s Under-15 girls squad was made up of most of this season’s league match regulars.

Isabelle Bennett, Jade Clements, Freya Coe, Aimee Coppin, Ellie Hodgson, Molly Jeneway, Grace Kelly, Izzy McCormac, Georgia O’Dell, Holly Powell, Grace Reavey, Ariela Richardson and Amaya Scott achieved some creditable results in Birmingham.

Southampton’s under 13 boys team were James Jerram, Oliver Bridges, Joshua Wise, Patrick Fisher, Liam Higgins, Bradley Jenvey, Oliver Thatcher, Ben Vaughan, Riley Woodman, Callum Gregson, and Ben Wiliams. The boys all gave outstanding performances in the 75m hurdles, 100m, 200m, 800m, 1500m, H/J, L/J, Shot Putt and Javelin.

The under 15 boys team consisted of Sam Bridges, Rizwan Shah Cemal, Reiss Jarvis, Lynden Olowe, Jack Higgins, Max Satterly, Patrick Whelan, Zak Mohamed, Joshua Nash, George Rosam, Ben Upfold, Arm Harawan, Kieran Apps and TK Madzvamutse.

They won 13 medals on the day.