Hunts AC youngsters enjoyed 11 podium finishes at the Anglian Schools’ Championships.

The Hunts Post: Ayo Opaleye won the Junior Boys triple jump at the Anglian Schools' Championships.Ayo Opaleye won the Junior Boys triple jump at the Anglian Schools' Championships. (Image: Archant)

That fine return in Norwich last Saturday included five victories – two of which were provided by sprint star Julian Priest. He completed a 100m and 200m double in the Intermediate Boys category.

Shannon Flockhart enjoyed 1,500m success at Intermediate Girls level thanks to the fastest time – 4.38.1 – recorded any female member of Hunts AC in the past 15 years.

Her training partner, Katie Wright, also joined the gold-rush in the Intermediate Girls 300m while Ayo Opaleye saved his best until last to land the Junior Boys triple jump with a 12.42m leap which bettered his own club record. It also launched him to seventh in the national rankings for his age group.

There were also a host of Hunts AC runners-up. Joe Purbrick (Intermediate Boys 80m hurdles) and Thomas Smith (Intermediate Boys discus) both finished as runners-up with personal bests of 11.4 secs and 32.46m respectively.

Conall McGinness was second in the Intermediate Boys 1500m in 4.11.7, Stephen Amos occupied the same spot in the Senior Boys triple jump in 11.96m and Katie Lawrence was runner-up in the Senior Girls 3000m with a time of 12.35.7

Third positions were earned by Smith (Intermediate Boys hammer), Spencer Taylor (Intermediate Boys 80m hurdles), Eleanor Phipps (Senior Girls pole vault), Issy Wilkins (Junior Girls 1500m) and Ella Reed (Junior Girls long jump). Reed’s leap of 4.92 was the best effort by a Hunts AC female for more than a decade.

Priest, Flockhart, Purbrick, Opaleye, McGinness, Joey Croft (Senior Boys 2000m steeplechase) and Lizzy Harrison (part of the 4-100m Junior Girls relay squad) have all earned selection for the Cambridgeshire team to take part in the English Schools’ Championships next month.