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Plymouth & West Devon athletes impress at Devon Schools’ Cross Country Champs

Plymouth Sports Gazette

MOUNT Kelly College’s Oliver Smart and Jed Hutchings and Plymouth College’s Molly Shorey won titles at the Devon Schools’ Cross Country Championships at Stover on Saturday.

The Plymouth & West Devon team enjoyed plenty of success at the event, winning eight individual medals and claiming 24 top eight finishes.

Newly-crowned South West under-17 champion Smart comfortably retained the Devon intermediate boys’ title he had won at the same venue 12 months ago.

Smart finished 26 seconds ahead of Bideford’s Flynn Jennings, with Colyton’s Johnny Livingston a minute behind in third. The top three were identical to 2018, but Smart was further ahead this time around.

His school colleague Hutchings produced a good run to win the minor boys’ title by six seconds.

Plymouth & West Devon totally dominated the minor girls’ event with six runners finishing in the top seven.

Molly Shorey had to dig deep at the end to win the race. She produced a great sprint finish to edge out West Buckland’s Eden Robinson on the line. Both athletes were given the same time but Plymouth College’s Shorey just got her body in front on the finish.

Third place went to Plymouth High School for Girls’ Verity Tank, with Devonport High’s Molly Gilbey fourth, Mount Kelly’s Matilda Riggott fifth, Ivybridge’s Bella May sixth and Plymouth College’s Piper Haffenden seventh.

Plymouth College’s female athletes enjoyed a good meet. Megan Shorey and GB pentathlete Annabel Denton both made the podium in the intermediate girls’ race.  Shorey took second place behind King’s Jasmine Stone, with Denton taking third. Ivybridge College’s Seren English was fourth, with Mount Kelly’s Nicole Dunn sixth and Devonport High’s Elyse Kedzior-MacDonough seventh.

There was also a bronze medal for Plymouth College’s Chloe Apps in the senior girls’ race, which was won by Torquay GS’s Molly Canham. Mount Kelly’s Natasha Farrington was fifth and Plymouth College’s Talia Sullivan seventh.

Mount Kelly’s Amelia Riggott won bronze in the junior girls’ race, with Devonport High’s Emily Cornish fifth and Ivybridge’s Kristyna Cade seventh.

Ivybridge’s Thomas James just missed out on a medal in the junior boys’ race. He finished fourth.

There was also a fourth place for Mount Kelly’s Edward Smart in the senior boys’ event, where Devonport High’s Jamie Williams was fifth, Mount Kelly’s Tom Brew and Charlie Gibbard seventh and eighth.

Devon will now select a team to compete at the South West Schools’ Championships at Bath Racecourse on Saturday, February 2, with the English Schools’ event at Leeds on March 16.

 

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