Will Battershill (picture by Brian Panoff)
ERME Valley Harriers’ Will Battershill and City of Plymouth’s Poppy Tank both made their mark at NCAA Division One regional cross country championship events on Friday in America.
Great Britain steeplechaser Battershill produced a storming run to finish third for Harvard University at the D1 Northwest Championships in Buffalo.
The former Ivybridge Community College pupil was just nine seconds behind winner Alex Masai and only 0.1 of a second behind team-mate Kieran Tuntivate who took second.
Harvard finished as the top men’s team guaranteeing them a place at the NCAA National Championships in Terre Haute next weekend. Battershill once again earned all-regional honours.
Fellow Great Britain international Tank also earned all-regional honours by finishing 12th in a highly-competitive women’s race at the D1 Mountain Regional Championships in Salt Lake City.
Tank was Utah University’s top scorer as they finished fifth team.
“Poppy came up big again for us finishing 12th,” said Utah head coach Kyle Kepler.
At the strong West Regional Championships in Colfax, City of Plymouth international Victoria Weir came 162nd, while at the Southeast Regional Championships, Tavistock athlete Tess Masselink finished 182nd for Charleston.