It’s five wins on the run for rapid Liam Rawlings
It was high fives all-round for Liam Rawlings as he maintained his dominance in the Shropshire Schools Cross Country Championships.
The in-form Rawlings followed up his second place in the Midland Championships by claiming his fifth consecutive victory in the event held in Oswestry. Sunny but cold conditions greeted hundreds of runners from almost all Shropshire secondary schools for the annual championships with several of the Midlands leading athletes on show, writes Paul Sanderson.
But it was Rawlings, from the Corbet School, Baschurch, who took centre stage as he raced to a comfortable victory the intermediate boys’ race, finishing 42 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. The success saw him completed a unique full set of wins from Year 7 to Year 11, something that has not been rivalled over the last 40 years.
The Shrewsbury School pair of Tom Jackson and Oscar Hamilton-Russell were second and third and led their school to team title for the fourth consecutive year with Haberdashers Adams second and Priory third.
Jess Humphreys, now a Wrekin College student, bagged her fourth Shropshire Schools title as she won the senior girls’ race just a week after winning the Midland Counties under-17 title at Leamington.
Maddy Williams (Shrewsbury High School) was second with 800m specialist Sophia Malpass (Wrekin College) completing the top three.
The team title proved to be the closest affair for years as Shrewsbury High pipped Wrekin College by just one point to claim the title for the first time since 2013. Shrewsbury School took third place.
Another Midland champion in action was Zoe Gilbody, the winner of the Year 7 girls race, and she notched another impressive victory as she finished over 30 seconds in front of Oswestry School’s Poppy Kendrick-Jones.
Thomas Telford’s Rosie Kind followed the home in third.
Shrewsbury High won the team race with 62 points, with Idsall and Priory, Shrewsbury.
Church Stretton’s Year 9 pupil, Beth Rawlinson completed a hat-trick of consecutive championship wins as she retained her junior girls’ title, winning in 10.37.
Moreton Hall’s Iris Downes was next home in 11.10 with Haberdashers Abraham Darby’s Amy Harland claiming the bronze medal in 11.32.
Thomas Telford retained the team trophy, their third victory in four years, led home by Maggie Preece in fourth, and supported by Libby Vietch, Sophie Tatton and Rosie Briscoe. Burton Borough were second and Oswestry School third.
Dan Galloway also claimed a third successive victory after seeing off his rivals in the junior boys’ event. Galloway (Oldbury Wells School, Bridgnorth), who was ninthin the Midlands under-15 Championships the previous week, finished 27 seconds clear of his nearest rivals, who were a trio of impressive Shrewsbury School runners – Ben Weston, Will Singleton and Archie Collings.
The trio helped Shrewsbury School to a fifth straight team title despite having to wait till 33rd for their fourth scorer to finish.
Oswestry School took silver and Haberdashers Adams, Newport, bronze.
Shrewsbury School’s Francesca Harris, who was 12th in last year’s English Schools Championships as a junior girl and the 2017 county champion, moved up an age group to win the intermediate girls’ race in 14.58. Cameron-Ellie Mander, from Burton Borough School, matched her silver medal from last year while Wrekin College’s Ruby Richards took third. Thomas Telford retained the team trophy with 41 points with Oswestry School runners-up.
Jack Pickett (North Shropshire College) led the way in the senior boys’ race to claim his first Shropshire Schools title, after finishing runner-up last year.
He becomes the first North Shropshire College student to taste county individual success.
The Shrewsbury School pair of Charlie Ockleston and Sam Western crossed the line in second and third respectively, leading their team to a third title of the day and the ninth consecutive year that they have won that age group award.
Haberdasher Adams bagged the silver with The Marches School, Oswestry coming home third. Ben Hayes became only the second Idsall student to win the Year 7 title for either boys or girls after claiming victory with 11 seconds to spare over Oswestry Schools’ Aaron Warburton. Priory School, Shrewsbury’s Jake Gittins took the bronze medal. Ben Smith (fifth) led Wrekin College to win the team race for the second time in the last four years. The Marches School, who took the trophy 12 months ago, had to be content with second while Priory School, Shrewsbury were third.
The first six finishers in the junior, intermediate and senior age groups were automatically selected to represent Shropshire in the English Schools Championships, which will be held in Leeds in March.
A further two places in each team will also be announced.The next big cross country race to be held on Shropshire soil is on Saturday, when the Birmingham and District Cross Country League Division One, for senior men, will be hosted by Telford Athletic Club at Lilleshall Sports Centre, starting at 2.30pm.
It is the first time for many years that Telford have hosted a Birmingham League Division One race and some of the best runners from the Midlands will be on show, including strong teams from Tipton, Cheltenham, Birchfield, Wolverhampton and Bilston and host club Telford AC.
University teams from Birmingham and Loughborough will also be battling it out for honours in what is the final league race of the season.
