Stafford athletes to represent West Midlands
Four Stafford Grammar School athletes are preparing to represent the West Midlands after victory at the Independent Schools’ Association regional championships in Leicester.
The winner of each race, from 25 competing schools, would take the acclaimed honour of pulling on the Midlands vest at the national championships in June at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium.
Ten-year-old Seb Palmer blew the competition away as he forged a 50-metre lead ahead of the chasing pack and cruised to the finish line to claim victory in the under-11 boys’ 600m race, adding another crown to go with his ISA under-11 national cross-country victory last year.
Sprinter Ethan Mercer, 15, from Eccleshall, also cemented his place at the Alexander Stadium by lifting the u16 100m title, with a time of 12.21 seconds.
It will be a busy summer for Jack Dimmock who will not only represent the Midlands in the u16 200m event, but he will also be heading to the UAE with the England u15 cricket team. His time of 24.25 seconds was enough for him to earn his Midlands vest.
The fourth addition to the Midlands squad from Stafford Grammar will be 14-year-old Luca Keeble who earned a wildcard spot in the u16 1500m by coming second.
There were two silver medals for the school; Akilah Simms came second in the u16 girls shot put, while the school's boys' 4x100m team of Seb Palmer, Stanley Turner, Daniel Olanrewaju and Haydn Tomkinson-Hill were also runners-up in their event.
There were also three bronze medals as Simms claimed another podium place with third in the u16 100m; as well as Ruben Gill, 10, registering 33.36m in the cricket ball throw and the u16 boys taking third in the 4x100m relay.
