AFTER scooping another medal on Saturday, Warrington Athletics Club’s Joe Buckley has once again added to his growing reputation as one to watch.
For a long while, it looked as if he would be in with a chance of the top prize at the Northern Cross Country Championships as he slogged through the mud of North Yorkshire’s Camp Hill Estate.
Buckley was a constant in the men’s under 20s race leading group and although Leeds City’s Josh Dickinson kicked on at a pace he could not quite match, the Warrington youngster still came away with a terrific silver medal.
He clocked 26mins 44secs, with clubmate Jack Wadsworth not far behind as he finished in 29mins 40secs to come home 43rd.
Another stand-out performer among the 16 Warrington entrants was Orla Gregory, who ran a superb race in the under 15s age group.
She finished the three-lap course in 15mins 23secs to place seventh while Molly Wormald – the club’s other representative in this age group – was 139th in 18mins 36secs.
Brandon Quinton excelled in the men’s under 17s race as he finished 15th in 20mins 45secs, with Joe Roberts 81st in 22mins 16secs.
In the women’s race, Jess Connolly clocked 20mins 47secs to come home 67th while Siobhan Gregory was not far behind as she finished 98th in 22mins 30secs.
The under 13s girls combined to guide Warrington to eighth place in the team competition, with Alice Nicholson leading the group home in 11mins 3secs to finish 40th.
Behind her, twins Imogen and Nia Wharton finished 10 seconds apart to finish 57th and 70th respectively while Esme Heavy completed the team in 110th place in 11mins 48secs.
The under 13s girls
The boys team finished in 16th place, with Rory Gregory the first of their runners to finish as he clocked 10mins 30secs to come home 68th.
Rhys Croasdale (73rd, 10mins 35secs), Jacob Pryor (81st 10mins 44secs) and Matthew Seddon (139th, 11mins 27secs) completed the team.
Elsewhere, Warrington Athletics Club’s sprinting star Ashley Nemits moved up to third in the UK 400m rankings for her age group with another impressive display on Sunday.
The under 17s runner was competing in the Sheffield Festival Open indoor meeting and recorded a time of 57.48secs.
At the same time, five of her clubmates were competing back in Manchester at Sale Harriers’ open indoor meeting.
Two of them achieved personal best times over 200m – Shauna Clarke clocked 28.74secs to finish second in her race while fellow under 17s runner Lisa Halliday came fourth in her outing in 30.38secs. The latter also finished fifth in the 60m hurdles in 10.59secs.
Again over 200m, Elizabeth Wright clocked 29.24secs to finish third in her under 20s race.
Amelia Smithers finished second in her under 15s 600m race – clocking 1min 54.35secs in the process – while in her debut over the same distance, under 17 runner Olivia Ashdown clocked 1min 47.56secs to finish fourth.
Amelia Smithers, top, and Olivia Ashdown
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