Match Report by Des Webb:

The final Wessex league cross country fixture of the season took place at Ferndown leisure centre on Sunday 13th March and it proved a very successful day for Team Southampton at the conclusion of the first cross country season for the newly merged club.

There were first places overall in the league for the U15 girls and U17 womens teams and a double success in the U15 boys when the A team took the gold and the B team took the silver in the league. The U13 boys also did well managing a third place finish in the league.

Individually there were top three placings for 4 of the clubs athletes. Louise Webb grabbed an equal first placing in the U15 girls league overall after a nail biting finish in the final run in with Newbury's Sophie Crumly, (an athlete who finished second in the Reebok national XC series). The race was so close that the marshalls couldn't separate the two on the line and judged there to be a dead heat. Amazingly that meant that the league too was tied between the two athletes.

Team Southampton dominated the U15 boys race on the day with club runners taking the first 4 places (Legg, Gallant, Knapp and Dennis) and the result allowed Scott Legg to clinch a second league place overall in the age group with Renato Veraj taking third league place despite not being able to run on the day.

Sasha Mucci was narrowly pushed into third place overall in the under 17 womens race leaving her third in the league.

There were good runs on the day as well from Carol Thompson (6th) and Emma Renouf (8th) in the U17 womens race and also from Kay Shafford (11th) and Harriet Walters (14th) in the under 15 girls crucially helping their teams to the first places overall in the league.

Daena Bennett also had a good first run for the club in the U11 mixed race coming in second girl and Aaron Bennett (5th) and the Campbell brothers (12th and 13th) also ran well in the under 13 boy's race.

The results were all the more encouraging in the light of the good performances by a number of the clubs athletes the day before at the English schools championships in Norwich. The club had ten members running in the championships showing the strong reliance Hampshire now places on the clubs runners.

The clubs next fixture is the National Road relays in April at which the club aims to field a number of teams across the various age groups.

U11's Mixed

Position	Name
2nd Girl	D Bennnett

U13 Boys

Position	Name
5th	A Bennnett
12th	M Campbell
13th	S Campbell
21st	E Cheeseman

3rd Team Overall in League

U13 Girls

Position	Name
29th	A Parnell
32nd	L Wheeler

U15 Boys

Position	Name
1st (2nd Overall in league)	S Legg
2nd	S Gallant
3	J Knapp
4	C Dennis
8	L Mucci
10	C Stewart
12	C Thompson
Overall 3rd in League	R Veraj

1st Team Overall in the league, B team overall second in league

U15 Girls

Position	Name
1st Equal (Overall 1st Equal in League)	L Webb
11th	K Shafford
14th	H Walters

1st Team Overall

U17 Men

Position	Name
7	A Justice
10	R Fripp

U17 Women

Position	Name
3 (3rd Overall in league)	S Mucci
6	C Thompson
8	E Renouf
11	D Mucci
13	S Singer

1st Team Overall

U17 Women

Position	Name
51	D Webb

Please Note:
These results are based on information sent to me. Any problems with names / times / positions then e-mail teamsouthampton@hotmail.com