SECOND round matches in the McDonalds national young athletes league involve five teams from local clubs.

Blackburn Harriers boys hosted a Division One West meeting at Witton Park, put out a team weakened by seasonal examination calls, but managed third place against powerful opposition.

Robert Barton is a fine team member, always in the thick of things, and was deservedly selected as man of the match for his winning time of 9mins 52.1secs in the under 15s 3000 metres after he had placed second in the A800.

His twin brother Liam also played a full part with a winning double in the B high jump and 400 metres and second spot in the A1500.

Glen Garrett is an exciting middle distance prospect and proved it again with an A string double in the under 17s 400 and 800 metres. He also ran a rousing anchor leg in the 4x400 metres relay team which won the last event of the day. The team was completed by Jonathan Collins, Matthew Neild and Jonathan O'Dea, and all round personal best times for their legs.

Edward Brownlow was another double winner, in under 15s high jump and pole vault, and he added a third place in A shot to his personal contribution to the team tally.

Jonathan Collins showed great promise with a win in the under 17s 1500 and took second place in the javelin. In the same age group Paul Wickers won the A triple jump and was third in the 100 metres, Matthew Neild ran well to win the A 3000 metres and Jonathan O'Dea won the B 3000 for a club double.

Dale Jones is a good sprint/hurdles prospect and had second places in the under 17s A 100 metres hurdles, A 200 and B 100. Equally promising in the same events is under 15s Stuart Burrell, second in A 200, A 80 metres hurdles and third in A 100.

Ross Huntingdon was second in under 17s B 1500 and triple jump, Ono Odudu second in under 13s A 100 and third in B 200, Milton Haworth second in under 15 B 800 and shot, Chris Kay second in under 15s B1500, David Pilkington third in under 17s A shot and discus, Nathan Walton third in under 15s A discus and B longjump, Shaun Harrington third in under 13s A 800 and Matthew Wood third in B 100 in the same age group.

Pendle AC also had the man of the match in their division two meeting at Bury. The honour was well earned by Mark Robinson in the under 15s group where he notched an excellent winning double in the 400 and 800 metres with fast times of 55.6 seconds and 2mins 16.5secs.

Carl Jesson scored well in the under 17s with a win in the A hammer and second spot in A 100 metres and B javelin. Another winner in this age bracket was Lee McCash, first in the 1500 metres steeplechase with second spot in the A 1500 for good measure.

In fact, Pendle's best scoring was by the under 17s. Michael Thompson was second in B hammer and 200 metres and Chris White, second in A 100 was third in the B 200.

Thomas Bennett, in the under 15s group, was second in the B 3000 and third in the B 80 metres hurdles. Wayne Buckley was third in the A 80 metres hurdles.

Lone ranger in the under 13s, Jonathan Hunter, gave a good account of himself with second place in the A 800 metres and third in the A 200.

The Pendle girls also fielded the athlete of the match, the award being earned by Vicky Haydock with winning personel best performances in the under 15s shot and discus. Her new marks of 9.91 and 29.78 metres are very good, particularly the discus performance which is well past the English Schools qualifying standard.

She completed a winning hat trick with first in the A 75 metres jurdles.

The under 15s group were top scorers. Victoria Rusius was second in A 1500 metres and high jump. Rachel Parker was a good winner of the B 1500. Jane Parker added to the family tally with second in B discus and third in B 800. Laura Griffiths took second spot in B 75 metres hurdles and Joanna Eyre was third in A javelin.

Lindsey Clark was on her own in the under 17s and revelled in the responsibility with wins in the A 200 metres and 80 metres hurdles and second in the A 100.

Two 13 year olds both took B string third places, Kate Franzke in the 150 metres and Lisa Townsend in the 70 metres hurdles.

With only ten in the team they did well to take fourth place in the six club match.

Burnley took teams to the girls division two meeting at St Helens and also the boys match at Bury.

as usual the under 17s girls performed splendidly. Emma Morris threw an A string treble, winning shot, discus and javelin, with noteworthy distances of 10.40, 29.58 and 25.06 metres.

Joining her with a field events treble was Jayne Linaker, this time with B string wins in javelin, high jump and discus.

Clare Eddleston completed the trio of successful young ladies with wins in A high jump and shot and second in the A 80 metres hurdles.

Catherine Morris has to follow elder sister Emma, but does not let it worry her. She was third in the under 15s A javelin and threw personal bests in A shot and discus.

Under 13s Carol Glover also cleared a new personal best in B long jump.

the boys team of six was well led by the four lads in the under 17s section.

Gareth Parkin scored two wins and a third, all in A events. The first places came in high jump and 100 metres hurdles and the third in the long jump.

David Bailey had a winning double in the B high jump and pole vault. Nick Samuels won the B 100 hurdles, was second in A 3000 metres and third in B javelin. Christian Green won the A pole vault and was third in A triple jump.

Another lone battler, Colin Bailey, was a treble winner in the under 15s group. He had personal bests to take the high jump and pole vault and completed the hat-trick in the 80 metres hurdles.

Another soloist, Andrew Whitehead, was second in the under 13s A 1500 metres and third in the A 200.

The next round of league meetings will be on Sunday June 1.

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