HALESOWEN athletes were out in force when contesting the fourth round of the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League which took place in Nuneaton.

The Manor Way club are well placed for medals in many of the team categories ahead of the final fixture which takes place at Perry Barr next month.

Phoebe Dodd had a fantastic run and finished third in the Women’s Under-17 race, coming home 12 seconds adrift of impressive winner Isher Mandel of Tipton Harriers.

She was chased home by a flurry of Halesowen vests, Beth Sharkey next in when claiming 12th place, ahead of Lydia Wilkinson who was 14th, Isabel Hall 17th, Hannah Sharkey 19th and Nicole Bailey 34th.

Excellent packing meant Halesowen won the team race but they lay second in the team competition overall.

Halesowen did even better in the Under-15 girls, where they won the overall team prize and are favourites to strike gold at Perry Barr.

Star turn Abigail Saker was beaten into second place by a 14-second margin as she chased home Birchfield’s Remi Flavell.

But Abi had three more teammates in the top 10, Lily Higgins coming fourth, following a late surge as did Katrina Simpson who sprinted home to gain ninth spot and finish ahead of Livvy Worth who was 10th.

The strength in depth for Halesowen at this level was immense with Molly Kelly 26th, Kharis Flower 31st, Chloe Chapman 33rd, Chloe Fitzpatrick 44th and Erin Crofts 53rd.

Orla Walker led Halesowen home in the Under-13 girls contest coming 37th out of 124, just getting the better of Siena Horton who was 39th.

They were followed in by Megan Parker 70th, Emily Fitzpatrick 85th, Jade Jenkins 86th, Kiera Johnstone 102nd and Kathryn Kelly 110th.

There was an even bigger field in the Under-11 girls contest, 134 runners taking part, making it the biggest field of the day.

Grace Pritchard placed an excellent seventh while Kodie Davey led the chasing pack in 29th ahead of Falan Malone-Priest who was 32nd, Poppy Jones 44th, Francesca Fletcher 51st and Milly Allen 75th.

HALESOWEN have high hopes that their Under-17 men can claim a medal, finishing third team on the day but stay second overall.

Niall Geraghty 11th, Sam Efiong 12th and Dominic Bill 14th were locked together at the finish, putting themselves in a strong position for some silverware while Tom McGrath completed the team in 47th spot.

Ben Willetts was best for Halesowen in the Under-15 boys in 31st spot beating Kieran Walker in 37th and Thomas Parker 49th.

Charles Sapwell was first back for Halesowen in the Under-13s claiming 18th place and was chased back home by Tom Bailey who was 25th, Isaac Elliott 48th, Joshua Rose 52nd, Findlay Bridgewater who came 61st, Rhys Briggs who bagged 66th place, just ahead of Fred Thompson who came in 67th with Tom Partridge who was 71st and Benjamin Whitehouse who came 76th.

Kodie Murphy had a cracking run in the Under-11s race by claiming fifth spot from a 117 strong field. There was plenty of support on offer with Theo Sims-Woodhouse taking 25th place while Leo Mellor was 59th, Lewis Mallard 65th, Ben Godfrey 79th, Aaran Palmer 86th and Alfie Wolstencroft who completed in 101st spot.