Sporting success for Stafford school pupils

Staff at Stafford Grammar School are celebrating sporting success on three fronts.

Members of Stafford Grammar School's netball teams (L-R): Poppy Dixon, Amber Smit, Emma Seaton, Elena Blaikie, Elizabeth Hammond, Eloise Nicholls, Nayan Kumar.(middle): Emma Simpson, Imogen Ashton, Abbie Ash-Morgan, Clara Brooks, Eve Benyon, Jessica Kaudo, Kyla Keeling.(front): Hannah Griffiths, Aaliyah Edwards, Lily Crooks, Amy Clarke, Misha Kamal, Esha Gill, Antonia Voynova.

The school's netball team clinched district titles in three age groups, a pupil won two medals in Inline speed skating and another was successful in winning a national cross country title.

In netball, the Under-13 team won the Stafford and District Schools tournament, beating eight sides including St Dominic's Grammar in the final – the under 16s also won their age group, beating Walton High to top the round robin table and the under 12s made it a triple by beating Walton High A in the final.

The Under-14s were denied the chance to add to the title haul when their tournament was cancelled due to rain.

Head of Girls PE Carly Slater said: "The teams at all age groups displayed excellent resilience to have come through from down the pack, and to have picked up district titles in three age groups is a fantastic achievement."

In cross country, Seb Palmer captured the Independent Schools' Association title in Nottinghamshire, defeating 69 runners from across the country.

The nine-year-old prep school pupil, who is a member of Wolverhampton and Bilston AC, took the title in 7.16 minutes over the 2k course at Worksop College.

He also won a gold medal for the ISA Midlands side in Shropshire and despite his tender age, also recently won the Under-11s West Midlands young athletes league.

And 16-year-old Anthea Lau captured two Inline speed skating national medals before stepping up the distance to clinch another podium slot in her first marathon.

She finished second in her heat of the under18 girls’ 500m British Indoor Championships in Derby to earn a place in the final line-up. The five-lap race ended in a sprint for the finish with Lau crossing third in a time of 1:02.89, just 0.04 seconds ahead of Lauren Gaskin, from Leeds.

The versatile youngster proved she has stamina as well as speed when she switched to wider wheels adapted for marathons and completed a 26-mile event at Birmingham in 2hrs 12mins to finish third in the junior girl category and 15th overall.

The sixth former moved to the UK from Hong Kong last year and is already making an impact on the junior circuit of the wheeled, competitive form of roller skating.