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HAVERHILL athlete Jemma Thake and her West Suffolk clubmate Louisa Wells won bronze medals at the English Schools Athletics Championships in Exeter.

Thake, a pupil at Samuel Ward Upper School, Haverhill, was third in the intermediate 300m in 39.84 sec, then teamed up with West Suffolk clubmates Louisa Wells, a pupil at Mildenhall Upper School, and Anna Clayton, as well as Ipswich's Louise Morgan, for bronze in the 4x100m relay in 49.23 sec behind Kent and Buckinghamshire.

The glory girls of Cambridgeshire went even better scooping four golds.

Wins for throwers Charlotte Spelzini, Rachel Dunn, Chloe Edwards and high jumper Aileen Wilson, gave Cambs their biggest collection of English schools champions for at least a decade.

And there were also two bronzes for sprinters Adam Charlton and Louise Hazel.

With rostrum places down to sixth, the non-medallists receiving certificates, Cambs had more than just six reasons to cheer.

Cottenham-based Spelzini, a member of Cambridge and Coleridge, took revenge on Rebecca Peake, from Derbyshire, who beat her in the AAA under-20 championships the previous week, as she won the senior girls' shot putt with 13.60m.

Dunn bowed out of schools competition with victory, in the javelin to follow up her silver behind another Cambs athlete, Goldie Sayers, two years ago.

The Huntingdon AC athlete, from Great Paxton, near St Neots, who has just left Longsands Community College, was a convincing champion.
She threw 44.11m, with runner-up Louise Matthews (Essex) managing 43.38.

Edwards totally dominated the junior shot event.
The 14-year-old St Ivo School, St Ives, pupil was the only competitor to top 12m - and won with 12.23m.

Wilson, 17, who was ninth at the world junior championships last autumn, has switched from Leicestershire schools to Cambs after going into the sixth form at King's, Peterborough.

McNeill was pleased with the way she slotted straight into the squad, and she had plenty of vocal support as she added 1cm to her high jump personal best, winning the senior event by 3cm with 1.84m.

Peterborough AC athlete Wilson has now won five gold medals in five appearances.
Hazel, like Wilson, is in the first year of her age group, but she too, came home with a medal – a bronze.

CAPTION: WELL BRONZED ... Jemma Thake on her way to a bronze medal at the English Schools championships.