CROSS COUNTRY: Lay is Northants' top performer at Prestwold Hall

INTER-COUNTIES CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPSPRESTWOLD HALL, MARCH 9th 2019

Northamptonshire had 57 athletes taking part at the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships held at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough.The star performer of the day was Joshua Lay when the 18-year-old finished in a superb 7th place in the U20 Men’s race in a time of 29:57.He helped his team to finish in 17th position with back up from Mathew Chronicle (76th in 32:37), Jack Watson (144th in 35:22) and Alfie Long (146th in 35:33).Emily Williams crossed the line in 31st spot in the U17 Women's event with 21:02 and supporting her were Lucy Stevens in 172nd on 23:33, Abigail Pearce (212th in 24:32) and Shannon Reid just one place and one second behind. They finished 32nd in the team competition.In the U13 Boys section Arthur Tilt had a good run to place 48th in 12:50 and with Ruben Snelson (121st in 13:33), Nathan Lamb (157th in 13:46) and Kieran Ashman (215th in 14:14) the team clinched a creditable 27th spot.Skip Snelson led home the U17 Men in 62nd position on 20:16 with Dylan Bowley coming home next to record 21:38 for 180th place. Completing the quartet, which finished 37th were Luke Harris (247th in 22:49) and Thomas McFadden ( 258th in 23:20 ).The U15 Boys were placed 31st and Finlay Ward was the top athlete for Northants when he recorded 14:26 in 82nd spot. Finbar Myers followed him home (121st in 14:44) and seven seconds adrift was Idayi Jumbe (146th) with Joshua Geddes closing out the scoring team (225th in 15:21).Selina Scott was 85th in the U20 Womens race on 25:39 and Eloise Coombs recorded 26:58 for 114th position.The U15 Girls saw Lucy Watts lead home the County in 111th on 16:13 and backing her up was Emily Hinton (155th in 16:40), Trinity McCleary (200th in 17:10) and Charlotte Lund (228th in 17:32). This put the squad in 39th place in the team standings.Kate Pomerleau helped the U13 Girls to 38th spot when she came home in 165th place on 14:41 and hot on her heals were Sofia Barrett ( 185th in 14:48 ) and Lara Turner another four seconds adrift (194th). Closing out the quartet was Olivia Willison (254th in 15:23).The Senior Women were led home by Kelly Barnett (186th in 46:47) and with six to score in the team the squad finished in 29th place. The other athletes representing Northants were Helen Heley (229th in 49:13), Louise Kemp (257th in 53:50), Sally Coombs (258th in 54:01), Krisztina Kurucz (260th in 54:41) and Trudi Pike (263rd in 58:03).Craig Clements was the first Senior Man for the County (228th in 39:12) and joining him in the squad were Tony Letts ( 264th in 40:38 ), Stephen Thompson (268th in 40:42), Mark Palser (284th in 41:46) and Edward Cannell (292nd in 43:46).