A trio of Southern Medals

At the Southern (SEAA) Championships in Bedford (6/7 June) Benjy Street (U20), home from university in the US, took the gold medal in the SM 3000m Steeplechase, in 9:34.38. Seventeen-year old Maia Heward-Mills, also stepping up an age group, bagged the bronze medal in the U20W 100m in 12.00. Similarly, there was a bronze for U20 Mabel-Rose Scales in the Senior Women's High Jump, with a clearance of 1.65m.

Benjy who is studying at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, made an immediate impact for The Brown Bears on his cross country debut over 8K in the New England Championships in October, leading the team home. As a result he was named the Ivy League's Male Athlete of the Week (photograph below by Brown Athletics) and his consistently strong cross country performance earned him 'Newcomer of the Year' at the Brown Athletics prize-giving in December.  
 
In May he set a new PB of 9:06.16 in the 3K Steeplechase at an invitational meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, which placed him in the top 10 fastest ever Brown University times and sees him currently third fastest U20 over the distance in the UK rankings. 'I’ve really enjoyed my first year in the US', says Benjy, 'and I am very happy to have rounded off my first season with PBs in every distance that I have competed in so far. That said, I still have lots of goals that I want to achieve over my next three years of competing for Brown and I am very excited to go back and start competing again next year.'