IT WAS gold, silver and bronze for the east Surrey girls at the SIAB Schools U17 track and field international, helping England to a clear win overall.
Competing against teenagers from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, the Surrey athletes were selected after their success at the English Schools Championship in Birmingham last week.
After her win at English Schools last weekend, Reigate Grammar School student Tilly Hooper took gold again at the Cardiff-based international, clearing a distance of 3.55-metres in the pole vault.
St Bede's pupil Niamh Brown took silver in the 3000m at English Schools and once again found herself finishing a close second behind the same girl, Harriet Knowles-Jones, in Cardiff. Brown, 15, finished in 9 minutes 44.21 seconds, almost exactly the same time she recorded in Birmingham the weekend before.
Reigate Grammar School's Sophie Elliss bagged a bronze in the 80m hurdles in Cardiff.
Elliss, who is also a member of Reigate Priory Athletic Club, took silver at English Schools the previous weekend, but ran a slightly slower 11.71 for third in Wales.
And with two girls on the podium for their country, head of girls' sport Liz Mitchell admits the whole of Reigate Grammar School have been cheering Hooper and Elliss on.
"We are very proud, it's a fantastic achievement and hopefully just the start of the girls' international careers," she said. "They put a lot of hard work into their athletics, both at school and outside school.
"I know Sophie regularly travels down to Portsmouth for coaching sessions. They both come from very sporting families; Tilly's father competed in the pole vault at an Olympics and her mum represented Great Britain in the sport too, and Sophie's brother skis for Great Britain."
Holland Sports Athletic Club high jumper Ocean Schwartz was also asked to represent his country in Cardiff, but after a series of jumps over two-metres this summer, the 16-year-old could only clear 1.80m, finishing fifth.
