SHERBURN School's David MacQuarrie was the leading York-area runner in the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Chelmsford.

He battled through strong winds to take 15th place in their intermediate race.

Joel Riley (Tadcaster GS) was 24th in the senior boys race.

Emma Macalister-Hall (St Olave's) showed remarkable acceleration over the last 600 metres to cut through the field to finish 23rd overall to become the first finisher from the north of England.

She was the eighth fastest in her own year group and her position was the best by a year eight girl from North Yorkshire for many years.

Tadcaster's Nicola Lampard was 78th and the two girls helped North Yorkshire to ninth out of 44 competing counties in the age group - North Yorkshire's best team result of the day.

In the senior race Nina Griffith (York College) was 31st. there were about 340 runners in each race.

Other York-area placings were - Junior Boys: Philip Graves (Archbishop's) 198th. Senior Girls: Susanna Dale (Fulford) 98th, Aimee Collett (Tadcaster) 120th, Emily Watts (Easingwold) 172nd, Inter Girls: Lara Gibbs (St Peter's) 144th, Liz Hodgkinson (Queen Margaret's) 165th, Ruth Tinsley (Selby) 210th, Karen Espiner (Sherburn) 286th; Junior Girls: Nina Batt (Tadcaster) 276th.

NETBALL

JOSEPH Rowntree and All Saints Schools continued their rivalry on the netball courts last week.

All Saints Under 13 netball team are the York and District champions after an exciting tournament.

They stormed into the lead early on in the round robin competition, beating Manor 4-0, Huntington 8-2, St Olave's 5-3 and Queen Margaret's 5-4.

A tight match against Fulford saw them lose 2-1 but they picked themselves up to beat Millthorpe 5-3 and Lowfield 9-1.

All Saints' last match was against Joseph Rowntree and it proved to be the decider. All Saints took an early lead and went on to win 5-2.

But Fulford had quietly come through the tournament and they tied on points with All Saints, but the All Saints' squad of Astrid Reynolds, Polly Mennell, Lindsey Hoyle, Fran McCormick, Sophie Addision (capt), Natasha Gell and Natalie Jackson took the trophy on goal difference.

Joseph Rowntree, who had earlier beaten Fulford 5-4, Millthorpe 4-1, Lowfield 14-1, The Mount 10-2, St Olave's 10-2, Queen Margaret's 11-3, Manor 10-1 and Huntington 7-4 finished third.

The 'B' tournament was won by St Olave's on goal difference from Joseph Rowntree whose squad comprised Nicola Paget (capt), Rachel Caffrey, Charlotte Wiffin, Lidia Nicholson, Jessica Dixon, Natalie Starr, Charlotte Green, Melissa Wheatley and Laura Lockwood.

The All Saints 'B' team took part in the 'B' tournament which was won by St Olave's and All Saints finished fifth, their 'B' team was: Emily Brenchley, Andrea Jackson, Leah Ward, Terri Harper, Debbie Mahon, Bridie Wray, Jessica Duxbury, Rebecca Shaw.

Joseph Rowntre, the regional Under 13s champions, did retain their Sherburn Festival Trophy beating All Saints 9-5 in the final.

The clocked up wins against Barlby 12-0, Fulford 7-4, Millthorpe 15-1 before thumping host school Sherburn 13-0 to et up another meeting with All Saints.

Details of the Inter Area Netball tournament at Joseph Rowntree should be published in next week's School Sport.

FOOTBALL

THE York Primary Schools season has been extended to Saturday, April 13, because of the large number of matches that have had to be postponed because of the recent bad weather.

The Primary leagues will be decided by results received by 9pm on Saturday, April 13.

The six league winners will play off in a league tournament to decide the overall champions in Saturday, April 27, at a venue to be decided.

York City Boys Under 11s are at home to Scarborough in the Yorkshire Cup on Saturday.

York U11s from: Lewis Graham (Bishopthorpe), Scott Pallister (Clifton Without), Matthew Tasker, Tom Corner (both St Aelred's), Craig Smith (Woodthorpe), Brad Swainston (Dunnington), Charles Woodhead, Tom Lendhill, Tom Wilson (all Riverside), Chris Green (Copmanthorpe), Danny Tuite, Ian Astle (both Carr Junior), Rob Whitehead (Lakeside), Danny Snaith (Dringhouses), Simon Brown (Headlands), Joe Lister (Appleton Roebuck). Meet at the Wigginton Sports Club at 9.45am for a 10.30am kick-off.

There will be a presentation evening at Melodies, near Bumper Castle, on Friday (7.30pm) for all the City Boys players from age 11 to 15.

RUGBY UNION

HOSTS Terrington Hall beat St Olaves, York, 19-7 in the final of the Tate-Smith Under 13 Rugby Union Sevens in a tournament which attracted 24 prep and secondary teams from schools as far afield as Scotland, Shropshire and Lincolnshire.

The event, sponsored by The Crown and Cushion, Welburn, saw Terrington dispose of Barnard Castle 17-5 in the semi-final and hopes are now high for the Ryedale youngsters as they head for the English National Championships, a title won two years ago by St Olaves, later this month.

The first-ever assessment of girl rugby union players in the Active Sports proramme in North Yorkshire took place at Ripon Grammar School.

Fifty-six girls, aged between 12 and 15, attended the first session and another is planned for Sunday, April 7.

The idea is that coaches, who include Colin Clarke, Phillipa Whitworth (York), Helen Cooper (Selby) and Pip Timmins (Ryedale), will identify players for a development squad to attend a Regional Talent Camp in Sheffield in June.

The multi-sports training camp is being funded by Sport England and is for the top performers from Yorkshire across ten sports, including rugby union.

Updated: 10:37 Wednesday, March 13, 2002