MEDALS aplenty returned to Merseyside from the Northern Under-15 and Under-17 Championships over the weekend.
The regions athletic youngsters travelled to Cudworth, Yorkshire to compete against the best offering rival northern clubs could serve up and Michael Tapa lead from the front as he picked up medals in both 100m and 200m sprint competition.
Tapa regularly doubles up over the distances and on this occasion, he picked up bronze over 200 and the coveted U17s northern title over 100m in 11.33 seconds. Tapa holding off Sale Harriers athlete Callum Roughneen by just two hundredths of a second to land U17s honours despite being only 15 years of age.
Merseyside’s other track gold came at the opposite end of the distance spectrum as Warrington athlete Matthew Shirling produced a 3:57.92 run to win U17s 1500m gold by a full ten seconds from Tom Bains of Hallamshire.
Further, if somewhat expected gold was delivered by Liverpool Pembroke & Sefton’s Amelia McLaughlin as the UK number one in the U15s high-jump category exuded her dominance to win by ten centimetres with a 1.65m leap. Aylish Mackenzie of Liverpool Harriers would once again finish second to McLaughlin with a 1.55m effort.
In other jumping action, Ashley Kirsopp of Warrington AC comfortably won the U15s Northern long-jump title with a 6.06m leap. The PB effort now ranks her 13th in the UK for her age group.
Elsewhere at the event, Justin White picked up U15s silver in the 100m and Matthew Campbell of Southport & Waterloo picked up bronze over 400m in the same age group.
