Southend's Sarah Wilhelmy may have secured her sprint relay berth for the Sydney Olympics but she is still trying to qualify for the 200m.

Sarah was named in the British 4x100m team for the games on Tuesday and now has race plans in hand in order to crack the 23.2 Olympic 200m qualifying time.

The Southend AC member produced one of the best runs of her career at the national championship and Olympic qualifiers in Birmingham.

Her 23.39 was a tenth quicker than second-placed Sam Davis but outside the Olympic qualifying time.

Sarah's personal best is 23.23 and she now has until Monday to hit 23.2.

Southend's other champion in Birmingham was pole-vaulter Kevin Hughes from Rochford, who has been named in the British squad.

The 27-year-old won the event with a 5.50m vault but his Olympic qualifying clearance of 5.60m was ruled out after complaints of Volzing - a technique where the competitor steadies the bar with his hand as he goes over it.

But Hughes had already set a 5.61m personal best last year which was enough to secure his Olympic place.

Dave Condon came fifth in the shot putt in the Midlands with the fifth being his best attempt.

The Southend ACmember recorded 17.03m which equalled the best of the athlete who came fourth.

However, his second best attempt was better than Dave's.

Lara Carty brushed aside her nerves to record a new personal best on her international debut on the continent.

The 16-year-old heptathlete was competing against older athletes from France, Switzerland and Germany in an under-20 international at Val de Reuil, northern France.

But she overcame her inexperience to finish in 10th spot - and was delighted to increase her pb to 4,548 points after setting new best marks in the javelin and hurdles.

"I'm very pleased to have set a personal best because the team managers told me most athletes score lower than normal on their debuts due to nerves," said Lara, who lives in Pitsea and competes for Basildon Athletics Club.

"But it was interesting to see how the other athletes performed and I now have three years to get up to their standard."

Lara is now targeting the English Schools multi-event at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium on September 16 and 17.

Relegated Southend AC gave a clear indication of their true strength when they hosted the 5th of 6th matches in the Southern Women's League Division Three.

The Garon Park outfit finished the match in second place behind promoted Highgate Harriers, but beat the other soon-to-be-elevated club, Cambridge Harriers, thanks to some excellent individual performances.

Leading from the front was Charlotte Cutler, who scattered the field in both the 400m and 800m with a bold exhibition of front-running. Her times of 60.2 and 2m 15s were frustratingly close to her all-time bests.

The 1500m duo of Kristina Marshall and Sarah Jeffrey went one better than Charlotte and set new personal bests in their event, clocking 5m 12.4s and 5m 25.5s in claiming the top two places.

Frances Weaver also produced a pb in the javelin (19.56 metres) and Selena Fox did likewise in the shot putt with a distance of 6.65m.

Kristina and Selena added to their points haul with 2nd and 1st places respectively in a very competitive long jump competition.

The run of personal records was continued by Sarah Raven, a former under-15 national cross-country champion, who set a lifetime mark of 2.25 in winning the pole vault.

Just for good measure, versatile Sarah then confirmed her return to form in the 1500m with a time of 4m 57.5s, before scooping the 'B' javelin to round off her day.

Under-17 twins Melanie and Fiona Jacobs enjoyed another successful day when pairing up to win the 80m hurdles A and B event, Melanie setting a new mark of 12.3s.

Melanie later joined Danielle Hassell in winning the B and A high jump respectively, both recording leaps of 1.58m.

Junior athlete Patricia McMahon moved into third place in the 200m club rankings behind two seniors after a run of 27.5s. She was also 2nd in the 100m.

Nikki Corless was second in the javelin and won the 800m B event, , while Sam Daly was second in the A 800m and 2nd in the 75m hurdles.

New juniors Hannah West and Frances Weaver were 1st and 3rd in the high jump, and another new face, senior Joanne Reynolds, claimed two encouraging thirds in the javelin and hammer.

Veteran Val Player was kept busy all afternoon and threw 18.89m in the hammer and came second in both the B triple jump and pole vault.

Basildon AC runner Kim Wall is setting her sights on the world junior championships after scooping two golds on England duty.

Kim, 17, triumphed in the individual 400m and the 4x400m relay at the Millennium Commonwealth Youth Games in Edinburgh, where she set a new personal best of 54.46secs for her event.

In the process, she helped England to win the overall title against teams from the home countries, South Africa and Australia.

Now she is hoping to shave further precious seconds off her time and qualify for the world event in Santiago, Chile, in October.

The trials are in Bedford on the Bank Holiday weekend and Kim says her win in Scotland, achieved in the freezing cold and rain, has boosted her confidence of beating the qualifying time of 53.74.

"I was really pleased because I beat Eline Hugo, a barefoot runner from South Africa, who set a time of 53.9 earlier this year," said Kim, a pupil at William De Ferrers school, South Woodham Ferrers.

Southend Swimming Club's Nathalie Brown added to her growing reputation with silver medals in the 400m and 800m freestyle at the Millennium Commonwealth Games.

Lisa Chapman also scooped a silver in the 50m freestyle, while fencer Andrew Beevers came second in the individual foil.

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