Croydon Harriers' U20s team made a solid start to their National Junior League campaign with a respectable sixth place out of nine at Ashford on Sunday.

Talented and improving Tom Crawford shone in the pole vault, trouncing the opposition with a lifetime best clearance of 4.40m and winning the athlete of the match award in the process.

He made it dramatic for the nervous onlookers though as he cleared 4.20m and 4.40m with his final clearance, before bowing out at 4.50m.

Sprinter James Dassaolu continued his fine form with an emphatic pair of victories in the 100m in 10.7sec and 200m in 22.5sec, both personal bests. He also anchored the 4x100m relay team superbly to haul the Harriers back from third to first in 44.8sec.

Darren Wollen provided some good support with a B string sprint double in 11.5sec and 23.7sec, while Kayleigh Ferguson chipped in elegantly to win the 100m hurdles by almost two flights.

Versatile George Thatcher had a good afternoon with his second sub two minute 800m run (1:59.8) in second place, a strong fourth in the 1,500m in 4:25.0 and a high jump fourth at 1.75m for a personal best. He rounded off his contribution with the fastest Croydon leg of 50.4sec to bring the team through to fourth in 3:40.7.

There were also a number of encouraging team and event debuts. One of the bravest came from Ashley George in his first foray over the 400m hurdles. Despite a fall and hitting several of the barriers, he came home gamely for three valuable points in 76.4sec.

Meanwhile, another Harrier Martyn Rooney made his Loughborough debut in the Universities Championships at Birmingham recently.

He ran 45.6 seconds as anchor in the 4x400m heats, bringing his team home as champions by a seven second margin over their nearest rivals in 3:10.7.

l Trinity School athletes experienced mixed fortunes last Thursday on their annual visit to the Iffley Road Stadium, Oxford.

The six-strong sprint squad returned with one prestigious title and finished third in their other event.

They qualified comfortably in second spot in their 4x100m heat in 46.5sec, and went one better in the final to win the handsome Sandy Duncan trophy with the time of 45.5sec, over two seconds clear of runners-up Haberdashers. The triumphant quartet was Heaven-Lee Roach, Kevin Boakye, Omar Dixon and Anthony Chatay.

But Trinity were out of luck in the 4x200m where they finished in third place.