GOSPORT & Fareham's up-and-coming middle distance prospect Rebecca Gough has athletics in her genes.

Her mum, Lorna, was a champion heptathlete in the Navy and her dad, Steve - better known as 'Ginge' - was a quality marathon runner, also from a Navy background, who finished fourth in New York.

The 14-year-old Crofton schoolgirl from Stubbington is certainly a chip off the old block.

Having set personal bests in both the 800m (2.17.57) and the 1,500m (4.48.4) this season, the youngster came good again on Saturday to take the Hampshire Schools' junior girls' 1,500m title in 4.49.0, ahead of her Southampton City AC clubmate Louise Webb (4.51.5).

Gough, who is jointly coached by Penny Forse in Stubbington and Alan O'Dell in Southampton, has made giant strides since finishing tenth in her 1,500m heat in last year's English Schools' Championships in 4.57.4.

This year she could well opt for the two-lap discipline at the English Schools and she will be aiming to convince the selectors of her 800m potential this Saturday when Hampshire travel to Ashford, Kent for an inter-counties meeting against Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Gough's elder sister has also caught the athletics bug. The 16-year-old hurdler won the intermediate girls' 80m title on Saturday (12.8) and came third over 300m in 49 seconds.

Two of last year's English Schools' silver medallists are in the mood to step on to the podium again in 2004.

Ryde High's Kim Murray from the Isle of Wight finished runner-up in the junior girls' long jump in Sheffield last year and is now itching to make her mark in the intermediate category.

Saturday's winning leap of 5.49 was 14 centimetres inside the English Schools' qualifying distance and earned her the judge's vote as the day's outstanding jumps competitor, picking up the Mary Batson Trophy.

Fellow Sheffield silver medallist Susie Hignett was awarded the Mary Watkin Trophy as the best endurance runner.

The Ringwood School student from Burley won the senior girls' 800m in 2.15.8, but saved her piece de resistance for the 1,500m. Pushed all the way by Clare Kiely of the Isle of Wight, Hignett motored to a Championship best of 4.35.5.

Another Hampshire Schools' record went crashing in the intermediate boys' 1,500m where Aldershot's Laurence Cox romped to 4.02.0 glory, wiping out Stuart Poore's 1989 mark of 4.03.5.

Both Eastleigh & Winchester's Anna Newton and Portsmouth's Charlotte Walden-Day managed English Schools' qualifying heights in the junior girls' long jump. Newton, of Henry Beaufort School, struck gold with a 1.58 clearance - three centimetres higher than she managed when finishing 12th in last year's Sheffield final.

Noadswood School's Hayley Pointer (New Forest) celebrated her first Hampshire Schools' title in the intermediate girls' 3,000m, clocking 10.31.0.