THE middle distance strength of Southampton City's under-17 women was one of the mainstays of their opening National Young Athletes' League fixture at Southampton Sports Centre.

Although the club had to settle for fourth and last place on the day, there were some strong individual performances - not least from Sasha Mucci, who won the 800 metres and was runner-up to Lucy Bowers over 1,500m, securing an A/B double.

Another Bowers-Mucci partnership did well over 3,000m with Jodie Bowers crossing the line first ahead of teammate Domi Mucci.

At under-13 girls' level, Laura Coxhead showed her grit by holding off a tough challenge to win the 1,200m, while Kelly Porter pulled off an 800/150m double. Kathryn Webb won her first shot event of the season and there were personal bests all round for the under-15 trio of Michelle Hallett (high jump), Rebecca Gough (800m) and Louise Webb (1,500m).

Under-13 boys Ben McKeever and Alistair Ingram put in excellent performances in the 100m and long jump, while the Whelan brothers - Joe and George - had strong runs in the 200m and 1,500m.

New recruits Ben Stupple and Daryl Burkes performed well for the under-15 boys along with Andy Guidi, who won the pole vault with a superb 2.20m clearance.

Rob Dunn cleared a personal best 1.70 in the under-17 men's high jump.

Match result: Chichester 385, Brighton 379, Poole 360,Southampton 273.