THE FIRST National Junior League matches of the season took place at a windy and wet Down Grange track but excellent performances by many of the Basingstoke athletes saw the host club win both their matches.

The 22 under-20 and under-17 teams from across the South-East were divided into two divisions with a womens and men's section in each.

In the womens events, Zoe Hillyard set the scene by winning the A-string 400 metres hurdles, B-string high jump and the 100m hurdles.

Bryony Crompton followed with a win in the B-string 400m hurdles and 400m and a second place in the 1500m.

Donna Swatheridge won the discus, throwing 32.30m, and had good placings in the shot, javelin and in her first hammer competition.

Lisa Mullholland jumped a personal best 5.15m to win the long jump, followed by another first placing in the triple jump, with 10.55m.

In the men's match, Stuart Semple won the A-string shot with a throw of 12.33m, further than the man-of-the-match best performance of the other mens' match.

He then went on to win the B-string discus, being beaten only by Basingstoke's Robert Jukes with his throw of 38.94m in the A-string, and then went on to win the B-string hammer, being beaten by Basingstoke's Robert Louge in his first competition for the club.

On the track, David Ragan won the B-string 400m hurdles and the 2,000m steeplechase. Robert Tobin won the 100m in 10.9sec, the second fastest time by a junior athlete in the country this year to win the man-of-the-match award. He followed up with an easy win in the 200m.

Other individual winners were James Harvey in the B-string 800m, Steve Quinn in the B-string 1500m, Tom Bolton in the B-string 2,000m steeplechase and Tom Graham in the B-string high jump. The 4x400m relay ran a swift 3min 31.2sec on a flooded track at the end of the afternoon.

Men's points: Basingstoke & Mid Hants 232, Havant 208, Woking 187, Brighton and Hove 146, City of Portsmouth 96, Guildford and Godalming 61.

Womens points: Basingstoke & Mid Hants 147, Woking 122, City of Portsmouth 112, Guildford and Godalming 67.