Southampton AC are closing in on joining the elite clubs of southern England.

Their U13 & U15 young athletes put in a magnificent performance to win the third league match of their Youth Development League lower age group campaign. That puts them second in their Premier 2 league and on the verge of promotion to Premier 1 and among the top six clubs in the south.

Southampton took full advantage of a home fixture at a wet Sports Centre to win a tight contest by just 5.5 points from leaders Herne Hill.

Southampton’s under-15 boys’ team did not let rain and wind stop them giving a sterling performance.

Andrew Douglas (3.40m) won the A stream pole vault, and Kieran Apps the B stream, the latter adding another 10cm onto his PB which is now 2.20m.

Ben Upfold also gained a new PB in discus with a throw of 23.77m, winning the B stream, while Eddie Jenkinson won both discus and javelin.

The final new PB of the day was gained by Reiss Jarvis in high jump (1.45m) and joint third in the A stream.

Joshua Nash won the B stream high jump, A stream shot put and A stream hammer.

Luke Powell, recently back from injury, won the 1,500m in 4.34.2m, just short of his PB of 4.33.8min.

Patrick Whelan, in his second competition for the club, won the B stream 1500m.

The 4x100m team of Sam Bridges, Sam Jones, Lynden Olowe and John Ingram were third in 49.9s, setting the fastest time this year for the club.

Saving the best to last, the 4x300m relay team of Eddie Jenkinson, Ben Upfold, Sam Gray and Reiss Jarvis came second in 2.49.7min, just 0.4s behind the winners.

The U13 girls all gave 100 per cent effort.

PBs were few and far between with the girls running into the wind in the home straight, but Jade Clements was second in both the 150m and 75m for the A string.

Georgia O’Dell won her B string 75m, and was second in the 150m for the B string. Grace Kelly was third in the hurdles, with Elli-Rose Francis fourth.

800m pair Freya Coe and Machaela Strickland (U12) were fourth in the A and B string races.

Poppy Wright (U12, 4.20.6) and Grace Reavey (4.22.5) gained third in the 1200m A string and second in the B string respectively, both in PB times.

In the long jump, Georgia O’Dell managed third in the A string and Grace Kelly second in the B string. In the high jump, both Izzy McCormac and Amaya Scott managed superb pbs of 1.30m, with Izzy finishing third in the A string and Amaya winning the B string.

In the javelin, both Grace Kelly and Samantha Callaway (U12) won, with Grace achieving a pb into the wind of 27.48m.

Amaya Scott and Ariela Richardson threw the shot 1cm apart, with 6.90 and 6.89 respectively to come third and second in the A and B string.

The last league match takes place at the Sutton Arena in Carshalton on July 13, Southampton hoping it will be a promotion party.

Results 1st Southampton AC 447.5 points 2nd Herne Hill Harriers 442 points 3rd Croydon Harriers 413.5 points 4th Team Dorset 413 points 5th Winchester & District AC 312 points.