Beagles show their head of the class at England Schools

Karl Johnson won a silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the England Schools' event (Image: © Claire Jones)

Newham & Essex Beagles showed their star quality at the weekend as they collected a gold and two silver medals at the English Schools’ Championships in Birmingham.

Perhaps the best display of the weekend though came from young sprinter Aleeya Sibbons.

The youngster increased her personal best in all three rounds of the under-15 100 metres and grabbed a glorious gold.

In the final she clocked an excellent 12.12 seconds for victory.

Katie Head was fifth in the hammer (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Sibbons, is coached by Coral Nourrice at the Beagles, the same coach that has guided Finette Agyapong to the top in the last few years.

So what does Coral make of her new young charge in Sibbons?

“She is very talented,” said Norrice. “She was injured running indoors in March, but she has come through her rehabilitation and she has really come good in the last few weeks.

“I have only had her with me for a year, but she has really progressed and she is very dedicated in her training.”

Aleeya, who lives in Barking & Dagenham and goes to Eastbury School, will now look to the National Championships in August, where Coral hopes that she can find her best form.

“I don’t like making predictions and I don’t know what the other girls are like, but she has a chance of doing very well,” she said.

There were super silver medals for Karl Johnson in the 400m hurdles and William Adeyeye in the under-17 long jump.

Johnson grabbed a PB in his heat at under-17 level, finishing second in 54.48 seconds, while in the final he lowered that still further to 53.36 for silver.

Adeyeye was also in PB form. His best effort of 7.13 metres was just three millimetres away from the winner.

Also in action at the championships in Birmingham was Dolita Shaw who was sixth in the final of the under-17 200m after clocking 25.39.

Daniel Mees was seventh in the final of the under-20 800m, while Joel Pascalie-Menzie managed a PB of 11.61 in the 80m hurdles heat, before being disqualifed in the final.

Katie Head is slowly returning to form after injury and she won her qualifying pool, before finishing fifth in the final of the hammer.

Mayowa Osunsami was sixth in the under-20 sprint hurdles, with Emmanuel Oke 15th in the under-15 triple jump, Jerome Henry, 12th in the under-15 shot and Blessing Joshua 20th in the under-17 shot.