Carmel five selected to represent their county (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Carmel five selected to represent their county

3:57pm Friday 1st March 2013 in Sport

FIVE runners from the same collegehavebeenselectedto represent County Durham.

The students from Carmel College, in Darlington, will take part in the English Schools Cross Country Championships, in Derbyshire.

Selections were made following the Inter-County Championships at Guisborough where Durham won the boys, girls and the overall trophy.

Katie Noble, Jess Hull and Mikayla Jordens will compete for the junior girls, Bradley Davies for the junior boys and Dean Newton, for the senior boys.

All five had already qualified in the top 16 from the County Championships, involving students from County Durham and Darlington.

But at the Inter County Championships three of them improved their position in the county.

Katie Noble who finished third atCounty levelfinished seventh at the Inter County Championships, coming home as second Durham finisher.

Jess Hull, who was eighth at the County Championships, was eighth again at the Inter County meeting, but the third finisher from Durham.

While Dean Newton was third in the County Championships, he repeated this at Guisborough, where he was the first Durham competitor home.

Mikayla Jordens and Bradley Davies finished 17th and 19th in their respective Inter County events.

“I am so very proud of them all,” said Simon Hannaford, curriculum leader for PE at Carmel College.

“I am sure they will all run very well in the Nationals.

“Every year we do fantastic in cross country and to get five in is just unbelievable.”

One such success story is former Carmel College student Nicole Burlinson who is currently on a full athletics scholarship at Ursuline University, in Ohio.

In her first six months in the US, Burlinson has already set five college records;one inthe400mand another as part of the distance medley relay quartet. This led to her being named the university’s athlete of the month for February.