ILKLEY Grammar School’s Year Eight girls and Year Seven boys’ teams have both qualified for the West Yorkshire School Games’ secondary school sportshall athletics finals.

Both came through the qualifier at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre, Ilkley’s Year Eight girls dominating their track events, showing great physical strength, plus impressive speed and relay changeovers to win many races and initially top the leaderboard.

However, despite victories in the standing triple jump (Rachel Scott and Bethan Morley), shot putt (Ella Shouler-Harris and Emily Dover) and the speed bounce (Lauren Jackson and Emily Field), the Ilkley team were pipped to first place at the final hurdle by Beckfoot School.

However, second place was enough to secure a place in the finals on Wednesday, March 4 at North Bridge Leisure Centre in Halifax.

Rising star Emily Dover said: “It was a great team effort to get us into a strong position going into the field events”, while team-mate Elise Crabtree added: “The team are still very happy with second place and we will raise our game in the next round.”

The Year Seven boys were also outstanding in track and field, with Asa Stevenson-Lowe winning the vertical jump, Reuben Foster the standing triple jump and Tom Jackson the speed bounce, with runners-up placings going to Harry Rayner and James Patchett (shot putt) and Harry Constantine (standing long jump).

Stevenson-Lowe also stormed home with seconds to spare on the final leg of the 4x2 lap relay to complete what looked an effortless team effort but again the school had to be content with second place overall to secure their places for the West Yorkshire finals.