SOUTHEND High School for Girls clinched their 19th National Athletics Track and Field Cup title thanks to a host of impressive performances from their intermediate team.

Going into the National Schools Track and Field Cup final, the intermediate girls had the highest points score from the regional rounds and the junior team were in second place on their regional points.

And the intermediate team held off the threat of the Upminster-based Coopers’ Company and Coborn School to be crowned champions and leave Sue Simpson, the school’s head of PE, delighted.

Simpson said: “It is an incredible achievement to have won a 19th title.

“The girls never cease to amaze me with their dedication to training and the mature way in which they approach every competition. They are a credit to us all.”

In the junior team category, Southend High School for Girls and Coopers’ Company and Coborn School were once again the leading contenders for top honours.

Going for victory, the junior girls put everything into the competition.

And all of the Southend High School for Girls representatives matched or exceeded their target times and distances.

But a superb team of junior girls from Coopers’ Company and Coborn School did enough to secure top spot, leaving Southend High School for Girls to settle for the runners-up slot.

Four of those competing in the National School Track and Field Cup final, which was held in Oxford, had returned to the country only a few days earlier after competing in the World Schools Athletics Championships, in Nancy, France.

Southend High School for Girls secured seventh place for Great Britain in the competition.

The school took part in the competition for the fourth time and it was an ideal opportunity for the pupils to show their capabilities on a world stage.

And although Australia were crowned the winners of the World Schools Athletics Championships, Southend High School for Girls represented their country well as they finished in seventh place.

And a host of impressive performances were put in at the competition.

Abena Oteng won the 200m, by not only registering a personal best time but also a national standard time of 25.28 seconds.

The superb time was enough to lift the Southend High School for Girls pupil into 27th place in the under-17 national rankings and the youngster received her gold medal from London 2012 pole vault Olympic champion Renauld Lavillenie.

Eleanore Butt threw 36.81metres in the javelin, which allowed her to return home with a bronze medal after finishing in third place.

Meanwhile, Beth Ashley achieved a personal best in the 800m as she took top spot with a time of two minutes and 24.64 seconds.

The various podium finishes allowed the team to score 100 points more than in Southend High School for Girls’ last outing at the World Schools Athletics Championships, which came in the 2015 event in China.