Sussex under-15s boys and girls teams have qualified for the national sports hall finals in Birmingham this month after winning South East titles at Portsmouth.

The girls' total of 640 points was 60 clear of a strong Hampshire squad.

Claire Palmer (Crawley) was outstanding. She was second in an all-rounder event with 137, one ahead of Meghan Waldron (Horsham) in third.

She won the shot putt with 9.26m and shared top spot in the vertical jump (.56m), while Meghan sprinted to victory in the four-lap sprint.

Lucy Ramsay (Brighton and Hove) finished second in the standing long jump (2.33m) just one centimetre behind the winner, while the Sussex team won the eight-lap Paarlauf and were third in the relay.

Helen Morton (Horsham) was eighth overall and Lucy ninth.

The boys were 75 points clear of the Isle of Wight.

James Taylor (Horsham) finished third in the all-rounder competition.

He claimed the standing long jump (2.57m) and was second in the four-lap sprint (45.4sec). Craig Cox (Crawley) and Sam Parsons (Brighton and Hove) finished third in the two-lap and four-lap sprints respectively.

At under-13s, Matthew Ansell (Chichester) made sure of his place for Birmingham after winning the shot putt (13.94m) by more than two metres from Aaron De'Ath (IoW). Sussex were second to the Isle of Wight.

Danielle Christmas (Crawley) has qualified in the four-lap sprint (lmin.18sec) with Katie Evans (Chichester), who won the high jump (1.43m). The team was third.