Daniel’s golden show as school is crowned

Andrew Bargh

A Coatbridge school has emphatically won the 2016 North Lanarkshire Schools Athletics Championships.

St Andrew’s High School romped home to their ninth title in a row, beating nearest rivals St Maurice’s High School, from Cumbernauld, by a mammoth 42 points.

A record haul of 23 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze medals were won by the St Andrew’s athletes, with one participant in particular standing out from the crowd.

Daniel Potts was awarded the Championship Performance of the Year after he turned in a record- breaking display at Wishaw sports centre.

The fifth year pupil won three gold medals – in the high jump, 400 metres and 4x100 metre relay.

And as if winning wasn’t enough, he also set new Championship records by jumping 1.87 metres in the high jump and setting a quicker time as part of the relay team.

Daniel also narrowly missed out on breaking the 400 metre record by a 10th of a second.

Nearly all of the Monklands high schools participated in the games, with St Ambrose finishing in sixth, collecting eight golds, three silvers and five bronze.

St Margaret’s and Caldervale won two gold medals each, with St Margaret’s placing three places higher in 12th thanks to four silver and bronze medals in comparison to Caldervales three and two respectively,

Airdrie High and Coatbridge High tied in 20th without collecting any golds but both collected one silver and two bronze medals each.

080616athletics_08 On the right track Wishaw Sports Centre was the venue for these runners and the North Lanarkshire Schools Championships

080616athletics_07 Need for speed Runners before their 200-metre race

080616athletics_10 Smiles St Andrew’s High pupil Lana Carey won the S3 girls 300m

Double delight Daniel Potts proudly shows off his medal haul