CHRIS Thompson seized the opportunity to impress the selectors for the World Cross-Country Championships by finishing second in the UK four-kilometre championship at Brighton on Saturday.
While Aldershot, Farnham & District colleague Ed Jackson, the silver medallist at the previous weekend's AAA indoor championships over 1,500 metres, set some of the early pace, Thompson made a cautious start.
He worked his way through the field and hit the front in the closing stages, but Stockport's Steve Vernon counter-attacked for victory, with Thompson recording the same time.
The event was included on the programme of the English Schools Championships where AFD had three runners who made the squad for the home countries international.
Laurence Cox, last year's junior champion, survived a bad patch in the middle of the intermediate boys' contest, fighting back for fourth. He just missed out on a team medal as well because Hampshire came fourth, despite providing the individual winner (Portsmouth's Ben Harding) and two more athletes in the top 30 (Chris Friend and James Whittington, both of AFD).
Competing for Surrey, Leonie Smith was sixth in the intermediate girls' race where Hannah Jones (capitalising on a good start to place 15th), India Lee, Laura Tanner and Charlotte Aberdeen formed two thirds of the Hampshire side that claimed the bronze medals.
Stephanie Twell gained her place in the England team by taking eighth in the junior girls' competition.
Hampshire's win in the senior boys' contest was by far the biggest of the day. James Ellis, Rob McCarthy, Karl McCulloch and David Bruce were part of a sextet that triumphed by over 200 points.
A Surrey team that included Daniel Sheppard, Greg Smith, Julian Anderson and Josh Arnold came third in the junior boys' event.