Hercules Wimbledon teenager Liam White ran one of the best races of his blossoming athletics career to take a bronze medal in the English schools track and field championships at Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, on Saturday.

White, 16, was less than two seconds behind the gold medallist in a sprint for the line in the intermediate boys 1500m final in which he clocked 4 minutes 2.96 seconds.

The Hercules Wimbledon runner qualified for the final by finishing second in his heat on Friday in 4:08.56.

He was one of several key athletes missing from the team which was in action at Woking on Saturday in the fifth of this season's Southern Men's League matches.

Some of the substitutes performed beyond expectation and in a tight battle for the places the Hercules Wimbledon squad finished a close third to retain their third overall place in the 25 team Division One table.

All-rounder Ove Lindekleiv proved invaluable to the team effort competing in six individual events, winning the high jump with 1,90m and taking second place in the pole vault (3.60m), shot (14.91m) and discus (41.78m) and third in the javelin (50.67m) and high hurdles (15.7) where he went sprawling as he lunged for the finishing line in a bid to get second place.

Lance Power was another to perform above expectation taking second spot in the 400m hurdles in his first race over the distance for more than a decade and sprinting past two of his rivals in the final 20m. Power was also second in the steeplechase B race and third in the 400m B race.

In a tough match winners were hard to come by but brothers Nnamdi and Chima Odum were first and second in the triple jump A and B competitions with Nnamdi producing a season's best of 13.69m and veteran Royden John won the long jump with 6.63m and was third in the 100m B and high jump B.

Justin Miller was second in the javelin B, Richard`Xerri amd Mike Halman second in the 5000m A and B races, Dominic Getting second in the pole vault B with a season's best of 3m and Mel Mitchell second in the 200m B race.

Chima Odum and John Brown were third in the shot and discus B, Richard Vanderpuije third in the 800m, Steve Hadley third in the sprint hurdles B race and Rory McMahon third in the 3000m steeplechase A race.

Match result: 1 City of Portsmouth 130; 2 Newham and Essex Beagles 114; 3 Hercules Wimbledon 111; 4 Kent AC 108; 5 Woking 62.

Leading Division One standings after five matches: 1 City of Portsmouth 24 (645 match points); 2 Victoria Park and Tower Hamlets 24 (640); 3 Hercules Wimbledon 22 (596.5); 4 Nene Valley 21 (606.5); 5 Reading 21 (586.5); 6 Enfield and Haringey 18 (580.5).

James Trapmore was Hercules Wimbledon's only winner in the fifth of this season's Rosenheim League East Division matches at Tooting Bec last Wednesday evening.

He won the 800m in 2:00.8 and was also second in both the 1500 and 3000m in 4:11.3 and 9:09.3, before running the second leg of the 4x200m relay team which finished second.

Other members of the quartet were Richard Vanderpuije, Chima Odum and Geordie Logan.

Vanderpuije also won the non-scoring 800m race in 2:05.1. Nnamdi Odum was second in the triple jump with 13.02m and Justin Miller third in the javelin with 42.29m.

Match result: 1 Belgrave 73; 2 Herne Hill 64; 3 Hercules Wimbledon 49; 4 Serpentine 41; 5 Croydon Harriers 40; 6 Striders of Croydopn 27; 7 South London Harriers 22.

Standings after five matches: 1 Belgrave 33; 2 Herne Hill 29.5; 3 Hercules Wimbledon 21; 4 Serpentine 20; 5 Croydon Harriers 18.5; 6 Striders of Croydon 12.5; 7 South London Harriers 5.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon's youngsters are in action in their fourth National Young Athletes match of the season at Sutton Arena on Sunday starting at 11.45am. Next Wednesday, Hercules Wimbledon's seniors are in action in their final Rosenheim League East Division match at Battersea Park starting at 6.45pm.