AMAYA Scott was agonisingly short of a championship best at the Hampshire Schools’ Track & Field Championships in Portsmouth.

But the 14-year-old Mountbatten School pupil from Romsey was chuffed to clear an impressive 1.70 metres in the junior girls’ high jump which almost certainly books her a trip to Gateshead next month (July 10/11) to represent the county at the 85th English Schools’ Championships.

Going into the event’s closing stages at the Mountbatten Centre, Scott and her Eastleigh & Winchester teammate Tallulah Jeffes were the last girls standing.

Jeffes eventually bowed out on 1.57 to claim the silver medal, while Scott – daughter of former Solent Stars basketball ace, Mark – went on to clear 1.66m at the third attempt before scaling 1.70 at the second time of asking.

Not only was it a personal best, but it broke the Southampton AC club record held by Emma Cowell and took her joint top of the UK under-15 rankings.

It was just two centimetres short of the championship best of 1.72 set by Basingstoke’s Kierra Barker three years ago.

A talented all-rounder, Scott was crowned under-15 girls’ queen at the Hampshire AA Multi-Events Championship at the beginning of May.

She totted up 3,035 points that day, more than 400 clear of her nearest rival, thanks to solid performances in the long jump (4.96), 75m hurdles (12.2), shot put (10.03), high jump (1.57) and 800m (2.37.4).

That sets her up nicely for the regional pentathlon championships in Reading at the end of the month.

Scott was not the only Southampton AC club member to up her game in pursuit of a junior girls’ title at Portsmouth.

The throwers were in fine fettle with Samantha Callaway (Andover Schools) improving her personal best to win the discus with 33.64, Grace Kelly (Gosport & Fareham Schools) extending her javelin best to a golden 34.20, and Ariela Richardson (Isle of Wight Schools) breaking new ground with 36.61 in the hammer.

Ellie Hodgson, winner of junior girls’ shot silver at last summer’s English Schools, is now gunning for glory in the intermediate category.

The Wildern School pupil claimed two Hampshire golds in Eastleigh & Winchester colours, topping the shot with 13.38 and holding off Aldershot’s Grace Jacobs to win the 100m in 12.2 – both personal bests.

The intermediate girls’ long jump was a triumph for Andover Schools’ UK No1 Holly Mills who didn’t just break the championship best, she smashed it to smithereens.

Mills’ winning leap of 6.21 bettered her personal best by just one centimetre, but was an enormous 46 centimetres clear of the previous Hampshire Schools’ best set by A. Tipton in 1983. It also outstripped the senior girls’ CBP of 5.82 set by a certain Kelly Sotherton in 1995.

Mills, a student at The Clere, won English Schools’ junior girls’ gold last year with a leap of 5.76 and will be one to watch at Gateshead.