ON a wet, windy and cold day Kelly College came away from the biathlon qualifier at Millfield School, Somerset, with six qualifiers for the 34th British Modern Biathlon Championships to be held on November 16/17 at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre and Concord Sports Centre, Sheffield.

In the youth E boys Kelly had a complete sweep with Joe Clark, Matthew Langman and Oliver Lake coming first, second and third. Joe and Oliver are still only nine and are too young to qualify for the nationals, but Matthew Langman will be representing Kelly next month at the nationals.

In the same age group Peter Meachin came fifth and Thomas Hayes seventh. Joe, Oliver and Peter came first in the team event for this age group.

Matthew Henry won the youth D boys? group and was one of only two boys on the day to receive a Gold Biathlon Achievement for gaining more than 2,100 points overall.

Matthew won the swim and came third in the run. Joshua Lake came ninth and Adam John 11th, the three of them making up a team which came second. Matthew qualifies for the nationals as an individual but the team also qualifies.

Alexander Richards, with a personal best in the swimming and gaining first in the run, came fourth overall in the youth C boys.

YouthTAVISTOCK Squash team came up against their old opponents, Paignton third team in the division four, South West League.

First up was Stuart Cox, playing at number 4, against Ben Cornish. Stuart is a much improved player and a match for most opponents. Ben started well, winning the first game 9-3, but Stuart started to use his wide range of shots and with a combination of speed around the courts, accurate boasts and good length shots, took the next three games, winning the fourth game 10-8 and getting first points for Tavistock.

Playing at his usual number 5 position, Pete Walshe came up against a speedy and accurate opponent, Steve Bourne. Steve retrieved all of Pete?s shots, taking the first game 9-4. Pete was forced to become involved in several long and exhausting rallies, but managed to claw back the next game.

Steve then put on the pressure, taking the third game 9-7 and smelling the scent of victory. However, Pete took off his track suit and began to use his services more effectively, putting Steve under pressure, by winning the fourth game 9-1. Pete?s superior fitness and skill overcame Steve in the final game and three more points were added to Tavistock?s score.

Colin Grice, a stalwart of the Tavistock team for more than 20 years, can be relied upon to anchor the team?s matches and give an example of how to win squash games. He never allowed his opponent, Keith Broome, to get started, and by using his powerful cross-court drives and superior speed around the court, he overwhelmed Keith 3-0, winning his match and securing the team?s victory.

Tim Wallis, playing at his usual number 2 position, came up against a skilful and accurate opponent, John Huxter. Tim needs time to develop his rhythm and timing, but once he gets going, has a devastating range of drop shots and tight accurate length shots. Unfortunately his skills deserted him and despite his best efforts he went down 2-3.

The final game was between Andy Gauler, playing at number 1, and Mike Kateb. Mike has worked his way up from number 5 position to number 1 in the Paignton team and is a force to be reckoned with.

Andy knew he had his work cut out to beat Mike and through a number of careless shots and errors found himself two games down. Andy knuckled down to the task, and by lengthening his rallies and using a range of low, accurate, side-wall boasts, gave Mike all sorts of difficulties and won the next two games, 9-6 and 9-2.

As so often happens in squash, the momentum of these two games spurred Andy on and he took the last game 9-0 at a gallop. It was an exhilarating comeback and Andy played some excellent squash.

This was a good win for Tavistock, beating Paignton by four games to one, and securing the extra five points for a win.

If anyone is interested in learning to play squash, there are two well maintained squash courts behind Kings on Pixon Lane. In the first instance, contact Malcolm Tripp on 615239, who is the club?s coach and membership liaison officer. Membership is not expensive and squash is an excellent way to keep fit through the winter months. A club night is held every third Friday of the month, so do come along. C girls saw Rebecca Smith win the swim with Beth Campbell-Boseley second. The girls ended up fourth and sixth overall, qualifying them for the national championships.

Lauren Foster booked her ticket for Sheffield in the youth B girls, coming fifth. Jenny Onyon in the same age group came 14th.