JAHISHA Thomas was not completely happy with her winning effort in the girls U17 long jump. Having previously leapt 5.72 metres, she managed 5.56.

"I tried to jump a personal best, but I think that was still OK," said the Wallington Girls School pupil, who competes for Sutton & District.

"The first two years I did English Schools it was in the hurdles, but there wasn't a significant amount of progress compared to my long jump, so I thought I would do that this year," said the aspiring pentathlete, ranked third nationally for long jump and top in 80 metres hurdles.

"I'm looking for six metres now," said the Sanderstead teenager who has been working on speed and endurance over the winter as she concentrates on two events, as Olympic heptathlon champion in 2000, Denise Lewis, did at her age.

Asked if she thought she could win a medal in Birmingham at the English Schools Championships, Thomas said: "I'd like to think so, but I'm not being over confident, I'm keeping down to earth. I've come to know some of my rivals, but more so in the hurdles – I'm not so sure in the long jump."

Shirin Irving, sister of Kariym, went within a whisker of gaining the national standard of 11.50 seconds required for automatic qualification for Birmingham, winning her junior girls (U15) 75m hurdles race in a personal best 11.52.

"My personal best before was 11.7," said the Virgo Fidelis pupil. "I just wanted to do a good performance, so I'm happy with that."