CITY of Stoke rising stars Alice Lennox and Jazmin Sawyers both produced brilliant medal-winning performances at the England Combined Events Indoor Championships in Sheffield.

Contesting the under-20s heptathlon, Lennox hit top form to claim the title, while team-mate Sawyers, although still only 15 years old, outshone many of her elders to take third place.

Lennox recorded a confidence-boosting time of 9.09 seconds in her first event, the 60m hurdles, and from then on never looked back.

She soared 1.60m in the high jump, then threw 10.98m in the shot. A leap of 5.62m in the long jump and a time of 2.31.30 for the 800m gave her a winning score of 3,633 points.

The 19-year-old from Stafford, who is studying physiotherapy at Brunel University, said: "I am really pleased to get the title. It all went well, although it was not an amazing performance, more of a solid all-round effort.

"I have been doing some heavy training and was perhaps not quite ready to compete.

"However, it is a big improvement on last year, although I was a bit gutted with my high jump."

Sawyers, a pupil at Newcastle under Lyme School, opened her campaign with a personal best time of 9.25 seconds in the 60m hurdles. She followed that with a height of 1.72m in the high jump and then threw 8.87m in the shot.

The Trentham youngster leapt 5.31m in the long jump before finishing with a time of 2.34.81 in the 800m to complete a personal best total of 3,472 points.

Sawyers said: "I am delighted to get a medal in my first attempt in an age group where most of the opposition are three years older than me.

"It was not only a huge challenge, but also a good experience.

"My only disappointment was my long jump, where I had two no jumps and then had to play safe on my third attempt. It was well below my best.

"But it was the first competition of the season, so I have got to be happy with this as a starter."

Both athletes should now be in line for selection for the England team, which is due to compete in France in March.

The third City of Stoke athlete competing in Sheffield, Chelsea Cooper, suffered with a back injury after the third event in the senior heptathlon.

Although the 19-year-old, from Eaton Park, continued to the finish, she was well below her best.

Cooper had opened with a personal best of 8.89 in the 60m hurdles and produced a high jump of 1.48m before a best of 9.97m in the shot aggravated a back problem which also plagued her for much of last season.

It resulted in a long jump of 5.53m and a time of 2.52.56 in the 800m, both well outside her best.

However, she did have the satisfaction of setting a personal best total of 3,205 points to claim 11th place.

She said: "Obviously I am very disappointed as I had been looking forward to doing well.

"I am certain that, although it was my first competition at this level, if it had not been for the injury I would have been right up there pushing for a medal."