POLE vaulter Laura Patterson finished third in last weekend's Great Britain Under-23 international at Liverpool.

The Wycombe Phoenix star cleared 3.50 metres as she beat British U23 number one Tracey Bloomfield.

Patterson was concerned to discover that the starting height for the competition was 3.40m 20 centimetres higher than her normal opening height.

But she cleared that at the second attempt and then sailed over 3.50m as well before narrowly failing to equal her personal best height of 3.60m.

In the men's 400m, clubmate Simon Plaskitt, who was representing the GB U23s, had a difficult time coping with the strong winds blowing down the home straight and had to settle for fifth place in 48.3 seconds in a race won by Britain's David Naismith in 47.82 seconds.

Patterson and Plaskitt are back in action again this weekend when they take part in the U23 and U20 AAAs National Outdoor Championships in Bedford, where they will be joined by clubmate Judy Turton who will be competing in the U20 pole vault competition.

Meanwhile, on the club scene, Wycombe came third in their Southern Women's League Division Three match at the Croydon Arena.

The Harriers scored 133 points in an extremely close competition, 22 points behind winners Croydon.

Geraldine Purkiss got the team off to a winning start, in the U17 300m hurdles with a cracking performance. She then followed that up with another win, this time in the 80m hurdles and then took a fine third place in the high jump.

Miss Consistent, Sue Aperghis kept the winning run going with victories in the 1500m and 800m.

The energetic athlete then added more vital points to Wycombe's score with second places in the 3,000m and 400m hurdles before scoring more points in the javelin.

Kitty Deeley also had an excellent day. After setting off fairly conservatively in the 400m she picked up the pace in the last 100m to storm through to snatch second place. She then had only half an hour's rest before taking her place in the 1500m where she achieved another second place in the B string.

There were maximum points in the pole vault for Judy Turton and Angie Nicols and a first and second place in the hammer for Catherine and Jenny Parkinson.

Captain Leanne O'Callaghan warmed up for her international match with Ireland today with a sprint double in the 100m and 200m. She then teamed up with Aperghis, Amy Vowles and Helen Leigh-Dugmore to anchor the 4x400m team to second place just failing to catch the Croydon team, who were anchored home by GB international runner Jeina Mitchell.