YOUNG athletes have won first place at an area gymnastics competition.

Northallerton College students took gold in the over-13s girls' contest at the annual Hambleton and Richmondshire gymnastics competition.

Captain Jennifer Crewdson won gold medals in the floor and combined competitions and bronze on the vault.

She also won gold in the pairs competition alongside Ruth Cook.

Her efforts lifted the team, which included Julia Brown, Victoria Robson and Katie Allan. Their scores took Northallerton College to overall glory in the contest, at Hambleton Leisure Centre, in Northallerton.

In the boys' contest, Matthew MacLean won gold in the vault and silver in the combined. Good performances also came from Oliver Cook and Chris Allan.

Ruth Curtis, the joint head of sport at the college, said: "The individual performances were impressive enough, but the team spirit was absolutely tremendous and carried them through to victory.

"All the team members show great commitment and dedication to the sport and also seem to really enjoy themselves."

Youth athletes from the college also performed well in a swimming competition at Bedale Leisure Centre.

Ollie Wray came second in the fly, team captain Ralph Stokeld won the breaststroke, Shaun Lane came second in the backstroke and Doug Roberts first in the freestyle, which led to an overall win.

The team also managed second place in the relay race with the help of reserves James Lacey and Phil Swall.