GWENT youngsters shone on home soil as they collected a smattering of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Welsh Athletics Junior Championships in Newport.

One of the star performers was Blackwood’s Caitlyn Mapps with victories in the under-17 women’s 100m and long jump, and second place in the 80m hurdles.

Islwyn High School pupil Mapps started her quest for a hat-trick of Welsh titles at Newport Stadium with a time of 12.27 seconds to win the 100m.

Cwmbran Harriers’ India Jenkins was fourth but made up for that with 300m gold.

In the hurdles, Mapps, a member of Cardiff Archers, was then edged into second by clubmate Grace Morgan.

But Mapps got her revenge in the long jump, leaping to 5.39 metres to finish first, 17 centimetres ahead of Morgan.

For Mapps, her attention now switches to the Welsh Schools Championships in Cardiff on July 7 where she will represent East Wales in the hurdles and long jump.

Meanwhile, former Cwmbran Harriers ace Macey Jones, now representing Swansea Harriers, registered 11.82m to take the under-20 women’s triple jump – that effort puts her ninth in the UK under-20 rankings.

Newport Harriers enjoyed several gold medal-winning performances, including David Locke and Dylan Bevan in the under-17 men’s 800m and shot put respectively.

In the younger age groups there were golds for two more Newport athletes.

Tiwaah Boateng was first and clubmate Olivia Gillespie third in the under-13 girls’ 100m, before the latter got the better of the former in the 200m. Boateng was second in that event.

Rhymney Valley AC’s Caitlin Seaborne also claimed two golds, those coming in the under-13 girls’ discus and shot put.

Nine more Newport Harriers athletes finished with silver medals, Iwan Dark taking home two from the under-13 boys’ shot put and discus.

Ceri Griffiths (U13 girls’ 1500m), Bethan Wainwright (U13 girls’ 400m hurdles), Remi Adebiyi (U20 men’s 1500m), Samuel Rutherford (U20 men’s 100m), Caris Morgan (U20 women’s javelin), Leo Stark (U13 boys’ 800m), Owen Locke (U20 men’s 800m) and Libby Davidson (U15 girls’ high jump) were the others.

Oliver Watkins (U17 men’s high jump), Toks Akanbi-Mortimer (uU15 boy’s high jump) and Alice Corden (U17 women’s triple jump) scooped bronze medals for Rhymney Valley AC, while Blaenau Gwent AC’s Thomas Snell did likewise in the under-13 boys’ javelin.

Newport Harriers Shireen Balouch (U20 women’s 400m hurdles), Amelia Fettis (U15 girls’ discus), Ellie-Mae Wainwright (U15 girls’ pole vault), Cameron Eley (U13 boys’ long jump), Amy Jenkins (U17 women’s high jump) and Gwennan Lewis (U20 women’s shot put) all collected third places.