RYEDALE School's year nine netball team are the district's Under-14 champions.

The youngsters travelled to Scalby School in Scarborough to compete with eight other schools from the region in a round-robin format.

After some hard-fought battles and convincing wins over strong opposition like Scarborough College and Scalby, the Ryedale teenagers came out on top of the pile, three points ahead of second-place Caedmon School.

The team - captain Laura Hackett, Sally Turnbull, Charlotte Coltman, Rebecca Barningham, Emma Sunley, Nicola Parker, Donna Wallis, Bethany Hodgson and Kelly Harper - will now represent the district in the county finals, to be played in November.

The school's tennis team have also savoured district success in the HSBC School's Tennis competition. The four-strong team of Maria Hackett, Mary Thackray, Rachel Hodgson and Sally Cundill played and beat their counterparts from Scarborough College, Whitby, Malton and Nortonto reach the final, where they saw off the challenge of Scalby School in a high quality game.

The Ryedale team will now play Queen Margaret's School from York in the regional final.

Updated: 10:37 Wednesday, October 02, 2002