By Daisy Young

YORKSHIRE athletics rising star Rhea Southcott made her England debut and helped her country win a team gold medal.

The 14-year-old from Baildon, was representing her country for the first time in the SIAB Combined Events home international in Glasgow against teams from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Rhea, who is coached at Leeds City athletics club also took part in many of the combined events. In the high jump and shot the 14-year-old finished in third place. In the 800m she finished fifth, in long jump, eighth and was last in the 60m hurdles.

The Leeds City athlete was invited to join the England squad after winning a silver medal in the combined events at this year’s English Schools Championships in September.

Rhea is now an England Athletics under-15 champion in combined events, as well as being Northern and Yorkshire champion.

She also won a gold medal at this year’s Yorkshire Championships, setting a new county record in the process, and holds additional records as Manchester and South Yorkshire champion.

Nationally, she is fourth in the England all-time rankings for her age group.

Rhea is determined to follow in the footsteps of her Yorkshire role model, Olympic and World heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, who has been shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.