Carmel College of Darlington capped a great year, in which they captured a haul of silverware in several different sports, by winning the cricket County Cup for the first time in their history.

The year seven pupils brought the County trophy back to the college for the first time, but that was just one of many successes the college has enjoyed recently.

At their annual presentation evening, held in a packed school hall on Monday, Carmel's pupils were honoured for their sporting prowess in four different age groups.

Geoff Cooke, a member of Durham County Cricket Club's staff and former England player, was in attendance to congratulate Carmel's cricket achievement, which was particularly satisfying to the college as they have only recently restored the sport to their PE curriculum with Derek Coates overseeing lessons.

Played at Sacriston on July 8, Sunderland had reached 152 for the loss of six wickets in their allocated 25 overs but Carmel's fielding was keen while Anthony Murphy took four for 23 in his five overs.

Replying, an opening partnership of 134 between the captain, Liam Coates, who made 31 and an outstanding innings of 102 not out from Matthew Wheeler, set Carmel on the road to victory by nine wickets. James Stokell was five not out when Wheeler struck the winning boundary which gave him his century and Carmel the trophy. His innings contained 58 runs from boundaries and won the man of the match award.

"This was essentially a team performance and every member played his part," said Tony Forster, PE teacher and coach.

Carmel: Liam Coates, Andrew Clifford, Daniel George, Thomas Haille, Ross Kelly, Anthony Murphy, Thomas Park, Philip Smith, James Stokell, Thomas Stilell, Thomas Ward and Matthew Wheeler.

Liam Coates and Matthew Wheeler are both currently waiting to hear if they have been selected for Durham to take part in a National Under-12s competition.

Also, the college's combined year seven/eight team girls team won the Darlington schools and were runners-up in the County competition.

Carmel's sporting achievements have come in a range of sports, including football, netball, rugby, cross-country and athletics.

The year ten football team, five of whom represented the town, won the Darlington League while the year eight side were runners-up in both the League and the County Cup. The year sevens also had to make do with second place as they were runners-up in the Town Cup.

Carmel netball teams, in years seven, eight, nine and ten, won all of their A-team matches this season, which meant they secured all of the league and tournaments while nine of their players - Laura Hedley, Leanne Rolfe, Erin Millar, Hannah Millar, Katie Walton, Jade Levy, Amy Walker, Rachael Peeke and Rebecca Eldrington - were selected for the North-East Academy.

The college tasted yet more glory in rugby as the year seven side won the County Plate while year eight were finalists in the same competition and the year ten side won the Bishop Auckland League.

Cross-country was another event the school excelled in. The year seven girls were winners of the Darlington Schools team race with Rebecca Toppin and Rachel Bird coming first and second respectively.

The college's Laura Hedley, Jessica Hudson, Frances Nicholson, Sophie Weddell and Stephanie Weddell were all chosen to represent the town.

An impressive 21 Carmel pupils represented the town in athletics events with four of them being called up to the Durham County squad. Those who competed for Darlington were: Emma Clifford, Frances Nicholson, Nikitta Strongman, Tara Kennedy, Natasha Levy, Jenny Bell, Joseph Clamp, Jonathan Vinton, Dexter Bogle, Matthew Jones, Bradley Woods, Jonathan Murphy, Scott McDonald, Adam Grieve, Paul Taylor, Craig Slade and Ryan Tinkler while Bethany Heard, Daniel Ghundoo, Stephanie Wedell and Matthew Gee all received a County call.