Two Panthers leapt to the top of the podium at the Okanagan high school track and field championships on May 13.
Senior Bill Brewer and junior Isabelle Heard both claimed gold in high jump. The pair will look for more hardware at the upcoming provincial championships, where they will be joined by six other Merritt Secondary School athletes who finished in the top four in their events at the regional meet.
Both Heard and Brewer will be competing in multiple events at the provincial meet, set for May 30, 31 and June 1.
Heard and Brewer each finished fourth in long jump, while Brewer picked up another fourth place finish in the 100 metre dash.
Brewer’s performance helped secure the overall senior boys points title for the Merritt Secondary School Panthers — but it wasn’t as though he did it alone.
Merritt’s Brody Pattison gave Brewer a run for the title in senior boys high jump. Both athletes jumped 1.75 metres successfully, but Pattison ultimately finished second to Brewer.
Leif Ellingsen and Nicolas Willey finished third and fourth respectively in the senior boys shot put. Ellingsen picked up his second qualification in javelin, taking bronze in the event.
Peter Scholtens picked up precious points in 110 metre hurdles, where he finished second with a time of 18.33 seconds.
Meanwhile, Avery Warren’s time of 6:15.06 was good enough to pick up a qualification and a silver medal in junior girls 1,500 metre steeplechase.
On the junior boys side, Jay Peralta jumped his way into a qualification spot in long jump, leaping 5.23 metres to secure fourth place.