JASON PARKS
EDITOR
For a school without a track, the PECI Track and Field continues to produce inspiring results.
A small-but-mighty contingent of Panthers were at Mary Anne Sills Park on Thursday for the Central Ontario Secondary School Association Championships where 11 students produced nine podium finishes for the school.
Drew Spencer. (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)
Grade 9 athlete Emerson Blakely led the way with a pair of COSSA Gold Medals in high jump and triple jump while picking up a bronze in the long jump.
Meanwhile, Grade 10’s Drew Spencer was golden in the Junior Girl’s shot put with a 10.37 m effort that topped the nearest competitor by half a metre.
“It was an exciting day for us as a school and it was wonderful to see our athletes excel,” PECI Track and Field coach Laurie Spencer said.
With a seeded jump of 1.67 m coming into the Novice Boys high jump, Blakely was able to claim gold with a 1.54 m effort.
His triple jump effort of 11.03 m was also tops in the field while a personal best 5.60 m in the long jump earned him a bronze and the long and lean CML Snider product qualified in all three of his jumping disciplines for next week’s East Regionals at Terry Fox Stadium in Ottawa.
Josh McGill (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)
On the track, Josh McGill doubled down on COSSA silver in the Junior Boys 800 m (2.18:83) and 1500 m (4.38:25).
Coming back from the middle of the pack in the 1500 m, the former Sophiasburgh Spartan just missed out on gold by a few fractions of a second.
Junior runner Rowan Colby was also a double medalist in the 400 m and 200 m sprints, taking silver (53.52) and Bronze (23.75) respectively.
Junior Will Theakston also had a promising day, winning bronze high jump with a leap of 1.60 m and qualifying for East Regionals in long jump (5.59 m) and 200 m (24.11) .
Full meet results can be found here.
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