John Arendt
Black Press
High school and middle school runners from around the South Okanagan gathered Wednesday afternoon in Summerland for a cross-country race at the Test of Humanity site.
Between 70 and 80 runners participated in the event hosted by Summerland Secondary.
“It was great having so much enthusiasm there,” said Brian Salter, coach of the Summerland high school teams.
He said the junior boys performed exceptionally well.
The top three runners, all members of Summerland’s junior boys team, finished within seconds of each other.
Jason Scherban crossed the finish line with a time of 16:22, followed by Keagan Ingram with a time of 16:23. Ben Geertz was third, completing in 16:29.
Ethan Sands of Summerland finished in fourth place at 17:30 and Eli Grant of Penticton Secondary School was fifth at 19:14.
In the senior boys category, Sam Matthew of Penticton Secondary School finished at 23:30, followed by Norman Anderson of Princeton at 23:43.
Clive Bradley of Princess Margaret Secondary School took third place at 24:24. In fourth place, Jackson Coates of Penticton Secondary finished at 24:45 while Walker Singleton, also of Penticton Secondary, was fifth with a time of 25:33.
In the junior girls category, Alyse Kohler Mergel of Princess Margaret was first with at time of 20:07. Natalie Benoit of Summerland finished second, at 21:17 and Olivia Harrold of Summerland was third, with a time of 22:42.
In fourth place, Lauren Kohler Mergel of Princess Margaret finished with a time of 23:14, while Acacia Benn of Penticton Secondary finished fifth, with a time of 23:30.
In the senior girls category, Elena Selles of Penticton Secondary finished first with a time of 22:02, just seconds ahead of Bailey Johnson of Summerland, whose time was 22:13. The third-place finisher was Wallach Mackenzie of Penticton Secondary with a time of 22:32.
Haley Berrisford of Penticton Secondary finished fourth, at 23:21, while Rachel Shanner of Summerland was fifth at 23:27.
The final run of the regular season will be held Wednesday, Oct. 12 at Campbell Mountain.
The valley championships will be held at Telemark Nordic Club in West Kelowna on Tuesday, Oct. 25 and the provincial championships will be at Telemark on Saturday, Nov. 5.