Quite the day for Vernon Christian School’s track and field program.
The North and West Zone Championships were held for the first time in two years Wednesday, May 11, at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops. All athletes and coaches were excited to compete after the two-year hiatus.
The Royals’ team had excellent results.
The Junior Boys relay team of Jaden Overend (lead), Isaac Gauthier (second), Zack Barry (third) and Ben Tishenko (anchor) ripped up the track to claim gold, smashing the previous 4x100-metre event by more than three seconds with an official time of 48.39 seconds.
Tishenko also finished first in the 100m, long jump, and high jump events, claiming the top junior male athlete award. Overend also came out golden in the 1,500m.
VCS senior athlete Victoria Barry claimed silver in both the 100m and 200m sprints while Hendri Redelinghuys claimed bronze in both 100m and long jump.
“It was a fantastic day for our VCS athletes,” said coach Chris Bannick.
“They have trained really hard and are very motivated to pursue their best.
“Mental preparation and personal drive to improve and compete is so important in an individual sport like track and field. Our Grade 8s – (Gabi) Koebel, (Stefan) Schuch, and (Andrea) Beaumont – haven’t seen an event like this before, so for them to have great results and get this experience in Kamloops will be huge as they continue in the years ahead.”
Other VCS results:
Victoria Barry: 2nd in 100m, 2nd in 200m;
Isaac Gauthier: 1st in relay;
Zack Barry: 2nd in long jump, 1st in relay;
Hendri Redelinghuys: 3rd in long jump, 3rd in 100m;
Ben Tishenko: 1st in 100m, 1st in long jump, 1st in high jump, 1st in relay
Jaden Overend: 1st in 1,500m, 1st in relay;
Gabi Koebel: 3rd in 100m, 1st in 400m, 2nd in 200m;
Stefan Schuch: 1st in long jump;
Andrea Beaumont: 2nd in 800m, 3rd in 200m, 4th in 100m;
Ally Miller: 5th in high jump;
Ben Liman: 7th in 200m, 7th in long jump;
Vernon Christian School and other North Okanagan school teams will return to Kamloops for the Okanagan Valley championships Thursday, May 19. The top three in each event qualify for the B.C. championships in Langley, June 9-11.
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