Panorama Girls Track and Field Coach Greg Thompson says the outdoor season got off to an incredible start this week. The Panther girls and boys both competed at the Earlham Early Bird Meet on Tuesday.

Thompson says 10 girls combined to set 14 personal bests in the meet with several marks that were better than where the team was at by mid-to-late April last year. Leading the way was Morgan Johnk, who set a new meet record in the high jump with a mark of 5’2″ as well as placing first by a wide margin in the 100-meter hurdles. Lydia Knapp broke the meet record in shot put with a throw of 34 feet, 6.5 inches to beat her nearest competition by more than a foot and a half. The Lady Panthers also got first place finishes from Olivia Steffen in the 3000-meters and the 4×100 shuttle hurdle relay. In all, Panorama had girls place first or second in 11 events.

Boys Coach Mike Kauzlarich was similarly pleased with his squad. Gracen Welberg set a new meet record of his own in the high jump with a mark of 6’2″ while Zach Rizzuti was first in the long jump. The Panorama boys also got second place finishes in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays and third place finishes for Koltin Sloss in shot put and Spencer Hunt in the long jump.

Kauzlarich says the younger and less experienced runners are beginning to make great strides in improvement as well.

The Panthers will compete again Thursday night in Perry. It will be their first meet of the season where team scoring is kept.