By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Things are looking a little more normal for the Great Bend High School cross country teams. After competing as a team just once last fall, the Panther boys will have a complete team for most meets in 2022. And the Class 5A state meet moves back to Rim Rock Farm outside Lawrence. Last year, the Lady Panthers finished third at the 5A state meet in Augusta.
Expectations remain high for the Lady Panthers, a team with five of its top-seven runners from a year ago. Gone to graduation is four-year runner Emilia Diaz, who led the Panthers with a 16th-place finish at state, and Emma Loomis, who just missed out on team scoring at state.
"Between the two of them we lost a lot, but we have some young ones who are starting to develop and we hope can fill in those shoes," said GBHS coach Lyles Lashley.
Great Bend was otherwise young in 2021. Sophomore Marissa Boone returns after a 17th-place finish at state, and junior Addy Nicholson missed a top-20 spot by less than half a second. Junior Eliana Beckham made the top-25 at state, and sophomore Diane Alvarez was a team scorer at state as a freshman.
Every point mattered with Mill Valley winning last year's 5A crown with 71 points, followed by St. Thomas Aquinas with 73 points, and Great Bend with 78 points. Topeka Seaman finished a distant fourth with 114 points.
Mill Valley loses state champion Katie Schwartzkopf to graduation but the Jaguars are likewise very young with two top-15 finishers returning as sophomores and another freshman placing 31st at state. St. Thomas Aquinas was hit a little harder in the offseason but will remain a contender, and Lashley expects St. James Academy to be a factor in 2022.
"They had two girls hurt last year at the state meet," he said. "It was their No. 1 and 2 girls going in so they'll be in the thick of things, too. It'll be a good little fight."
August Siefkes will be the lone senior on the 2022 team. Morgan Beckwith returns after a sabbatical last season, and sophomores Darcy Feist, Reese King, and Kate Welcher will be joined by freshman Sienna Smith. Beckwith finished second on the team only to Diaz at the 2020 regional and state meets. She ran 30th at state as a freshman that fall.
Esfeld back for Panther boys
Kaiden Esfeld has been a mainstay for the Panther boys. Last October, Esfeld won the Western Athletic Conference crown by 30 seconds in Dodge City, then cruised to a regional title at Lake Barton by 21 seconds. He went on to run third at state behind Aquinas seniors Logan Seger and Ashton Higgerson. Seger committed to run at Purdue and Higgerson continued his career at Air Force.
"It seems like when you have a good one like that, whose good as a freshman, it seems like they've been there for 10 years," Lashley said of Esfeld. "He's back for his senior year and had a great summer. He had some good workouts last week so we're excited about him."
Lashley also expects big things from incoming freshman Tavon Stroup, and freshman Ismael Ramirez could help fill out a varsity roster. Junior Braylon Moore returns to the team, and junior Bradon Suppes will also help fill out the Panther varsity roster. State hurdler Madison Regehr joins the squad as a senior.
The Panther runners open the season at Lake Barton on Sept. 1 with a morning meet. Instead of Hesston, Great Bend will test its wares against some of the best at the Olathe Twilight meet on Sept. 10. Seger and Higgerson settled for second and fourth, respectively, in the loaded Twilight meet last year. Olathe North junior Anjali Hocker Singh, the state's top female distance runner, beatt the eventual 5A champion by 13 seconds for the Twilight title. The Panthers also return to Rim Rock for a state preview.
"Our schedule has kind of jumped up this year," Lashley said. "We'll run at home, then instead of Hesston we're going to the Olathe Twilight Meet. We'll run against the big boys up there so we're excited about that."