By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Great Bend High School Lady Panther cross country team spent the final third of the regular season atop the notoriously tough Class 5A ranks. That translated into a second-place finish at the Class 5A State Championships at Rim Rock Farm at the end of October. Because of that success, Lady Panther Coach Lyles Lashley was recently named the Kansas Coaches Assocation (KCA) Girls' Cross Country Coach of the Year and Kansas Cross Country and Track & Field Coaches Association (KCCTFCA) Class 5A Girls Coach of the Year.
Three Lady Panther runners earned all-state honors at state as top-20 finishers. Senior Addy Nicholson led the charge in fifth overall, followed by junior Marissa Boone in eighth and sophomore Sienna Smith in 13th. Great Bend scored 78 points as a team to finish 10 points behind two-time champion St. James Academy. The Lady Panthers also won their third-straight regional title and claimed a third-straight Western Athletic Conference championship this fall.
Lashley is no stranger to post-season awards. He has now won the KCA award against all Kansas coaches twice: for the Ellinwood boys' 2013 season, and the Lady Panther season in 2023. He is now a five-time KCCTCFA coach of the year in cross country and two-time award winner in track and field.
In seven years at Ellinwood, his Lady Eagle cross country teams won seven regional titles. They went on to win one state championship with four runner-up finishes and a third-place finish. His boys won three-straight regional and state championships. On the track, he coached multiple individual state champions. At Great Bend, his Lady Panthers have finished second and third at the state track meet over the last two seasons. The cross country team followed that up with the runner-up finish this fall.