By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Injuries have decimated the Panther track and field team over the last two weeks. Still, Great Bend strung together 29 points at the Western Athletic Conference Championships Thursday at home. Hays dominated in the field events, piling up 128 points to beat Garden City's 98.5 points for the title.
Kaiden Esfeld had his hands full in his final home meet as a Panther. He won the 800m run by less than a second in 2:01.77. Alex Galindo placed 11th in 2:14.26, and Pedro Enriquez ran 12th in 2:15.96.
Esfeld and Garden City's Devin Chappel have gone back and forth on the track and cross country course over the last few years. Thursday, the pair pulled away in the 1600m run with Esfeld leading into the final 200 meters. Chappel made a move, winning by four seconds in 4:22.53. Esfeld claimed the silver in 4:26.71, still seven seconds ahead of the next runner.
Chappel did not run the 800 and his fresh legs led a trio of Garden City runners to break 10 minutes in the 3200m run. Esfeld ran fourth in 10:09.07 to miss the bronze by 13 seconds.
The Panther 4x800 team Enriquez, Galindo, Ramiro Rocho, and Braylon Moore ran fourth in 8:50.75, just missing the bronze.
In the field, Danny Nieto led the way with a silver medal in the discus at 129-2. Hays' Grayson Walburn had a big throw to win at 166-0.
The javelin throwers saw one of the state's best this season in Hays' Wyatt Waddell, who won by 12 feet at 175-1. Mathew Moeder placed fourth on a throw of 156-1, and Matthew Johnson picked up a point in fifth at 145-8. Moeder won a point in the shot put with a fifth-place throw of 43-6.
Ben Nicholson placed fifth in the triple jump on a mark of 39-5. A tough field in that event saw three jumpers surpass 43 feet.
The Panthers head to Maize South Thursday for Class 5A regional action.