Great Bend Post Sports
The Lady Panther track and field team collected several more individual golds Friday in Salina. The result was 88 team points to tie with Hays in second place. Salina Central won its home invite with 92 points.
Coming off a school record in the javelin at 141-4 on Monday, senior Macy Nachtigal only reached 125-7 Friday but still won the event by nearly seven feet. Sophomores Kimberly Hofflinger and MacKenzie Lindberg finished 13th and 15th, respectively, at 94-8 and 89-6.
The Lady Panther 4x800m relay was also coming off a school-record run Monday. Friday, the team of Sienna Smith, Bella Long, Marissa Boone, and Kate Welcher ran nearly a minute off that record time but still beat the field by five seconds in 10:32.51. The 4x4 team of Smith, Reese Bullard, Eliana Beckham, and Daizy Gomez collected gold in 4:12.99, two seconds ahead of Junction City. Great Bend ranks No. 2 in the 5A 4x8 and No. 7 in the 4x4.
Beckham and Bullard also took the top-two spots in the open 800. Beckham cut a second off her best time to win in 2:20.35, the No. 8 time in 5A. Bullard ran second in 2:25.26, and Smith placed fourth in 2:29.38 to miss the sweep by less than four seconds.
Senior Addy Nicholson cut 10 seconds off her 1600m time but her 5:21.75 was only good enough for third in a tough field that included Salina Central freshman Kaylie Schultz in 5:00.17, the fourth-fastest time in the state this spring.
Things did not get any easier in the 3200m run as North Carolina-bound Katelyn Rupe of Salina Central took the gold by 96 seconds in 10:24.67. Rupe ran a 10:17 at the KU Relays to rank No. 6 all-time in Kansas. Junior Marissa Boone finished third in 12:03.97 to miss the silver by three seconds. Freshman Teah King ran fifth in 12:27.91.
Senior Sadie Spray finished third in the 300m hurdles in 48.80 to miss the silver by just 0.08s. She made her return to the 100m hurdles for a sixth-place finish in 16.53 to make the top-20 in 5A. Gomez placed eighth in the 400m run in 1:05.57, four seconds behind the bronze. Long ran 15th in the 300s in 54.44.
The Lady Panther high jumpers saw familiar competition. The event featured two of the three 5A jumpers tied for the lead at 5-4. Hays junior Katie Linenberger won Friday at 5-3. Spray matched a season best of 5-2 to take the silver, and junior Cassie Ellegood finished fourth at 5-0. Ellegood placed 15th in the long jump at 13-10.5, followed by freshman Keira Leyva in 16th at 13-6.
Spray also made her debut in the triple jump, placing eighth at 33-4 to miss the bronze by more than two feet. Junior Kara Feist finished ninth at 32-10, and junior Jordyn Harbaugh reached 31-11 for 11th.
Freshman Kayle Baldwin set a season best in the pole vault at 9-0 for seventh. Sophomore Kaylea McMullen placed 14th at 8-0. That event featured the top-two vaulters in 5A, both from Salina.
Lindberg led the Lady Panther discus throwers in 10th on a throw of 103-2. Hofflinger followed in 11th at 99-10, and sophomore Allie Garhart placed 14th at 95-9. Gerhart finished ninth in the shot put at 32-11.25. Hofflinger placed 19th at 29-4.