Every point will count down the stretch in the cross country season. The Lady Panthers showed that Saturday in Wichita, beating Kapaun Mt. Carmel by a single placing for the win with 50 points. Bishop Carroll finished third with 62 points, nearly 50-points ahead of fourth-place Wichita Trinity. Several Lady Panthers and all of Great Bend's runners in the boys' varsity race ran personal bests.
Trinity freshman Brecken Howell won the girls' race by seven seconds in 19:33. For a second-straight race, Great Bend sophomore Marissa Boone took the team lead with the bronze in 19:41 to miss the silver by just a second. Junior Addy Nicholson finished fifth, four seconds ahead and behind the fourth and sixth-place runners.
Junior Eliana Beckham made the top-10 by three seconds in 20:36. Freshman Sienna Smith beat out an opponent by a single second for 16th in 21:04, and junior Morgan Beckwith picked up the final team points in 18th with a time of 21:13.
Reese King rounded out the top-20 in 21:32, and Kate Welcher placed 24th in 21:46.
Esfeld leads Panther boys to seventh-place finish
Great Bend senior Kaiden Esfeld saw some top competition in the boys' race but still brought home the silver medal in 15:43. Maize junior Kaleb Glazier won the meet in 15:39. Wichita Trinity junior Clay Shively had the best 1600m time in all of Kansas last spring but finished behind Esfeld in 15:56.
The rest of the Panthers finished in short succession. Freshman Tavon Stroup ran 47th in 18:28, followed by juniors Bradon Suppes and Thomas Henrikson in 43rd and 44th, respectively, with times of 18:36 and 18:38. Braylon Moore finished 65th in 19:12, and Brantley Vsetecka placed 82nd in 12:15.
Wichita Trinity dominated team scoring with 40 points, followed by Kapaun with 60 points, and Maize with 87 points. Great Bend scored 180 points for seventh out of 11 teams in action.