By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Great Bend is usually represented at the state cross country meet, but it’s been five years since the Panther boys last qualified as a team. Saturday, in the rain at Lake Barton, Great Bend was in the mix for a regional title. Valley Center scored 62 points to take that honor, followed by Salina Central with 63 points. The Panthers scored 66 points to qualify for state in third. Eisenhower placed fourth with 85 points, and Hays finished a distant fifth with 151 points.
The close team finishes mean seconds counted in the individual races. Salina Central’s Liam Deniau-Young won the individual title by 15 seconds in 16:43.79. Sophomore Brogan Lashley paced the Panthers in fifth place with a time of 17:07.70, just more than a second behind the fourth-place runner from Central.
Senior Tavon Stroup ran ninth in 17:54.03, costing Valley Center a point by less than half a second. Sophomore Noah Kaiser ran a big race to place 13th in 18:01.31, less than a second behind the 12th-place runner. Sophomore Isaac Aldana finished comfortably between Hays and Valley Center runners in 15th with a time of 18:15.19. Junior Parker Coleman collected the final team points in 24th with a time of 18:45.35.
Sullivan Luttrell placed 30th in 18:55.44, and Alexis Garcia ran 41st in 19:32.18.
Salina Central missed crucial team points in the race for 17th and 18th by just over two seconds, but the team title was decided in spots 27-28. Valley Center’s Magavin Redenbaugh edged Central’s Jeremiah McWhorter by just 0.06 seconds for his team’s final points.
The Panther boys head to Rim Rock Farm outside Lawrence next Saturday for the Class 5A State Cross Country Championships. The 5A boys race begins at 11:10 a.m.