Great Bend Post Sports
Temperatures in early October have been a little warmer than usual but Saturday morning still felt a little like fall. Great Bend High School cross country runners participated in the Bishop Carroll Rush in Brown Thrush races that included a handful of teams from Wichita and the surrounding area.
A pair of 5A powers ran away with the girls’ race. The host Golden Eagles scored 42 points to edge Kapaun by just five places. Great Bend finished third with 78 points, well ahead of fourth-place Maize’s 125 points.
Kapaun’s Ava Claasen dominated the race by more than a minute as the only runner under 18 minutes in 17:46. Panther freshman Sydney Stein ran second in 18:50.98, followed by classmate Decorah Schroeter seven seconds later for the bronze. Junior Bella Long ran 12th in 19:48.80 to miss the top 10 by just three seconds. Sophomore Samantha Negaard returned from an injury to place 40th in 22:38.38, and Makenzie Gwin capped team scoring five seconds later in 22:43.46 for 41st. Alyssa Prendergrast finished 62nd in 24:18.04, and Sydney James ran 67th in 24:38.98.
Bishop Carroll and Kapaun also won the boys’ side with 45 and 52 points, respectively, Maize finished third with 78 points, and Great bend finished eighth overall with 177 points to miss seventh place by just three spots.
Kapaun’s senior standout Daniel Enriquez blazed a 15:34 to win the race by more than 40 seconds. Brogan Lashley paced the Panthers in 12th overall in 17:02.73, just 13 seconds from a top-10 finish. Tavon Stroup finished 32nd in 17:44.34. Isaac Aldana ran 49th in 18:20.17, just half a second ahead of Parker Coleman in 50th. Noah Kaiser collected the final team points in 54th with a time of 18:26.75. Julian Hernandez placed 83rd in 19:47.68, half a second ahead of teammate Evan Masons in 84th.