Great Bend Post
A few individual golds were not enough to push the Panther track and field team to the top of the standings Friday in Buhler. Hutchinson and Buhler dominated the meet with 114 and 107 points, respectively. Great bend scored 79 points to finish a single point behind Andover Central in fifth.
Senior Kaiden Esfeld ran 10 seconds off his recent school-record time but still won the 1600m run by three seconds in 4:30.34. Esfeld led 5A in that event heading into Friday, and ranked No. 5 in the 5A 800m run. He just missed his season best there Friday but still won by three seconds in 2:00.64.
Senior Madison Regehr had the better hurdle times entering the meet, but Andover Central's Landon Kitterman won the 110s in 15.37, followed by Regehr in 15.52 for the silver. Buhler senior Myles Frederick needed his best 300m time of the season to beat Regehr by just 0.04 seconds in 40.64. Regehr still ranks No. 3 in Class 5A.
Senior Cayden Scheuerman made the 100m dash finals against tough competition. He finished seventh in 11.40 to miss the bronze by a quarter of a second. He moved up to fourth in the 200m dash in 23.49, just 0.09 seconds behind the bronze.
Senior Skyler McMullen added a foot to his season best in the pole vault at 11-0 but still finished seventh in a tough field. Maddox Spray cleared 5-6 in the high jump for sixth.
Senior Mathew Moeder finished second in the javelin on a throw of 158-5 to miss the gold by nearly six feet. Junior Matthew Johnson placed fifth at 144-10, easily his best throw of the season. Moeder placed third in the shot on a toss of 43-1 to miss the silver by more than four feet. Hutchinson took the top-three spots in the discus, led by a throw of 132-8. Panther senior Danny Nieto placed sixth at 118-6.
Dodge City and Great Bend 4x400 relay teams were separated by just 0.31 seconds Friday. Great Bend won the silver in 3:29.53, the No. 6 time in 5A. The Panther 4x800 team posted its best time of the season to place fourth in 8:31.79. Great Bend ranks No. 12 in 5A. The 4x100 team ranks No. 16 in 5A and just missed its best time of the season to place fourth in 44.66.