By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The loss of senior Madison Regehr to injury, and the upcoming Western Athletic Conference Championships and regional competition, meant some changes for the Panther track team Friday at Salina Central. Great Bend scored 21 points to finish 10th in the field.
Senior Kaiden Esfeld had a light day with just two events. That meant cutting some two seconds from his best 800m time of the season for the win by five seconds in 1:57.48. Pedro Enriquez ran 16th for the Panthers in 2:13.29. Esfeld still ranks No. 2 in the 5A 1600m run, and climbs to No. 7 in the 5A 800.
Mathew Moeder was in the mix for gold entering the javelin competition. He topped out at 148-4 for seventh place. Teammate Matthew Johnson placed eighth at 142-8. Hays' Wyatt Waddell won by three feet on a throw of 168-10. Moeder still ranks No. 5 in 5A with a best throw of 168-2. Moeder also placed seventh in the shot put at 44-11 to miss the bronze by nearly three feet.
With no Esfeld in the 1600m run, Ismael Ramirez carried the Panther torch with a 12th-place finish in 4:58.91 to miss the bronze by 10 seconds. Tavon Stroup ran 15th in 5:06.03. Stroup ran 11th in the 3200m run in 11:07.64.
Great Bend's lone relay at the meet came in the final event of the day. The Panthers finished fifth in 3:33.46 to miss the bronze by 1.33 seconds.
Cayden Scheuerman missed the 100m dash finals by 0.15 seconds, placing ninth in the prelims in 11.52. The finals featured two runners under 11 seconds. Scheuerman finished 23rd in the 200m dash prelims.