By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The 2023 cross country season was a special one for the Great Bend High School girls. The Panthers entered the Class 5A State Championships at Rim Rock Farm ranked No. 1 despite finishing 80 points behind St. James Academy just a year earlier. In 2023, the Lady Panthers finished second to the Thunder, missing a state title by just 10 points.
Because of that success, Lady Panther coach Lyles Lashley was named Kansas Coaches Association Girls' Cross Country Coach of the Year and Kansas Cross Country and Track & Field Coaches Association (KCCTFCA) Class 5A Girls Coach of the Year. Last week, he was named National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Section 5 Coach of the Year.
"It's fun to think about the girls and the team we had, how balanced we were," Lashley said. "The same group of girls that scored at state lost to St. James by 80 points the year before, and we only lost to them by 10 that year. I think that was a testament to the summer they put in and how they worked together as a unit."
As Kansas Coach of the Year for the 2023 season, Lashley became eligible for the NFHS Section 5 award that includes coaches from Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. Sectional committee representatives at NFHS evaluate state-award recipients and select the best candidates for the sectional award in each category. Sectional candidates are then ranked according to a point system to determine a National Coach of the Year in each sport.
Great Bend was led in the 2023 season by Addy Nicholson, who placed fourth at state and set a school record at Rim Rock Farm. Marissa Boone finished eighth, and Sienna Smith ran 13th. Morgan Beckwith and Eliana Beckham, both seniors at the time, rounded out team scoring. Kate Welcher and Kenzie Premer, who had set a school record at the course earlier in the season, also ran at state.
"It's just a testament to the hard work our kids put in," Lashley said. "Without that, none of these awards are possible - them buying into our program and the hard work they put in."
This year's cross-country team won a fourth-consecutive Western Athletic Conference title and fourth-straight regional title for the school. Lashley was previously honored as NFHS Sectional Coach of the Year for the 2013 season after winning a Class 2A boys' state title in Ellinwood.