BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisuns@gbtribune.com
LAKE BARTON — The off-season work paid immediate dividends for Great Bend's Brogan Lashley and Hoisington's Brody Rossman at Thursday's Lake Barton cross country meet.
Lashley exceeded expectations with a 16th-place finish (16:58.84) that sliced 1:43 off last year's opening season time.
"Overall, It was a good race. My goal was to go under 17 minutes, a PR time," Lashley said. "First mile, I went out strong and ran 5:23. Second mile, I slowed it down a bit. I kicked it back up third mile, finished strong and passed a few runners. My off-season training helped. I ran more miles with harder workouts. I ate healthier, everything that I needed to do."
Great Bend (293) finished 12th with 46th-place Isaac Aldana (18:10.17); 77nd-place Noah Kaiser (19:03.04) 78th-place Sullivan Luttrell (19:03.35); and 84th-place Parker Coleman (19:20.29) with returning 5A state qualifier Tavon Stroup battling some sickness.
"It's nice to see Brogan's hard work pay off," said Great Bend cross country coach Lyles Lashley. "Our group of young runners did really well. We didn't have Tavon on his good day."
Rossman placed 28th (17:42.29) and improved his time by 75 seconds from last year. Teammate Jasper Pawlowski (20:13.23) improved his time by 39 seconds.
"I started out a little fast," Rossman said, "It's a hilly course. In the middle, I tried to grind up the hills and keep a good pace and pushed down the hills and finished strong at the end."
Rossman ran his second-fastest time other than last year's 14th-place 3A state finish.
"After halfway through, I leveled my pace and worked into a rhythm," Rossman said. "I passed a few guys at the end of the second mile and attacked the best I could. It's a challenging course.
St. John's returning 1A state team qualifier showed steady progress across the board — 46th-place Aaden Gonzalez (18:00.17) improved 1:49; 65th-place Liam Knight (18:40.12) better by 2:57; 92nd-place Emmett Delp (19:26.1) improved 1:31; 122nd-place Jayce Feril (20:34.79) improved 3:06; and 144th-place Rafael Gonzalez (22:07.12) better by 2:33.
Delp, Aaden Gonzalez, Knight and Feril competed in last year's 1A state cross country meet.
LAKE BARTON INVITATIONAL
BOYS TOP 10 TEAM SCORES—1—Wichita Carroll 68; 2—SE Saline 103; 3—Garden City 130; 4—Maize 134; 5—Derby 219; 6—Holcomb 208; 7—McPherson 241; 8—Ness City 247; 9—Salina Central 248; 10—Valley Center 250; 12—Great Bend 293; 15—St. John 404.
TOP 10 MEDALISTS—1—Brody Deniston, Holcomb, 15:47.55; 2—Muehler, Mc, 15:53.56; 3—Landon Englert, WC, 16:00.27; 4—Walker, SE, 16:09.09; 5—Fry, GC, 16:26.13; 6—Bircher, SE, 16:27.36; 7—Evan Englert WC, 16:31.45; 8—Perry, Derby, 16:33.55; 9—Gall, NC, 16:37.67; 10—Deniau-Young, SC, 16:38.4.
GREAT BEND—16—Brogan Lashley, 16:58.84; 46—Isaac Aldana, 18:10.17; 77—Noah Kaiser, 19:03.04; 78—Sullivan Luttrell, 19:03.35; 84—Parker Coleman, 19:20.29; 108—Tavon Stroup, 19:48.16
ST. JOHN—40—Aaden Gonzalez, 18:00.17; 65—Liam Knight, 18:40.12; 93—Emmett Delp, 19:26.1; 123—Jayce Feril, 20:34.79; 134—Jacob Rotert, 21:26.52; 145—Rafael Gonzalez, 22:07.12.
HOISINGTON—28—Brody Rossman, 17:42.29; 116—Jasper Pawlowski, 20:13.23; 153—Harrison Henning, 23:31.1.
CENTRAL PLAINS—82—Cale Thompson, 19:06.91; 151—Alden Metro, 23:14.4
GREAT BEND JV—26—Alexis Garcia, 20:23.1; 38—Evan Mason, 21:00.15; 61—Monte Velasco, 22:14.15; 68—Eli Leech, 22:35.23.
HOISINGTON JV—98—Aden Rexwinkle, 26:54.56; 101—Joey Valentino, 28:19.16.
CENTRAL PLAINS JV—72—Kaden Willenberg, 22:49.37; 92—Kahne Fisher, 24:54.18.
