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Panther girls capture fifth consecutive WAC title
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The Great Bend girls capture their fifth consecutive Western Athletic Conference cross country title, the 19th in school history.

LIBERAL — Great Bend's trio of medalist Decorah Schroeter, runner-up Bella Long and fourth-place Sydney Stein sparked the Panthers to a fifth consecutive Western Athletic Conference girls cross country championship Thursday. Schroeter earned WAC Runner of the Year honors. Great Bend coach Lyles Lashley earned WAC Girls Coach of the Year honors.

Schroeter (16:20.23), Long (16:35.37) and Stein (16:54.55) were joined by 8th-place medalist Samantha Negaard (18:24.31) and 16th-place MaKenzie Gwin (19:07.28) to finish with a 31-point total that beat Dodge City (46) by 15 points.

The Panther girls captured their 19th Western Athletic cross country championship, highlighted by a 7-year title run from 1995 to 2001.

The Panther boys were led by fifth-place Brogan Lashley (17:37.07) who improved by 20 spots at the WAC championship. Great Bend also counted 12th-place Isaacc Aldana (18:15.01); 18th-place Tavon Stroup (18:33.2) and 19th-place Noah Kaiser (18:40.14).

The Panthers (75) finished third behind Garden City (22) and Dodge City (46). Garden City's Trevor Fry (17:10.52) earned medalist honors.

WESTERN ATHLETIC

LIBERAL, ARKALON PARK

GIRLS TEAM SCORES—1—Great Bend 31; 2—Dodge City 46; 3—Garden City 71; 4—Hays High 86; 5—Liberal 110.

TOP 10 GIRLS MEDALISTS—1—Decorah Schroeter, GB, 16:20.23; 2—Bella Long, GB, 16:35.37; 3—Romero, GC, 16:39.72; 4—Sydney Stein, GB, 16:54.55; 5—Springer, DC, 17:14.83; 6—Clevenger, DC, 17:36.89; 7—Perez Martinez, DC;, 17:39.08 8—Samantha Negaard, GB, 18:24.31; 9—Lucena, L, 18:24.86; 10—Cooley, Hays, 18:25.4

GREAT BEND—16—MaKenzie Gwin, 19:07.28; 30—Alyssa Prendergast, 20:14.35.

WESTERN ATHLETIC

LIBERAL, ARKALON PARK

BOYS TEAM SCORES—1—Garden City 22; 2—Dodge City 46; 3—Great Bend 75; 4—Hays High 105; 5—Liberal 132.

TOP 10 BOYS MEDALISTS—1—Trevor Fry, GC, 17:10.52; 2—Gamez Mora, DC, 17:26.08; 3—Pammenter, GC, 17:33:21; 4—Martinez Acosta, GC, 17:35.96; 5—Brogan Lashley, GB, 17:37.07; 6—Argueta, GC, 17:42.57; 7—Johnson, DC, 18:05.22; 8—Martinez, GC, 18:06.24; 9—Werth, Hays, 18:10.61; 10—Covarrubias, DC, 18:13.45.

GREAT BEND—12—Isaac Aldana, 18:15.01; 18—Tavon Stroup, 18:33.2; 19—Noah Kaiser, 18:40.14; 23—Parker Coleman, 19:16.25; 29—Sullivan Luttrell, 19:38.29; 32—Alexis Garcia, 19:57.79; 33—Eli Leech, 20:00.15; 47—Julian Hernandez, 20:42.09; 52—Evan Mason, 21:02.33.

GREAT BEND JV—63—Rocky Montanez, 22:09.15; 66—Monte Velasco, 22:36.91.


HALSTEAD — Hoisington's state qualifier Brody Rossman (17:12.76) placed third and Larned's Lane Elam (18:30.77) finished seventh at Thursday's Central Kansas League cross country championship at Wedgewood Golf Course. Rossman placed 14th at the 3A state meet last year.

Hoisington's Tianna Lutters, last year's 17th-place state placer, finished 15th (22:29.5). 

Haven's Reese Quinn (19:53.71) and Isiah Doherty (17:04.71) swept medalist honors. Hesston's girls (25) and Pratt's boys (32) won the team titles.

CENTRAL KANSAS

HALSTEAD, WEDGEWOOD G.C.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES—1—Hesston 25; 2—Smoky Valley 59; 3—Pratt 71; 4—Hillsboro 78; 5—Halstead 110.

TOP 10 GIRLS MEDALISTS—1—Reese Quinn, Hesston, 19:53.71; 2—Willems, SV, 20:27.98; 3—Lehman, Hesston, 20:37.42; 4—Richert, Hillsboro, 20:53.4; 5—Larson, Hesston, 21:12.76; 6—Heinrichs, Hesston, 21:16.01; 7—Coufalovaae, Haven, 21:20.4; 8—Girard, Pratt, 21:24.63; 9—Funk, Hillsboro, 21:28.52; 10—Frantz, Hillsboro, 21:47.06.

HOISINGTON—15—Tianna Lutters, 22:29.5; 22—Tristin Compton, 23:17.58; 24—Ava Martin, 24:18.95.

LARNED—41—Addison Snodgrass, 30:46.16; 43—Emma Corman, 35:24.53.

NICKERSON—26—Jaycie Ohnmacht, 24:54.91; 27—Amelia Peil, 25:18.75; 29—Bella Brinkley, 25:39.77.

NICKERSON JV—4—Ashlynn Voeller, 40:28.45.

CENTRAL KANSAS LEAGUE

HALSTEAD, WEDGEWOOD G.C.

BOYS TEAM SCORES—1—Pratt 32; 2—Smoky Valley 82; 3—Haven 97; 4—Hesston 111; 5—Nickerson 115; 6—Halstead 132; 7—Larned 145; 8—Hillsboro 163.

TOP 10 BOYS MEDALISTS—1—Isaiah Doherty, Haven, 17:04.41; 2—Carlito Lara, Pratt, 17:09.02; 3—Brody Rossman, Hoisington, 17:12.76; 4—Slocum, Pratt, 18:14.37; 5—Bishop, SV, 18:22.12; 6—Lane Elam, Larned, 18:30.77; 7—Perez, Pratt, 18:31.14; 8—Aiden Brinkley, N, 18:39.37; 9—Ezra Lara, Pratt, 18:53.69; 10—Ayala SV, 19:05.93.

HOISINGTON—34—Harrison Henning, 21:11.8; 48—Alex Rexwinkle, 22:53.17.

LARNED—22—Caleb McDonald, 20:29.95; 38—Jayden Ramirez, 21:29.33; 40—Kayden LaPointe, 21:32.1; 47—Ryan Hill, 22:53.17; 52—Mason Cooper, 24:07.39; 55—Isaac Redgate, 24:53.57; 56—Hunter Hewson, 25:23.59.  

NICKERSON—16—Andy Huggard, 19:49.37; 24—Luke Shelton, 20:31.62; 30—Dale Landry Smith, 20:45.7; 43—Renner Hawks, 21:59.25; 44—Hayden Nelson, 22:02.16; 49—Carson Ward, 23:19.27.


NEWTON — Stafford's returning 8th-place state finisher Joel Valadez (17:20.81) placed third in Thursday's Heart of the Plains cross country race.

Stafford's Trojan Paige Hacking (25:38.93) placed seventh.

Pretty Prairie's Amity White (21:09.78) won the girls race. South Barber's Joshua MacKinney (16:51.13) won the boys race.

HEART OF THE PLAINS, NEWTON

STAFFORD GIRLS—7—Paige Hacking, 25:38.93; 11—Deniz Karakash, 29:22,87.

STAFFORD BOYS—3—Joel Valadez, 17:20.81; 14—Josue Valadez, 20:47.25.