OLATHE – Marissa Boone placed 31st (19:18.9) and Tavon Stroup placed 35th (15:56.5) with their best times at Saturday's Olathe Night cross country meet.

Sienna Smith (19:33.9) placed 40th. The Panthers placed eighth behind 5A state contenders Lenexa St. James and St. Thomas Aquinas.

"I was pleased with eighth. The girls went out and competed well," said Great Bend coach Lyles Lashley. "Marissa and Sienna will go back-and-forth this fall. Reese Bullard put a good effort in. Bella Long and Teah King ran several minutes faster than last year."

Stroup bettered his opening meet at Lake Barton with a carer-best race.

"Tavon slew some big dragons, beating  really good runners," Lashley said. "Tavon relaxed and ran a great race. It's great to see his training pay off. Our guys bettered their times from last year."

The Panthers compete at Hutchinson Thursday.

OLATHE NIGHT

GREAT BEND GIRLS—31—Marissa Boone, 19:18.9; 40—Sienna Smith, 19:33.9;  54—Bella Long, 19:56.2; 59—Reese Bullard, 19:58.4;  79—Teah King, 20:25.9;  139—Kate Welcher, 21:47.4

GREAT BEND JV—59—Samantha Neegard, 23:16.9; 82—Sophia Bauer, 23:43.0; 107—Alyssa Prendergast, 23:23.1; 178—Sydney James, 28:03.5

OLATHE NIGHT

GREAT BEND BOYS—35—Tavon Stroup, 15:56.5; 177—Diego Pasos, 17:48.3; 192—Anthony Lawrence, 18:02.6; 192—Isaac Aldana, 18:02.6; 238—Brogan Lashley, 18:46.0; 250—Parker Coleman, 18:54.0; 311—Sullivan Luttrell, 19:40.4

GREAT BEND JV—84—Noah Kaiser, 19:50.7; 367—Alexis Garcia, 20:30.3; 415—Lennon Johnson, 21:32.71; 434—Monte Velasco, 22:09.2