EL DORADO — The Great Bend High School boys’ cross country team took fifth place at the El Dorado meet on Saturday.
GBHS head coach Todd Kaiser said that this was a marked improvement on last year’s placement in the meet.
“They went out there and beat the teams that they needed to beat,” Kaiser said. “They beat Garden City, which is in our conference meet on Thursday. Last year, the boys finished dead last, so this is a step in the right direction.
“The boys have put together two good team races this week and last week, and that’s the important thing.”
Chon Chavez took 10th place with a time of 16 minutes, 51 seconds.
The Great Bend girls finished in eighth place with a score of 196.
The girls were led by Kaitlyn Tuey, who finished in 22nd place with a time of 16:09.
“It was a tough race with Aquinas, Bishop Carroll and Kapaun-Mt. Carmel, which are all ranked in the class,” Kaiser said. “But I think we did well. We weren’t completely healthy. Ali (Heilman) is runnning, but she isn’t at 100 percent yet. We should be fine in the (Western Athletic Conference) and regional meets with smaller numbers (to compete against).”
The cross country team travels to Dodge City for the Western Athletic Conference meet on Thursday, which starts at 4 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY
At El Dorado
Saturday
BOYS
Team standings
1. Wichita North, 80; 2. St. Thomas Aquinas, 89; 3. Kapaun-Mt. Carmel, 114; 4. Campus, 119; 5. Great Bend, 193; 6. Junction City, 211; 7. Garden City, 228; 8. Wichita Southeast, 247; 9. Derby, 251; 10. Wichita South, 258; 11. Winfield, 263; 12. Wichita Northwest, 274; 13. McPherson, 287; 14. Newton, 313; 15. Wichita East, 340; 16. Bishop Carroll, 379; 17. El Dorado, 388
Great Bend results
Varsity
10. Chon Chavez, 16 minutes, 51 seconds; 36. Cristian Garcia, 17:31; 39. Kole Stiner, 17:36; 64. Ky Heeke, 18:16; 72. Christian Graham, 18:28; 82. Cole Mulch, 18:41; 119. Anthony Valenzuela, 20:13
Junior varsity
51. Zach Gregg, 20:37; 55. Michael Sullivan, 20:42; 62. Daniel Banda, 21:00
‘C’ team
17. Jeremy McFann, 21:08; 25. Adam Jacobs, 22:01; 30. Walter Helms, 22:28
GIRLS
Team standings
1. Bishop Carroll, 41; 2. St. Thomas Aquanis, 63; 3. Derby, 119; 4. Garden City, 129; 5. Kapaun-Mt. Carmel, 155; 6. Winfield, 155; 7. Wichita East, 181; 8. Great Bend, 196; 9. Wichita North, 271; 10. Wichita Norhtwest, 274; 11. Newton, 293; 12. Hutchinson, 311; 13. Campus, 362; 14. Wichita Southeast, 368; 15. McPherson, 412
Great Bend results
Varsity
22. Kaitlynn Tuey, 16:09; 28. Hannah Wondra, 16:22; 37. Mariah Stein, 16:48; 56. Morgan Harwood, 17:11; 59. Lakin Hulse, 17:19; 84. Sarah Niederee, 18:15; 97. Ali Heilman, 19:07
Junior varsity
84. Chandra Gray, 20:38; 92. Mari Erb, 20:55; 103. Alyssa Dowson, 21:35