JUNCTION CITY — Chon Chavez matched his personal best time on Saturday to lead Great Bend High School’s boys’ cross-country team to a fourth-place finish in Junction City.
Chavez captured fifth place, clocking in at 16 minutes, 39 seconds as the Panthers finished with 123 points.
The Lady Panthers finished fourth, scoring 97 points.
“Both our boys and our girls finished fourth, and the schools ahead of them were (Class) 6A,” GBHS head coach Todd Kaiser said, “so that’s a pretty good finish for us.”
Kaiser said that the boys, who competed in a 13-team field ran together much better as a team.
“Out of the seven (varsity) runners, three had (personal-best times),” Kaiser said. “The thing that really stood out to me was that from our No. 2 to No. 6 runners, there is about 30 seconds in between them, which is a good sign.
“They’re starting to pack up, and that’s going to help heading into regionals.”
The Lady Panthers were led by a 12th-place performance by Mariah Stein, crossing the finish line at 16:08.
“It was a good performance by the girls,” Kaiser said. “I think eight of the nine girls ran their fastest times on an actual 4K course.
“They ran a real nice team race, which is good to see heading into the last month of the season.”
Great Bend travels to El Dorado on Saturday for a meet, starting at 9:45 a.m.

                               — Kevin Price

PREP CROSS-COUNTRY
Great Bend High School

Saturday

At Junction City

GIRLS

Great Bend results
12. Mariah Stein, 16:08; 16. Mary Williams, 16:22; 17. Kaitlynn Tuey, 16:27; 20. Morgan Harwood, 16:38; 36. Grace Ball, 17:37; 38. Ashley Weingrad, 17:50; 39. Sarah Niederee, 17:57.

Junior varsity
28. Abby Stiner, 18:56; 35. Mari Erb, 19:35.

BOYS

Great Bend results
5. Chon Chavez, 16:39; 25. Christian Graham, 17:51; 28. Kole Stiner, 17:56; 32. Cristian Garcia, 18:03; 37. Genesis Rose, 18:18; 39. Cole Mulch, 18:23; 51. Ky Heeke, 19:39.

Junior varsity
16. Michael Sullivan, 19:22; 19. Anthony Valenzuela, 19:36; 27. Bobby Chavez, 19:54; 37. Adam Jacobs, 20:46; 51. Dodge Nily, 21:51; 60. David Banda, 22:07; 96. Easton Hirsh, 28:47; 97. Ethan Lockwood, 29:45.