HAYS — A year after having a pair of Great Bend High School athletes take Class 5A state championships in three events, the track and field team picked up five first-place finishes in its first meet of the season at Fort Hays State University on Saturday.
“I think we did pretty good for the first meet of the year,” head coach Bo Black said. “You know, it being spring break and our choir is in Washington, D.C. right now and it was a tough week to prepare with the weather we’ve been having.
“When it’s 40 degrees out in late March, this is more of a practice meet. We give kids a chance to compete in different events. Overall, I think we had a great day.”
The Lady Panthers were led by junior Jacy Quade, who placed first in both the shot put and discus events.
Quade launched the discus 114 feet, six inches, and had a distance of 36-8 in the shot put.
“Quade had a big day for us,” Black said. “She won both the discus and the shot put. She’s going to throw well for us this year. She had a good person to follow in Alex Hartig.”
Quade has big shoes to fill. Hartig was crowned state champion in both of those events, hurling the discus 144-7 and reaching a distance of 46-2 1/2 in the shot put event. Hartig, who graduated last year, is now competing in track and field for Arizona State.
“She’s throwing at Arizona State now,” Black said, “and it’s funny, I sent her a text that said, ‘We’re at a meet in Hays and it’s 40 degrees and raining. I wish you were here.’ She was in a meet in Arizona where it was 80 degrees so I don’t think she missed being here much.
“She was one of the best in the nation.”
Maggie Loeria finished on top in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a time of 53.04 seconds. Loeria also snagged a second-place finish in the 100 hurdles.
For the Panthers, Matt Moyd reeled in a first-place finish in the 100 high hurdles, crossing the finish line at 15.92.
“Matt Moyd had a big day on the 100-meter high hurdles,” Black said, “and Maggie Loeria had a good race in the 300-meter hurdles. All in all, I think we had a good day.”
Sheldon LeShore took first place in the 200 dash in a time of 23.17. LeShore also took third place in the 100, clocking 11.82.
One runner the Panthers were without was state standout Alex Reed, who was the state champion in the 400 his sophomore and junior years, as well as the 200 champ his sophomore year.
Reed injured his knee during the football season.
“He is obviously our guy when it comes to track and field,” Black said. “He is competing at the state level being the champion in the 400 back-to-back his junior and sophomore years and (the) 200 his sophomore year. We don’t want to hurry things and bring him back for a track meet in March.
“I think he is very ahead of schedule. We don’t have him sprinting yet, but he has been full-striding in practice. I think he is being patient. He sees the big picture.”
Black said that he expects to keep Reed, who was cleared to run on March 11, out of competition for at least another couple of weeks.

HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD
At Fort Hays State University
Team results
Girls
1. Hays, 180; 2. Thomas More Prep-Marian, 137.5; 3. Victoria, 123; 4. Great Bend, 118.5; 5. Ness City, 7.7
Boys
1. Hays, 299; 2. Great Bend, 109; 3. Ness City, 77; 4. Victoria, 67; 5. Ashland, 53; 6. Thomas More Prep-Marian, 19.
Great Bend girls’ results
100-meter hurdles
2. Maggie Loeria, 19.06.
300 intermediate hurdles
1. Maggie Loeria, 53.04.
100 dash
5. Sara McAfee, 14.38.
200 dash
4. Summer Bates, 29.42; 5. Stephanie Langer, 29.59.
400 dash
4. Sefam Ball, 1:10.18.
1600 run
3. Morgan Harwood, 6:00.08.
3200 run
2. Kaitlynn Tuey, 13:02.60.
4x400 relay
4. GBHS relay (Harwood, Ball, Langer, Bates), 4:44.24.
Shot put
1. Jacy Quade, 36-8; 6. Abby Mitchell, 24-7.
Discus
1. Jacy Quade, 114-6; 3. Abby Mitchell, 76-2.
Long jump
4. Summer Bates, 15-1 1/2.
Triple jump
5. Selam Ball, 29-11; 6. Sara McAfee, 29-3 1/2.
High jump
4. Summer Bates, 4-5.
Pole vault
3. Hannah Middleton, 7-0.

Great Bend boys’ results
110 high hurdles
1. Matt Moyd, 15.92.
100 dash
3. Sheldon LeShore, 11.82; 5. Raydell Jones, 12.00.
200 dash
1. Sheldon LeShore, 23.17; 6. Darion Blair, 24.77.
400 dash
2. Mauricio Uribe, 53.24.
1600 run
6. Anthony Valenzuela, 5:16.79.
3200 run
5. Michael Prieto, 11:19.56.
4x800 relay
3. GBHS relay (Chavez, Valenzuela, M. Sullivan, Garcia), 9:01.25.
4x100 relay
2. GBHS relay (LeShore, Uribe, Jones, Moyd), 45.42.
4x400 relay
2. GBHS “B” relay (Moyd, G. Burley, C. Burley, LeShore), 3:44.00; 6. GBHS “C” relay (Garcia, Reynolds, Chavez, Uribe), 3:51.02.
Javelin
3. Simon Sullivan, 160-3; 6. Spencer Keil, 136-10.
Long jump
5. Anthony Valenzuela, 17-11 1/2.
Triple jump
6. Matt Moyd, 38-4.
Pole vault
6. Chris Burley, 9-6.