EMPORIA — The Great Bend High School track and field team ran into some steep competition on Friday in Emporia.
Both the girls and the boys finished in fifth place out of the seven schools competing.
“Overall I think the boys did pretty good,” Great Bend head coach Bo Black said. “I think the girls did OK. It’s a different kind of track meet then we usually see all year with the different relays. We weren’t sure if we had the depth on the girls side to handle all of the relays.”
The Panthers were led by a David Simmons’ first-place finish in the shot put with the distance of 50 feet, five inches. Simmons also got third place in the discus with 130-11.
“Simmons did good for us in his first meet back,” Black said of Simmons, who went to Washington D.C. with the Great Bend choir during the Panthers’ first meet this season in Hays. “We expect him to do well. He’s a solid performer at the shot and disc for us.”
Chris Burley got second place in the pole vault, launching himself 12-0 in the air. Simon Sullivan got third place in the pole vault with 11-6. Sullivan also snagged a fifth-place finish in the javelin, reaching a distance of 159-11.
“Burley is just a good athlete for us,” Black said. “You know, he was good in football and he was the state champion in wrestling. You put that together and you’ve got a good pole vaulter for us.
“Simon Sullivan also did good pole vaulting Friday. He’s another senior that we expect to do well this year.”
A number of Great Bend relay teams graced the leaderboards, led by the 4x800-meter relay ran by Chon Chavez, Anthony Valenzuela, Michael Sullivan and Cristian Garcia. The combination recorded an 8:56.30 good enough for third place.
Kaitlynn Tuey led the Lady Panthers with a second-place finish in the 3200 run, racing to a time of 12:42.90.
“We’re not very deep on the girls’ side,” Black said, “but Tuey had a good day (Friday). She ran an impressive two-mile.”
In the field events, Jacy Quade got second place in the discus, throwing for 124-8 and third place in the shot put with a distance of 34-6 1/4.
The GBHS girls’ best relay was the 4x800 as well, getting second place. Morgan Harwood, Alissa Heilman, Olivia Basye and Rubi Torres combined for 10:47.10.
“We just don’t have a lot of girls come out for track,” Black said. “These girls were competed well. You know, leaving Emporia on Friday, the important thing is that the kids competed well. As a coach, you just want to get the most out of your athletes and I think the girls gave it their all on Friday.
“We have a tough group of girls on the team led by Rubi Torres.”
The GBHS varsity team will be back in action when it hosts its own meet on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
 
 PREP TRACK & FIELD
At Emporia
Friday
BOYS
Team standings
1. Olathe East, 129; 2. Olathe South, 89; 3. Emporia, 73.5; 4. Lawrence Free State, 71.5; 5. Great Bend, 63; 6. Shawnee Heights, 60; 7. Junction City, 40.
Great Bend results
4x100-meter relay — 5. GBHS relay (LeShore, Blair, Jones, Moyd), 44.80.
4x200 relay — 4. GBHS relay (Honomichi, Blair, Jones, LeShore), 1:35.90.
4x400 relay — 6. GBHS relay (LeShore, Uribe, Blair, Jones), 3:35.10.
4x800 relay — 3. GBHS relay (Chavez, Valenzuela, M. Sullivan, Garcia), 8:56.30.
Sprint medley relay — 4. GBHS relay (LeShore, Moyd, Uribe, Chavez), 3:48.20.
Distance medley relay — 4. GBHS relay (Prieto, Garcia, Uribe, Stiner), 11:51.40.
Pole vault — 2. Chris Burley, 12-0; 3. Simon Sullivan, 11-6.
Shot put — 1. David Simmons, 50-5.
Javelin  — 5. Simon Sullivan, 159-11.
Discus — 3. David Simmons, 130-11.
GIRLS
Team standings
1. Olathe East, 145.33; 2. Olathe South, 105; 3. Lawrence Free State, 79; 4. Emporia, 57; 5. Great Bend, 52; 6. Junction City, 45.33; 7. Shawnee Heights, 41.33.
Great Bend results
100 hurdles — 6. Allie Niederee, 17.70.
3,200 run — 2. Kaitlynn Tuey, 12:42.90; 6. Morgan Harwood, 13:09.40.
4x200 relay — 5. GBHS relay (Langer, Niederee, Langer, Bates), 1:54.30.
4x400 relay — 5. GBHS relay (Langer, Bates, Torres, Wondra), 4:22.20.
4x800 relay — 2. GBHS relay (Harwood, Heilman, Basye, Torres), 10:47.10.
Spring medley relay — 4. GBHS relay (Langer, Bates, Wondra, Heilman), 4:44.00.
Distnce medley relay — 3. GBHS relay (Heilman, Wondra, Basye, Torres), 13:37.90.
Pole vault — 4. Hannah Middleton, 7-6; 5. Nina Burton, 6-0.
Shot put — 3. Jacy Quade, 34-6 1/4.
Discus — 2. Jacy Quade, 124-8.