JUNCTION CITY — Great Bend High School kicked off the spring track season with six first-place medals and a pair of relay gold medal finishes at the Junction City Track Invitational.
“It was a good start to the season on a cool, windy day,” said Great bend coach Todd Kaiser. “The kids competed well. We had some good performances for our first meet of the season. Our 4-by-800 relay teams looked really strong in their races. The girls 4-by-400 looked good and our boys 4 x 400 will improve as the season progresses. Overall, we have a lot of positives to build off of as we move forward in to the season. We just have to keep working hard in practice and continue building up our conditioning base.
“Individually, we had some good performances. Kate Warren threw well in the shot and discus and Carley Brack did as well in the discus. LoCora Bryant ran well in the 100 and 200 and did a nice job on her leg on the 4-by-400. Macy Moyers ran well in her events today, placing third in the 400 and she ran well in the 4-by-400 and 4-by-800 relays. Kaylan Lagerman ran well in the 4-by-400 and 4-by-800 relays and placed 4th in the 800. Karen Razo ran her career best time (5:41.79) in the 1,600 placing first and she ran a very nice leg on the 4-by-800. Makayla Johnson ran well in her hurdle races.
On the boys side, Jeffery Muiruri did a nice job placing first in the 110 hurdles (14.97). We held Jeffery out of the 4-by-400 and we kept him out of the 300 hurdles after he experienced some tightness in his upper hamstrings after his 110m hurdle race. He’s going to score for us in the 300 hurdles and he’ll be a key member of our 4-by-400 relay team, so we didn’t want to take a chance on him getting hurt. We need to get and keep him healthy moving forward in our season.
“Eric Vazquez had a very good day. He started off our 4-by-800 with a very nice leg and got us where we needed to be. He came back with a 5th place finish in the 1600 and, with not much rest, came back and won the 800. Kerby Depenbusch had a first-place finish in the 3200 (10:16.41) and a second-place finish in the 1600. It was a good start to the season for him. Mason YellowWolf looked good in his races today. He looks a lot stronger this year and has developed a nice finishing kick. He’s got a lot of upside heading into the remainder of the season. Nick Reed ran well in the 200 and did a nice job on his leg on the
4-by-400.
“In the pole vault, Alex Vasquez, who is new to our program this year, placed second with a vault of 13 feet. He’s going to be a very good vaulter for us.
Next action for the Panthers is April 5 at the Ellinwood JV meet and April 12 for the Great Bend Track Invitational.
JUNCTION CITY INVITATIONAL
GIRLS RESULTS
Team scores—1—Junction City 151; 2—Salina Central 106.5; 3—Great Bend 103.33; 4—Hays High 66.16; 5—Salina South 63; 6—Shawnee Heights 57; 7—Tonganoxie 51; 8—KC Turner 5
Great Bend results
100m—2. LaCora Bryant, 12.58; 6. Delaney Buehler, 13.36
100m Hurdles—2. Makayla Johnson, 17.03
200m—2. LaCora Bryant, 27.05
300m hudles—6. Makayla Johnson. 53.24
400m—3. Macy Moyers, 1:05.1
800m—4. Kaylan Lagerman, 2:36.97
1600m—1. Karen Razo, 5:41.79
Shot put—2. Kate Warren, 38-63/4;
Discus—1. Kate Warren, 116-9; 2. Carley Brack, 104-1
High Jump—3. Camryn Dunekack, 5-0
Pole Vault—5. Taylor Fugitt, 7-6
1,600m relay—3. Great Bend 4:24.80 (LaCora Bryant, Baleigh Fry, Macy Moyers, Kaylan Lagerman)
3,200m relay—1. Great Bend 10:30.96 (Macy Moyers, Karen Razo, Baleigh Fry, Kaylan Lagerman)

BOYS RESULTS
Boys team scores—1—Junction City 125; 2. Shawnee Heights, 113.83; 3—Hays High 90; 4—Salina South 83; 5—Great Bend 73.5; 6—Tonganoxie 64; 7—Salina Central 42.6; 8—KC Turner 15
Great Bend results
110m hurdles—1. Jeffery Muiruri, 14.97
200m—5. Nick Reed, 23.38
400m—4. Mason YellowWolf, 53.95; 6. Cal Marshall, 56.33
800m—1. Eric Vazquez, 2:08.66
1,600m—2. Kerby Depenbusch, 4:43.60; 5. Eric Vazquez, 4:57.89
3,200m—1. Kerby Depenbusch, 10:16.41; 6. Armando Jaquez, 10:56.44
Pole Vault—2. Alek Vasquez, 13-0
3,200m relay—1. Great Bend 8:40.25 (Eric Vazquez, Quinton Elliott, Mason YellowWolf, Isaiah Davis)
1,600m relay—4. Great Bend 3:41.85 (Cal Marshall, Isaiah Davis, Mason YellowWolf, Nick Reed)