Garden City’s Hailey Brown earns top honor
Depth across the track and field events has been one key to the success of the Great Bend Lady Pant
Nobody knows that better than the Lady Panthers’ head coach, Lyles Lashley, who watched his 2024 squad outlast Hays, 119 to 103.5, to repeat as Western Athletic Conference champions.
It wasn’t the lopsided victory that Lashley watched his 2023 team dominate the four remaining conference schools when that group scored 154 points.
There was one simple reason – senior Mackenzie Premer was missing from his roster.
The 2023 Track and Field Athlete of the Year suffered a broken foot prior to the start of the season and she never got back on the track where she had won the 100- and 300-meter hurdles a year before while also running on two winning relay teams.
“It really put a damper on things at first,” Lashley said of the loss of Premer. “I think it allowed, maybe forced us to have other girls step in and step up to fill some of that loss. But losing one of, if not the best track athlete you have is never easy.”
Once again, Great Bend displayed its versatility by succeeding in the field events and in the distance running events. Missing was in the sprints and hurdles due to Premer’s absence.
“Each week of the season we saw different girls developing and improving,” Lashley said. “We knew we would be strong in distance because of our cross-country success.”
The Panthers went 1-2 in the discus with MacKenzie Lindberg winning with a throw of 107-07. They went 2-3 in the shot put and then added Macy Nachtigal’s win in the javelin at 135-10.
In the distance races, the Lady Panthers swept the 800 with Eliana Beckham claiming the win in 2:21.07, and then senior Addy Nicholson’s doubling in the 1600 (5:27.62 and the 3200 (11:57.81). The 4×800-meter relay team also claimed gold.
Lashley saw his squad also go 2-3 in the high jump, 1-3 in the 1600 and 1-3-4 in the 3200. Those three events produced 47 points. The three relays (4×100, 4×400 and 4×800) totaled 15 points and six field events scored 51 points. Only Sadie Spray’s runner-up finish in the 300 hurdles garnered points in the short races.
“We had some seconds and thirds in several events that might have been a little surprising,” Lashley said. “Our distance runners did their part. We’re fortunate in that we have nine distance runners while most schools have maybe one or two.”
Unlike many track meets where there is recovery time between events, the WAC does not have preliminaries in the sprints and hurdle races, so there is little time to catch your breath and be at top speed.
“The WAC is more about making sure you have depth in every event to try and pick up points for seconds, thirds,” Lashley said. “It goes so quickly.”
Lashley reserved special praise for Nicholson, who has been a four-year standout in the distance races.
“We just assume we’ll have those points and sometimes I take her for granted,” Lashley said of his senior standout. “No doubt, we will miss her and she will be difficult to replace.”
Lashley, completing his eighth season at Great Bend, has had his career include stops in Louisiana, Texas, Larned, Barton Community College and Ellinwood prior to his current job.
Since the WAC was organized in 1985, the Panthers have won 10 conference girls’ titles. They won their first in 1991 then waited 15 years to win their next in 2006 which began a five-year run through 2010. Another drought for titles swept through from 2011 to 2020 (COVID) and then the Panthers began their current four-year reign in 2021.
Lashley credits the ongoing success of the program for securing big numbers of girls who come out for the spring sport.
“Having success helps, no doubt,” Lashley said. “Everybody wants to be part of a winner. These girls put in the work to make that happen.”
Healthy Garden City’s Brown grabs top Athlete honor
During her freshman and sophomore track seasons, Garden City’s Hailey Brown had difficulty staying healthy to where she could be at peak performance in the final month of the season.
In her just completed junior year, Brown stayed healthy all year and was stronger, faster, and jumping farther in all of her specialty events – the long and triple jumps, the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
When she won the triple jump and then the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the May 9 Western Athletic Confernce meet in Dodge City, she combined it with a third place in the long jump to finish as the top point producer and claim the WAC Female Athlete of the Year award.
“Staying healthy for sure helps,” Brown said recently. “By being able to remain healthy I gained more confidence each week.”
During the regular season, Brown just missed the school record by .01 of a second when she clocked a 12.21 in what she says is her best event, the 100-meter dash.
“I’m just better at the 100 because I don’t get tired,” said Brown. “But the 200 has become my favorite, an event she has been clocked in 25.33 to rank among the top 10 in Class 6A. “The key for me in the 100 is the block start, stay low out of the blocks and come out full speed. The 200 key is running the curve and I’ve just gotten a little better with that this year.”
In her jump events, it is the triple where she feels like she excels best.
After winning the event at the WAC with a leap of 35-04, she focused on regionals (winning) and then on to the 6A state meet in Wichita. Her season best had been 37-01 heading to Wichita.
“I’m not a huge fan of the long jump, but Coach put me in it for points,” Brown said. “The triple I like best. The first phase of the jump (hop) is the best phase for me, and I still need to work on improving my landing (jump).”
Brown said she wants to work in the off-season to get stronger in her legs and upper body to help in both the jumps and sprints for her senior season.
“It’s just been a fun year being healthy the whole time and not trying to compete when I’m injured,” she said. “The key I think has been getting into the training room, doing good warm-ups.”
With a successful junior campaign concluded, Brown has re-set her goals for her 2025 senior season.
“This is where I wanted to be so now I can make new goals to get better,” she said. “I’m happy doing three events and my ultimate goal is to medal (at state) in all three.”
Western Athletic Conference Track & Field Championship
Thursday, May 9, 2024 – Dodge City/Memorial Stadium
Girls Team Scores
| TEAM | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Bend | 119.0 |
| 2 | Hays | 103.5 |
| 3 | Dodge City | 64.5 |
| 4 | Garden City | 59.0 |
| 5 | Liberal | 29.0 |
All-Conference First Team
| EVENT | NAME | SCHOOL | MARK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100m | Hailey Brown | Garden City | 12.41 |
| 200m | Hailey Brown | Garden City | 25.91 |
| 400m | Bentley Fitzgerald | Liberal | 1:00.50 |
| 800m | Eliana Beckham | Great Bend | 2:21.07 |
| 1600m | Addy Nicholson | Great Bend | 5:27.62 |
| 3200m | Addy Nicholson | Great Bend | 11:57.81 |
| 100m hurdles | Lyndi Zimmerman | Hays | 15.46 |
| 300m hurdles | Lily Pfaff | Dodge City | 48.14 |
| 4x100m relay | Dodge City | 49.87 | |
| 4x400m relay | Liberal | 4:09.32 | |
| 4x800m relay | Great Bend | 10:22.81 | |
| High jump | Katie Linenberger | Hays | 5-06 |
| Long jump | Lillian McGrath | Hays | 17-02.75 |
| Triple jump | Hailey Brown | Garden City | 35-04 |
| Pole vault | Caitlynn Pfaff | Dodge City | 10-00 |
| Discus throw | MacKenzie Lindberg | Great Bend | 107-07 |
| Javelin throw | Macy Nachtigal | Great Bend | 135-10 |
| Shot put | Zoe Winter | Hays | 37-00.50 |
Track Coach of the Year: Lyles Lashley, Great Bend.
