The Powell High School track and field teams beat the conditions to set some personal records Tuesday afternoon in a dual versus Cody.

Senior Tori Sleep set new bests in the shot put and discus, respectively. Her throw of 41 feet, 9 inches in the shot put improves her already state-best mark and her throw of 136 feet, 6 inches moved her to second in Wyoming in the discus.

Matt Abraham cut his time in the 800-meter run by eight seconds in what PHS head coach Scott Smith called “rapidly deteriorating conditions.” Bailey Sanders and Zander Andreasen each impressed with their performances in the 1600-meter run.

“(They) had great times and came very close to qualifying,” Smith said. “Distance races are extremely difficult to qualify for and both came very close.”

Official times were not available as of press time Wednesday. Full results will printed in the April 22 edition.

The meet started in Panther Stadium at 4 p.m. under gray but calm skies, but the wind gradually picked up during the meet, eventually blowing at more than 30 mph.

“Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse when we got the rest of the track events going,” Smith said. “The kids that ran got some good conditioning which will pay off in the future.”

Not all Panthers were able to compete, however.

“Some kids didn’t get to participate as their events got shut down, but 85-90 percent of the team got to compete in at least one event,” Smith said.

The dual against Cody was added just a few days prior as a way to break up what would have been a two-week layoff for the Panthers.

“(Tuesday) was really beneficial for our field event people as that competition is great preparation and lets us see what our kids really need to work on,” Smith said.

Competition also helps the team avoid the monotony of practice.

“A long period of time with just training gets kids to start losing focus,” Smith said. “This break will be nice where kids can get away for a while and not lose too much of their conditioning and, in some cases, lets some minor injuries heal up.”

The Panthers will not practice or compete this weekend, but will be back at it next week.

“We’ll give the kids a break this weekend, then come back and get after some conditioning,” Smith said. “We also start really focusing on fine-tuning technique in the next few weeks as opposed to just working on the fundamentals.”

Powell’s next meet will be held April 26 in Lovell, which Smith said “will be the last chance to get good enough marks to earn an invitation to the Wyoming Track Classic.”

The Wyoming Track Classic is May 2 in Casper.