Small meet provides tune-up for track classicThe Powell Panthers bullied much of the competition on Saturday as the boys' team took the title and the girls' team earned runner-up status at the Lovell Invitational track meet. The Panther boys amassed more than 200 points to easily outpace Burlington. Powell's girls fell 16 points shy of host Lovell in the final tally. Four members of the Panthers' roster met or improved upon automatic qualifier marks at the meet as weather conditions once again favored competitors. Marquette McArthur's winning discus toss of 107'10” was good enough to secure her place in the state meet next month. Josh Cragoe added his name to Powell's 110-meter hurdle roster in Casper after clocking his first sub-15 second time of the year. Drew MaGill's winning time of 22.71 in the 200 easily surpassed the state standard in that event by nearly a full second and teammate Colby Gilmore also earned a spot in the 3A state starting blocks by besting the qualifying standard in both the 100 and the 200.

On the girls' side, the Panthers registered a 1-2-3 finish in the 400 as Desiree Murray, Alyssa Rodriguez and Kassey

MacDonald led the field across the finish line. Teammate Tess Mitchell added a fifth-place showing for the Panthers.

The scene nearly repeated itself in the 800, as Powell had a 2-3-4-5 finish to once again claim four of the top five positions.

Freshman Brooke Nisley captured the 1600 title. Claire Wetzel was the day's winner in the 3200. Kendra Ostrom again cleared the bar at 5 feet to win the high jump competition and McArthur added the shot put title to go along with her state-qualifying discus mark to sweep the throwing events for Powell.

For the boys, MaGill, Gilmore and Fabio Soto finished 2-3-4 in the 100 meters. Gilmore and Kyle Sullivan placed 2-3 in the 400 while Zach Thiel won his second consecutive title at 800 meters.

The threesome of Cody Fagley, Danny McKearney and Drew Feller placed 2-3-4 in the 3200 meters to provide some Panther punch at the long distance race. Sullivan and Cragoe finished 1-2 in the 110-meter hurdles and Sullivan later added another high jump title to his resumé for the season. In the shot put, Andrew Young, Vince Sleep and Jordan Gonnoud placed 3-4-5. Sleep and Young also found their way to a 3-4 finish in the discus.

The Panthers will split forces this week. Many team members will head to Thermopolis on Friday while others will head to Casper to participate in the Wyoming Track Classic, an elite invitation event featuring the season's top times and distances from across the state.

The official list of entries to the Classic will be finalized on Wednesday, but several Panthers appear assured of places in the meet field.

Girls' team scores: Lovell 159.5, Powell 143.5, Burlington 114, Greybull 40, Rocky Mountain 14.

Individuals: 100-4. Kami Cooley 13.96, 7. Korrie Kalberer 14.54, 8. Kadi Cooley 14.83; 200-6. Cassdy Lynn 32.74; 400-1. Desiree Murray 1:02.46, 2. Alyssa Rodriguez 1:04.71, 3. Kassey MacDonald 1:05.96, 5. Tess Mitchell 1:09.52, 7. Hannah Pollart 1:13.42; 800-2. Desiree Murray 2:34.9, 3. Brooke Nisley 2:39.65, 4. Kassey MacDonald 2:40.29, 5. Alyssa Rodriguez 2:43.36, 8. Tess Mitchell 2:47.87; 1600-1. Brooke Nisley 5:51.78, 3. Claire Wetzel 6:33.52; 3200-1. Claire Wetzel 14:22.0; 300m hurdles-6. Marquette McArthur 59.55; 4x100 relay-2. Kami Cooley, Kadi Cooley, BreAnn Hollenbeck and Kendra Ostrom 54.83; High jump-1. Kendra Ostrom 5', 6. Kami Cooley 4'8”, 8. (tie) BreAnn Hollenbeck and Cassidy Lynn 4'4”; Pole vault-4. BreAnn Hollenbeck 6'6”, 5. Kadi Cooley 6', 6. Tess Mitchell 5'; Long jump-3. Kendra Ostrom 14'4”, 4. Kassey MacDonald 14'1.25”, 5. BreAnn Hollenbeck 13'11.5”; Triple jump-3. Kendra Ostrom 31'11”; Shot put-1. Marquette McArthur 30'2”, 5. Lori Hetzel 29'4”; Discus-1. Marquette McArthur 107'10”.

Boys' team scores: Powell 208, Burlington 129, Lovell 122, Greybull 31, Rocky Mountain 2.