Still on the mend, Powell runners dominatePowell High School's cross country teams don't have a clean bill of health yet, and that might be the best news runners from rival schools have heard. If the Panthers can dominate the field they way they did last week in Worland while battling illness, not many are going to want to line up in the chute alongside a healthy Panther team.

Powell swept the team titles last week at the Worland Invitational. The girls scored an 18-point margin of victory while the boys won by 16 points, extending the teams' streaks of finishing in the top two at every meet since the 20-plus school Billings Invitational back on Sept. 3.

Brooke Nisley, Sierra Morrow and Tally Wells finished within two seconds of each other to cue a 6-7-8 finish for the Panther girls. Nisley and Morrow each finished in 22:23 with Wells trailing by two seconds.

Fourteen seconds back, Desiree Murray followed 14 seconds back. Kassey MacDonald rounded out Powell's team scoring with a 22nd-place finish in 23:43. The Panther girls are still running with the minimum five runners needed to count as a team score.

The few were mighty, however, as Powell comfortably claimed the girls' team title. Powell returned to the finish line with 53 points, putting them well in front of runner-up Buffalo's total of 71. Cody placed third with 72 points in the meet.

“There was a good field at this meet with some schools we hadn't seen before this season,” said Panther cross country coach Cliff Boos.

On the boys' side, John Kissner and Bodie Friday both tallied top-10 finishes for the Panthers. Kissner led the Powell boys in eighth place overall in a time of 18:30. Friday was four seconds behind in ninth position.

Andrew Feller, Danny McKearney and Cody Fagley finished 13th, 14th and 16th, respectively. Feller's time was 18:52. McKearney was another two seconds back while Fagley crossed the finish line in a time of 19:20.

Tyler McCauley (32nd, 20:17) and Cole Good (37th, 21:13) rounded out the Panthers' varsity squad for the meet.

As a team, Powell finished with 60 team points to comfortably beat out Park County rival Cody by 16 points. Buffalo finished as the third-place team in the standings, amassing 93 points overall.

Powell hosts its own invitational meet this Friday, Oct. 8, at the Powell Golf Club. Runners will compete on the front-nine holes.

“It will be good to get by our home meet and then give the kids some rest to help get them healthy and ready for the conference and state meets,” Boos said.

Powell travels south to Lyman for 3A West conference action on Oct. 15. The 3A state championships will take place in Douglas on Oct. 23.