A beautiful day in Burlington greeted the opening day of the track and field season for the Panther boys. They edged out Worland 185.08 to 184.08 on Friday to win a meet that featured 11 teams.

The Panthers also won six events: senior Toran Graham took the shot put with a throw of 49 feet, 7 inches; fellow senior thrower Sheldon Shoopman won the discus with a throw of 133 feet, 6 inches; freshman McKale Foley won the pole vault with a height of 10 feet, 4 inches; senior Eli Weimer won the high jump by clearing 6 feet, 1 inch; and junior Daniel Merritt won both the 800 and 1600 with times of 2:06.97 and 4:44.91.

“Nice to get a great start,” Panthers track coach Scott Smith said. “Not so much from the team scores but for the effort and performances that the kids put out.”

Other top three finishes included: Shoopman placing second in the shot put; Graham placing second in discus; senior Zach Ratcliff placing second in the long jump; sophomore Jeremy Harms tying for second in pole vault; junior Jace Hyde placing second in the high jump with a personal record (PR) of 5 feet, 11 inches; Hyde also placed third in the 800 with a PR of eight seconds; junior Hyrum Jeide placed second in the 110 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles; freshman Cody Siefert took third in the triple jump; and senior Sam Belmont placed third in the shot put.

The team of seniors Ethan Bartholomew, Dylan Escalante, Ben Whitlock and Merritt took second in the 4x400 relay, finishing just behind Worland with a time of 3:42.34.

Powell earned three state qualifying marks in the opening weekend, as Graham and Shoopman both qualified for state in the shot put and Weimer qualified in high jump.

The Panthers will stay on the road trip as they head to Buffalo on Saturday to compete against top teams from the Class 3A East in Buffalo and Douglas, along with 4A schools from Casper, Gillette and Sheridan.

BURLINGTON INVITE

* Denotes state qualifying mark

Team Scores: 1. Powell 185.08, 2. Worland 184.08, 3. Burlington 104, 4. Dubois 52, 5. Riverside 50.50, 6. Rocky Mountain 38.83, 7. Wind River 32, 8. Greybull 18.50, 9. Shoshoni 10, 10. Ten Sleep 4, 11. St. Stephens 3

100 meters: 12. Zach Ratcliff 12.02, 39. Baylor Harvison 14.21

200 meters: 5. Dylan Escalante 24.26, 10. Cody Siefert 24.93, 13. Evan Whitlock 25.48, 23. McKale Foley 26.84

400 meters: 7. McKale Foley 59.93, 8. Ben Whitlock 59.97, T19. Evan Whitlock 1:13.68

800 meters: 1. Daniel Merritt 2:06.97, 3. Jace Hyde 2:09.52, 10. Ethan Bartholomew 2:22.15, 17. Breckin Streeter 2:30.53

1600 meters: 1. Daniel Merritt 4:44.91, 7. Ethan Bartholomew 5:12.34, 13. Breckin Streeter 5:28.90, 14. Nelson Ho 5:35.56, 16. Liam Tayor 5:38.81, 21. Jace Bohlman 6:46.75

3200 meters: 6. Liam Taylor 13:30.28, 7. Jace Bohlman 13:55.69

110 meter hurdles: 2. Hyrum Jeide 16.65, 6. Eli Weimer 17.81, 7. Stuart Shoopman 17.93, 12. Jeremy Harms 19.62

300 meter hurdles: 3. Hyrum Jeide 43.21, 6. Stuart Shoopman 46.02, 8. Eli Weimer 48.11

4x400 meter relay: 2. Ethan Bartholomew, Dylan Escalante, Ben Whitlock and Daniel Merritt 3:42.34

High jump: 1. Eli Weimer 6’, 1”*, 2. Jace Hyde 5’, 11”, 12. Dylan Escalante 5’, 3”

Pole Vault: 1. McKale Foley 10’, 4”, T2. Jeremy Harms 9’, 4”

Long jump: 2. Zach Ratcliff 19’, 1 3/4”, 7. Marshall Lewis 17’, 11 1/2”, 20. Tevon Schultz 14’, 5 3/4”, 30. Jase Hall 12’, 3 1/2”

Triple jump: 3. Cody Siefert 39’, 3”, 5. Dylan Escalante 39’, 0”, 6. Zach Ratcliff 37’, 9 1/2”, 8. Evan Staidle 34’, 9 1/4”, 10. Evan Whitlock 34’, 3 1/2”, 15. Tevon Schultz 32’, 9 1/4”, 16. Cole Young 31’, 0”, 23. Jase Hall 27’, 8”

Shot put: 1. Toran Graham 49’, 7”*, 2. Sheldon Shoopman 49’, 3”*, 3. Sam Belmont 41’, 1/2”, 7. Dusty Carter 37’, 4”, 9. Doug Bettger 34’, 10 1/4”, 10. Jonathan Harms 34’, 4 1/2”, 22. Jase Hall 29’, 1 1/2”, 30. Jacob Harms 24’, 11 3/4”

Discus: 1. Sheldon Shoopman 133’, 6”, 2. Toran Graham 129’, 10”, 5. Jonathon Harms 110’, 2”. 7. Sam Belmont 102’, 3”, 10. Jase Hall 87’, 10”, 18. Doug Bettger 81’, 8”, 21. Dusty Carter 79’, 1”, 31. Jacob Harms 54’, 0”