Another trip to Gillette garnered some of the best results to date for the Powell Panther indoor track and field teams, as the Panthers competed at the Park County Invitational last week.

“The kids did a nice job of competing in a meet with a smaller amount of kids and got more matchups with 3A kids, which was nice,” coach Scott Smith said.

The Powell girls once again got a strong performance from the distance team, as Kinley Cooley finished runner-up in the 3200 meters with a time of 12 minutes, 17.87 seconds.

She also took to the shorter distances and finished fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 1:04.

The Panther girls got a set of fourth place finishes from Macie Velasco in the 1600 meters (6:08.11), Karee Cooley in the 3200 meters (12:29.76) and Paige Sanders in the triple jump with a leap of 33 feet, 7 1/2 inches.

Anai Torres finished fifth in the shot put (33-9 3/4) and Audrey Johnson was the final Panther to score individually, posting an eighth place finish in the 400 meters (1:05.1).

Overall the Panther girls finished eighth with 37 points but fourth among 3A teams. Kelly Walsh ran away with the girls’ team title with a score of 129.5.

The boys’ team had one strong performance on the day as the 1600 sprint medley team of Lincoln Crawford, Brayden Benander, Korbyn Warren and Liam Taylor took the top spot at 3:53.95 to earn a qualifying mark for the state meet.

“I have been impressed by how far our young kids, which is most of the team, have progressed,” Smith said.

Individually the Panthers got a pair of top eight finishes from Warren, who took fifth in the 3200 meters with a time of 11:14.32 and eighth in the 1600 meters with a time of 5:07.41.

The other individual scorer for the Panthers boys was Crawford, who took eighth in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 8.61.

Overall, the Panther boys finished in a tie for ninth alongside Rawlins with 18 points, fifth among 3A teams as the Sheridan boys ran away with the team title with 130 points.

Though the Feb. 27 event was technically a home meet for the Powell and Cody teams, the Park County Invitational was hosted in Gillette because of the facilities there.

The indoor track season is quickly coming to an end for the Panthers, as the 3A state meet is set to start today (Thursday) in Gillette, with 3A and 4A officially being divided into separate meets for the first time this year.

“The big difference in separating classes is that the building won’t be nearly as crowded, until the end of our meet when 4A will be showing up,” Smith said. “It should be much more spectator friendly.”

Heading into the final week of the season, the coach said the Panthers are trying to bring home as many medals as they can — putting on their best performances before returning for outdoor track or dispersing to another spring sport next week.

“Our main focus preparing for state has been speed and technique improvement,” Smith said. “We are just hoping for as many medals as we can pull in. Most of the kids we are taking are seeded in the top 12 so they have a great chance to move up into the medals.”

Field events on Thursday kick off at 1:30 p.m. followed by track events beginning at 2:30 p.m. The field events will start at 8:30 a.m. on Friday followed by track events
at 9 a.m.

PARK COUNTY INVITATIONAL

* Denotes state qualifying mark

GIRLS

Team scores — 1. Kelly Walsh 129.5, 2. Sheridan 95, 3. Thunder Basin 77, 4. Campbell County 59.5, 5. Cody 58.5, 6. Worland 56.5, 7. Douglas 38, 8. Powell 37, 9. Buffalo 30, 10. Rawlins 22

55 meter dash — 54. Peyton Ott 8.56, 71. Genevieve Moran 8.85, 75. Ryann Hutzenbieler 8.96, 90. Tallia Cheatham 9.51

200 meters — 25. Audrey Johnson 29.48, 35. Ashlee Jacobsen 30.07, 53. Alaja Love 31.36, 62. Kate Williams 31.84, 66. Genevieve Moran 32.32, 78. Ryann Hutzenbieler 33.26, 88. Tallia Cheatham 34.82

400 meters — 5. Kinley Cooley 1:04, 8. Audrey Johnson 1:05.1, 18. Karee Cooley 1:07.7, 29. Alaja Love 1:12.01, 32. Ashlee Jacobsen 1:13.81

800 meters — 12. Myah Rakness 2:44.09, 19. Macie Velasco 2:51.54

1600 meters — 4. Macie Velasco 6:08.11

3200 meters — 2. Kinley Cooley 12:17.87*, 4. Karee Cooley 12:29.76

55 meter hurdles — 26. Kate Williams 10.37

4x200 relay — 6. Audrey Johnson, Paige Sanders, Ashlee Jacobsen and Peyton Ott 1:58.5

4x400 relay — 7. Audrey Johnson, Ashlee Jacobsen, Alaja Love and Myah Rakness 4:51.23

Long jump — 11. Paige Sanders 14-8, 21. Peyton Ott 13-4 3/4, 27. Alaja Love 12-5 3/4, 39. Genevieve Moran 10-7 1/2

Triple jump — 4. Paige Sanders 33-7 1/2*

Shot put — 5. Anai Torres 33-9 3/4, 36. Noelle Leighton 24-0 1/4, 38. Rowan Borcher 23-1 1/4

BOYS

Team scores — 1. Sheridan 130, 2. Campbell County 89.5, 3. Kelly Walsh 87, 4. Thunder Basin 84, 5. Cody 74.5, 6. Buffalo 29, 7. Worland 24, 8. Big Horn 21, T9. Powell and Rawlins 18, 11. Lovell 12, 12. Douglas 10

55 meter dash — 45. Tristin Winninger 7.3, T57. Brayden Benander 7.5, T65. Cobey Khan 7.56, David Stearns 8.21

200 meters — T44. Brayden Benander 26.97, 58. Cobey Khan 27.53, 77. David Stearns 29.51, 80. Damian Rakness 30.94

800 meters — 11. Liam Taylor 2:13.22, 19. Michael Stensing 2:27.47, 23. Colin Walker 2:30.23, 24. Thomas Shuman 2:30.96, 25. Troy Cheatham 2:32.7

1600 meters — 8. Korbyn Warren 5:07.41, 11. Colin Walker 5:11.88, 16. Michael Stensing 5:23.6, 19. Troy Cheatham 5:29.19, 21. Benjamin Smith 6:11.7

3200 meters — 5. Korbyn Warren 11:14.32, 11. Nathan Varian 12:23.85

55 meter hurdles — 8. Lincoln Crawford 8.61, T22. Damian Raknes 11.19

4x200 relay — 7. Lincoln Crawford, Tristin Winninger, Brayden Benander and Cobey Khan 1:45.2

4x400 relay — 9. Liam Taylor, Michael Stensing, Thomas Shuman and Troy Cheatham 4:08.34

1600 sprint medley — 1. Lincoln Crawford, Brayden Benander, Korbyn Warren and Liam Taylor 3:53.95*

Long jump — 31. Lincoln Crawford 16-2 1/4

Shot put — 28. Landon Smallwood 37-6 3/4, 39. Levi Cox 35-5 1/4, 40. Kaden Wolff 35-3, 47. JW Faulkner 33-3 1/2, 49. Gabe McMillan 33-1 1/4