While saying goodbye to the top runners on both the boys and girls sides a year ago, the Powell Panther cross country team is looking to reload and bring home some hardware this season as both groups return important experience to the course.

On the girls’ side, the Panthers said goodbye to their top two fastest racers in school history, but return five of their seven competitors from last year’s state team this year.

Junior Karee Cooley and senior Shelby Zickefoose are expected to lead the way, coach Ashley Hildebrand said, as both are coming off of strong track seasons that saw personal bests.

Powell also returns important experience with senior Melissa Merritt, who Hildebrand said has been running triathlons all summer and expects her to be a leader for the Panthers.

The other returners for the Panthers include junior Eleasah Horsley and sophomore Macie Velasco, with the coach noting all of the competitors came in strong to start the year.

“All of them have been hard at work this summer building up their base,” Hildebrand said. “They are all looking really good in practice and will provide great leadership to our younger runners.”

The Panthers will need to fill in two spots on the varsity lineup, with Hildebrand expecting tough competition between a number of returning runners along with a group of incoming freshmen who have shown bright spots early.

“They are all great kids and hard workers in practice … We are very impressed with all of the incoming freshmen and are excited to see what they do this season,” Hildebrand said.

After finishing on the podium the past few seasons including second a year ago, Hildebrand said she expects the Panthers to challenge once again, despite losing those top finishers.

“We think that we can challenge for a podium spot at state. We did lose two of our top runners from last season, but we have a lot of depth on the girls’ side and these girls love to run,” Hildebrand said.

On the boys’ side, the Panthers lost their top finisher from a year ago, but return the rest of their competitors from the state meet.

Leading the way are seniors Korbyn Warren and Colin Walker, who Hildebrand said have both impressed early in practices.

“Both Colin and Korbyn are coming off of a successful track season and look really good in practice,” Hildebrand said. “Colin put in a lot of miles over the summer and has been crushing our workouts so far. Korbyn is working on building up his base, but already looks really good in practice. They are both outstanding leaders and we look for them to hit some really fast times this season.”

Along with Warren and Walker, the Panthers bring back plenty of experience with seniors Troy Cheatham and Thomas Shuman, juniors Nathan Varian and Ben Smith as well as sophomores Michael Stensing, Channing Wenzel and Alex Werner.

“Troy, Thomas, Nathan, Channing, Michael and Alex all have experience at the varsity level and Ben is looking very strong in practice,” Hildebrand said.

Hildebrand noted they have three freshmen on the roster, with the coaching staff excited for the group and looking forward “to watching them develop as runners at the high school level.”

After finishing fifth a year ago the Panthers are looking for a podium finish this year after returning most of their state team and just missing out on a trophy in Cheyenne last October.

“We were very close last year and I think we have a great shot with the boys that we have this year,” Hildebrand said.

She said the program has added a new volunteer assistant in Rachel Carlson, who recently moved to Powell and served as the head cross country coach and an assistant track coach for the Bearcats.

“We are very happy to add her to our cross country family as she brings so much positivity and experience with her,” Hildebrand said.

The Panthers start on the road this week, heading to Billings to take part in a race at noon on Friday.