For the first time since a state championship performance in 2010, the Powell Panther girls’ cross country team brought home hardware from the state meet. The girls finished in third place while the boys raced to a 10th place finish Saturday in Ethete.

“We can’t say enough about this girls team and how hard they worked together to meet this goal,” coach Ashley Hildebrand said. “They built up their base mileage this summer, showed up for long runs on Saturdays and were very supportive of each other throughout the whole process.”

Leading the way for the girls was Kinley Cooley, who raced to a seventh place finish overall, clocking in at a time of 20:44.42.

With that finish Cooley became the first Panther girl to earn All-State honors in five years after Kayla Kolpitcke finished in fifth in 2017.

Just behind Cooley was Kenna Jacobsen who rebounded from an illness at the conference meet to place 14th (21:08.44) — just 13 seconds from All-State honors.

Pushing her way up the depth chart for the Panthers was Jordan Black, coming in third for Powell and finishing 27th (21:43.58).

Behind Black as the fourth runner for Powell was Melissa Merritt in 35th (21:59.05) while fellow freshman Audrey Johnson rounded out the scoring in 37th (22:07.12).

Rounding out the team as the sixth and seven runners were Megan Jacobsen in 41st (22:15.69) and Brynn Hillman in 43rd (22:20.94).

As a team Powell finished with 109 points, behind second place Evanston (71) and champions Cody (58).

“They are already looking forward to next season and are setting their goals even higher,” Hildebrand said. “We return every single runner except our senior, Megan Jacobsen, who made the jump from volleyball to cross country and made a big impact on our team. We will miss her leadership, her work ethic and her never-give-up attitude.”

Alongside returning nearly the entire team next year, Hildebrand said several strong runners are expected to make the jump to high school from the Powell Middle School program next year.

For the boys, Daniel Merritt battled strong and held a top 10 spot through the first 2 miles, but a side ache forced him to fall short of an All-State performance and finish in 27th (18:07.46).

“We are going to miss Daniel so very much next season,” Hildebrand said. “He leaves us with the fastest time ever run by a Panther cross country runner. He is a very talented runner, team leader and his work ethic is outstanding. We are very much looking forward to the track season where he will lead our team as well.”

Jace Hyde continued his climb through the ranks, finishing as the second runner for Powell again — finishing in 46th (18:42.67).

In his first and only season running cross country for PHS, Hyde dropped his time by almost two minutes and battled toward the second running position by the end of the season.

Juan Torres made a strong push at the state meet, continuing his improving sophomore campaign, finishing in 57th (18:59.17).

Korbyn Warren faced difficulties off the starting line in his first state meet, as he was knocked to the ground but rebounded to come in at the No. 4 spot for Powell in 58th (19:05.41).

Breckin Streeter finished the scoring for Powell, coming in 67th (19:30.35).

Kyle North came in sixth for the Panthers in his final state meet, finishing in 75th (19:49.14).

Liam Taylor was the final Powell runner across the line, coming in 82nd (20:05.77).

As a team Powell finished in 10th place with 255 points. Mountain View walked away with the team title with 71 points.

“We lost several seniors from this group of young men, but we look to Juan, Korbyn, Liam and Breckin to continue to get stronger, improve their times and to provide the core for next year’s team,” Hildebrand said.