PHS girls race to third place finish

Boys finish sixth at conference

Posted 10/18/22

The most difficult course of the season mixed with top competition at the 3A West Conference cross country meet in Lander on Thursday led to some mixed performances, as the Powell girls’ team …

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PHS girls race to third place finish

Boys finish sixth at conference

Posted

The most difficult course of the season mixed with top competition at the 3A West Conference cross country meet in Lander on Thursday led to some mixed performances, as the Powell girls’ team raced to a third place finish and the boys finished sixth.

Leading the way for the girls was Kinley Cooley, who continued her strong surge to earn All-Conference honors and finish in third place with a 21:00.12.

Behind Cooley there was uncertainty for the Powell team, as second and third runners Kenna Jacobsen and Brynn Hillman were hit with illness and did not finish as high as anticipated.

Jacobsen pushed through the illness and finished in 18th (22:38.42) and came across as the second runner for the Panthers.

Hillman was unable to push through as strongly, finishing as the eighth runner across the line for Powell in 33rd place (23:35.76).

“We all have those races that are rough and don’t go as planned, but I expect Kenna and Brynn to feel better and bounce back next week,” coach Ashley Hildebrand said. “The real positive in all of this is the strength of our girls team as a whole.”

Finishing third for the Panthers was Megan Jacobsen in 21st (22:40.77); Jordan Black was fourth across in 23rd (22:49.79) and Melissa Merritt just behind Jacobsen in 25th (22:49.62).

Rounding out the varsity squad was Audrey Johnson in 25th (22:49.79) and Shelby Zickefoose in 27th (22:55.39).

“Even though two of our top runners didn’t place where they usually do, our girls team is so strong that this didn’t keep them from getting a spot on the podium when it could have easily taken most teams out of the running,” Hildebrand said.

Salem Brown finished in 46th (25:01.45) and Gracie Wolff (26:17.05) placed in 52nd to finish off the runners for the girls.

For the boys, Daniel Merritt led the way for the Panthers once again to finish in 20th place (18:46.59).

Jace Hyde continued his strong late season push to finish in 30th (19:12.10); Korbyn Warren placed 31st (19:14.91); Juan Torres placed 32nd (19:16.95) and Breckin Streeter was 43rd (19:46.77) to round out the scoring for Powell.

Sixth across was Kyle North in 58th (20:26.84) and Liam Taylor was the final varsity runner across in 60th (20:27.82).

Justin Hobbs placed 62nd (20:31.86); David Polson placed 88th (22:03.52); Stuart Shoopman placed 89th (22:15.83); Landon Hyde placed 90th (22:16.11); Jon Hawley placed 94th (22:44.62); Tate Allred placed 96th (22:44.76); Drew Valdez placed 105th (26:35.52) and Colin Walker placed 107th (28:53.88).

“The Lander course is the hardest course that we have raced on all year and we thought that our kids did a good job of meeting the physical and mental challenge thrown at them by Lander’s famous hill which is located just under 2 miles into the race,” Hildebrand said. 

Powell now has one last chance to get out on the course this season, heading down to Ethete to take part in the state championships at Wyoming Indian on Saturday.

The girls race is set to start at 11 a.m. and the Powell girls hope to make a better run at a team title against Cody and Evanston after finishing 46 points behind Cody and 16 behind Evanston.

The boys race is scheduled to start at 12:45 p.m., when Daniel Merritt will hope to make a push towards the top 10 alongside helping the Panthers to a strong season finish.

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