Hosting its only meet of the year the Powell High School cross country team recorded plenty of fast times, as the girls’ team took second place behind Karee Cooley’s individual victory and the boys’ team was fourth with several strong performances.

Cooley leapt out ahead of the pack for the second straight year and cruised to another victory in the Pinnacle Bank Powell Invitational, as she finished in 18 minutes, 57.8 seconds.

“Karee was on pace through mile two to break the course record, but it was really hot and the heat takes its toll on you in that last mile,” coach Ashley Hildebrand said. “On a cooler day, I think she would have gotten it.”

Kaytlee George raced ahead to be the second Panther in on the day, taking eighth with a time of 20:22.2.

Anyston Keller was close behind, taking 12th with a time of 20:57.4.

Paige Sanders continued as the fourth runner for a second week in a row, setting a large personal best with a time of 21:40 to take 21st.

“Paige’s goal has been to break into the 21s and she did it while taking almost 30 seconds off her best time,” Hildebrand said.

Just on her heels was Eleasah Horsley, who took 22nd with a season best time of 21:43.5, and Kara Sanders was the No. 6 runner just behind her with a time of 21:57 to take 25th.

Despite missing a top runner once again in Aubree Kraft due to injury, the Panthers finished second with 62 points only behind Cody which had 34. The Panthers were still ahead of top 3A competition in Worland (72) and Buffalo (80) while being shorthanded.

Ryder DeBoer continued to lead the Panther boys, as he ran a five second personal best time of 17:40.8 to take 12th overall.

The next runner across for Powell was Nathan Varian, who took 18th overall with a time of 18:18.

Channing Wenzel ran a season best time of 18:37.4 to take 22nd, while Ben Smith ran a personal best time of 18:53.7 to take 28th.

“Ben’s goal all season was to break into the 18s, so it was so awesome to see him do it at our meet,” Hildebrand said.

Michael Stensing was the fifth runner in, as he took 45th with a time of 19:41.8.

Justin Marquez ran a personal best time of 21:02 to take 56th, and Karson Howe was the final varsity runner as he took 62nd with a time of 21:24.4.

As a team the Panthers were fourth with 117 points, behind Buffalo which won with 45 points, Worland with 60 and Cody with 82.

In the junior varsity races the Panther girls were led by Macie Velasco, who in her first race of the season finished ninth with a time of 23:02.7.

“Macie has been fighting some serious health issues and she is finally getting back to where she can run again. She was under strict orders to take it easy and not push too hard, so it was so good to see her run so well and so comfortably and still place in the top 10,” Hildebrand said.

Additional JV runners included Natalee Laing who took 14th in 24:06, Abigail Curdy placed 15th with a 24:35.1, Landyn Horsley placed 18th with a 25:26.2 and Jordyn Nelson was 32nd with a season best time of 27:08.3.

The girls’ team was second to Cody with a score of 54.

The junior varsity boys consisted of two runners, as Wyatt Hill took 19th with a time of 21:16.8 and Matthew Watson took ninth with a time of 23:02.7.

“We also celebrated our seniors after the meet, which is so bittersweet. We have watched most of these young men and women run in middle school and then become part of our high school family for four years,” Hildebrand said. “While we are very excited for them to graduate and go out into the world, we will miss them very much. We are so proud of all the hard work, mentally and physically, that they have put into this sport and it has been so fun to watch them get better and more confident in themselves every year they were with us.”

The Panthers head on the road to start the postseason, making the trip to Lander to take part in the 3A West Conference meet at 1 p.m. on Thursday.