The Powell High School cross country teams had their best showing of the season in Red Lodge on Saturday, with the Panthers finishing second and the Lady Panthers finishing third out of 13 teams. Laurel took the team title for both boys and girls.

“That was the first time we’d ever gone to Red Lodge for a meet, so it was really fun to see something different. It’s nice to mix things up a bit,” said PHS head coach Cliff Boos. “We had a tremendous amount of parents that came out for the meet, so we always appreciate the support.”

Panther junior Tyler Pfeifer finished third for the boys for the second straight week, with a time of 18:21.44. Kayla Kolpitcke was the top finisher for the Lady Panthers, placing fifth with a time of 21:16.22.

Drew Williams of Red Lodge dominated the field on his home course, taking the top spot for boys with a time of 17:40.42. Colstrip, Montana’s Hayley Burns was first on the girls’ side for the second straight meet with a time of 20:07.85.

Panthers

On the boys’ side, Pfeifer scored his second top three performance of the season with a time of 18:21.44. Pfeifer was joined in the top 10 by Joey Hernandez, who finished sixth with a time of 18:37.

“Tyler [Pfeifer] did a lot of work over the summer, and he always wants to do extras on the workouts,” Boos said. “It’s so nice to see that, because it’s only going to make him better. And Joey [Hernandez] was just 16 seconds behind, so that was a great run for him.”

Riley Schiller also had a solid meet, finishing 18th with a time of 20:03.3.

“Riley keeps getting better and better,” Boos said. “He’s really a good young runner.”

Cole Frank was 20th with a time of 20:07.07, while Daniel Merritt finished 22nd with a time of 20:09.58.

“What’s neat is there was only six seconds between third, fourth and fifth place [among the Panthers],” Boos said. “That’s great when you see kids running that close together. It will be fun to see them as they continue.”

Isaac Summers (20:55.97) and Ben Whitlock (21:09.2) rounded out the Panthers’ varsity contingent, placing 34th and 37th, respectively.

“Ben Whitlock has really been coming along well,” Boos said. “He’s doing a lot of extra stuff in terms of workouts on his own, so I’m so glad to see him improving every week.”

Lady Panthers

Kolpitcke’s time of 21:16.22 earned the senior a fifth-place finish.

“Kayla just ran this course really well; she had a really good day,” Boos said. “She seemed really confident and really got after it, so that was a good showing in a big field of runners.”

Kabrie Cannon was second among Lady Panther finishers and just missed a top 10 finish, taking 11th overall with a time of 22:42.39. Cannon was followed by Karina Boreen, who finished 16th with a time of 23:50.53.

Hailee Hyde was 28th with a time of 24:44.89, while Kaitlyn Decker placed 31st with a time of 25:18.66.

Madelyn Horton (26:25.92) and Greta Artusson (27:48.11) rounded out the Lady Panthers, placing 39th and 44th, respectively.

The PHS cross country teams have the rest of the week off, and will be back in action Monday at the Rocky Mountain Invite at the Foster Gulch Golf Course in Lovell. The teams will then travel to Worland Thursday, Sept. 26 for the Worland Invite.

“It will be nice to have this week to work on a few things before a big week of running the following week,” Boos said. “I’m really very pleased with how well we’re doing so far.”