Girls seventh in tight team raceThe Powell Panthers endured intermittent rain, wind chills in the upper 30s and generally miserable weather conditions to place second at their home golf invitational on Friday. The defending state champion Powell boys carded a team score of 367 to place second behind Sheridan.

The Panther girls, playing as a team for the first time this spring, finished seventh, despite being just 30 strokes behind meet champion Thermopolis in the standings.

Bowen Prestwich fought through the adverse conditions to card a round of 81 and place fourth for Powell. Teammates Pax Mitchell and Jackson Roling added top-10 finishes. Mitchell came around the 18-hole Powell Golf Club layout with a score of 88, finishing in eighth place. Roling was two strokes higher in 10th place.

“Bowen did a nice job of battling through the elements and keeping a very level head,” said Panther golf coach Troy Hildebrand. “His overall approact to the game is probably one of his biggest strengths. He deals with the ups and downs as well as anybody.”

Survival was the name of the game for everyone in attendance at Powell on Friday. Early morning showers and cloudy skies persisted through the first half of the tournament before finally breaking and allowing some sun to shine late in the meet. A howling cold wind never abated.

Rounding out the Panthers’ scores for the day, Cameron Nielson carded a round of 108. Dillon Nix had a 109 for Powell’s varsity. JV golfers Zane Henderson and Zach Heny finished at 120 and 141, respectively.

“Cameron had a great week of practice, but he is a high ball hitter,” Hildebrand said. “The wind seemed to really hurt him all day. I’m sure he’ll bounce back in Cody this week. As for Dillon, he has been working very hard this spring and I know his best results are still ahead of him.”

On the girls’ side, Mikala Fulton narrowly missed another top 10 finish this spring, carding a 106 to miss out by a single stroke.

“She is getting better each week,” Hildebrand said. “She spends a lot of time working on her own at the course. For just picking the game up seriously in the last year, she has made leaps and bounds.”

Carli Brown added a round of 108 for the Powell girls. Tess Mitchell added a round of 133 to finish out the team scores for the Panthers, who did not have the luxury of any scratch players on their team roster.

“Carli played well again this week after missing our previous two tournaments,” Hildebrand said. “Much like Mikala, she picked the game up last summer and seems to get better every week. Tess had one of those days where not much went her way, but she kept a positive attitude and battled through with the best she had.”

The Panthers’ Saturday appearance in Buffalo was canceled. The team will travel to Cody this Saturday for its final meet of the spring season. That invitational will get started at 9 a.m.