A year ago the Powell Panther boys’ track and field team snapped a nine year title drought. The Panthers expect to be in the title mix once again this year despite significant points not returning from last year’s title team.

Last year the Panthers pushed ahead of the competition and won the title prior to the final event, paced by 40 points from seniors including their top distance runner and two placing hurdlers.

“We graduated some kids, but so did everyone else,” coach Scott Smith said.

Powell is also expecting the loss of junior Cody Seifert’s points after he opted not to compete in track this spring. He placed in the 100 meters, long jump and triple jump along with being part of the 4x100 relay that placed third.

Returning points for the Panthers this year will come in the field events, with Powell returning senior Isaiah Woyak in both the triple jump and high jump from last year where he placed first and second respectively.

A strong returning event for the Panthers will be the pole vault, as Powell returns a trio of seniors in Jeremy Harms, Wyatt Heffington and Adam Williams who all placed in the top six a year ago.

The final returning scorer from a year ago is Stuart Shoopman, who placed in the 110 meter hurdles and just missed a placing in the 300 meter hurdles a year ago.

Smith is hopeful for success in several athletes who have continued to grow, especially in a group of sophomores who are growing from a year ago. The team also boasts a strong group of freshmen who finished as runners up at the middle school level last year.

Smith is also hopeful the throwers will continue to improve after only having one thrower, senior Jonathan Harms, qualify in only the shot put last year.

“We have some boys that are looking good in the throws,” he said.

In addition to Harms the Panthers also return sophomores Korbyn Warren and Nathan Preator as well as junior Evan Whitlock as qualifiers from last year.

After Powell defeated Lander by 8.5 points a year ago to claim the title, Smith said that he is uncertain how things will shake out but expects the Panthers to be in the mix for a second straight championship after looking at results early in the season.

“There’s a lot of teams that have a lot of good kids and I don’t see that dominant, runaway team,” Smith said. “You could have six teams within 10 points at the end of the year. It’s going to be a competitive year, and as usual we are just going to look for improvement and bring home as many medals around their necks and see where the team scores fall.”

Over the first few weeks the Panthers have been in and out of practice, with spring break and Easter delaying opportunities to get competition outside of practice.

Powell will get its first opportunity to showcase its talents this week, heading down to Worland to take part in the D&D Invitational on Thursday.

The Panthers then return home next weekend for their lone home meet of the season, hosting the LA Kohnke Invitational next Saturday, April 13.