Winning a state title took a true team effort from the Powell Panther girls’ cross country team on Saturday, but the Panthers were led in part by a pair of cousins — with Karee Cooley placing fifth and Kenna Jacobsen placing eighth to earn All-State honors.

Cooley, a freshman, and Jacobsen, a junior, have consistently been in the top three runners for the Panthers all season, with Cooley pushing her way to the top in three of the final four races.

“It’s really cool because we train together all season long and push each other,” Jacobsen said.

Despite coming out as the top two runners for the Panthers, Cooley and Jacobsen sang praise of their teammate, junior Kinley Cooley, for pushing them throughout the season to become the best versions of themselves.

“More than anyone else Kinley pushes us,” Karee Cooley said. “She has made us the runners that we are.”

Kinley Cooley, Karee’s older sister, was the lone All-State placer last year for the Panthers, and used that motivation throughout the season which Jacobsen praised as a key motivator.

“She pushes us every day,” Jacobsen said. “She is so driven and it just makes me want to be better too.”

Heading into this season, Karee Cooley said she was not as motivated over the summer before her freshman year, but has a renewed excitement after a top 10 finish and team title.

“Over the summer I was kind of like, I’m doing cross country, I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to do it but after seeing how well the whole team can do it makes me have hope that we can keep doing it,” Karee Cooley said.

Jacobsen said this honor helped finish off a season in which she found a love for running again after struggling for several years prior.

“It’s huge because in years past I have mentally not been in a good state of mind with running,” Jacobsen said. “This year was a blast and I’ve had fun, each race is something exciting and new … when I was in 11th going into the last 800 I was like, ‘I didn’t work this hard all season to get 11th.’”

The Panthers had all runners on their team in attendance at the state meet, something the team has continued to praise as they have become a family of sorts over the season.

“We are so grateful for everyone because everyone is so important,” Jacobsen said. “We kept saying ‘run for them, run for your teammates, run for those who can’t run right now.’”

Karee Cooley said that the mantra around the team was that ‘it is not for yourself, it’s for the team and the coaches and everyone.’

“We are not just a team, we are a family,” Karee Cooley said. “I don’t think we could be more proud of how we all performed.”