Despite missing top runners on both sides, the Powell Panther girls’ cross country team placed second overall while the Panther boys’ team posted faster times than a year ago in the first race of the season Friday in Billings.

Leading the way for the Panthers was Shelby Zickefoose, who placed 12th overall with a personal best time of 21 minutes and 3 seconds.

Close behind in her first varsity race was freshman Anyston Keller in 13th with a time of 21:08 and Melissa Merritt in 15th in 21:11 to start her senior season strong.

Macie Velasco was 27th with a time of 22:17 and freshman Kaytlee George wrapped up the team scoring in 28th with a time of 22:23.

Freshman Kara Sanders was 32nd with a time of 22:49 and Paige Sanders was the final varsity Panther in 59th with a time of 25:19.

“We were so impressed with how these girls raced,” coach Ashley Hildebrand said. “Our veterans all ran faster on this course than they ran last year, and our freshmen really stepped up to contribute to the team effort. It is fantastic to see them running so well in the first race of the season. It gives us a great base to build upon for the rest of the season.”

The girls’ team finished second with 69 points, just 11 points behind winner Billings West which had 58.

First across for the boys was Korbyn Warren, who took 25th with a time of 18:02.

Michael Stensing finished in 61st with a time of 19:56 and Alex Werner was close behind in 64th with a time of 20:12.

Ben Smith took 86th with a time of 21:18 and freshmen Karson Howe and Wyatt Hill were 102nd and 111th respectively with times of 22:17 and 23:45.

Nathan Varian was the final varsity Panther, finishing with a time of 25:30 to take 115th.

“We were very happy with how the boys ran,” Hildebrand said. “Korbyn looked really strong and ran a solid race, and Michael, Alex and Ben all posted faster times on this course than they ran last year. Freshmen Karson and Wyatt looked really good today in their first high school race and it will be fun to see how they progress at the high school level.”

The boys’ team took 13th overall as a team with 303 points; Big Horn was the highest placing Wyoming team with 245 while Hardin took the team title with 60 points.

In the junior varsity race Natalee Laing took 21st with a time of 24:32; Caydee Eden was 40th with a time of 26 minutes; Jordyn Nelson placed 46th in 26:36 and Hayden Serr took 54th with a time of 27:30.

“We were missing several runners from both the boys and girls teams this week for various reasons, so we did not run any JV boys and the JV girls were not able to score as a team,” Hildebrand said. “However, in the coming weeks we should be able to fill all four teams with enough runners to score. Overall it was a fantastic start to the season, and we are excited to see these kids improve every week.”

Powell now heads over the mountain to take part in the Buffalo Invitational at 10:30 a.m. Friday.