The Powell High School cross country teams may have barely made it to the starting line on time, but that didn't cause problems in Buffalo on Friday, as the Panther girls placed four of the top six to take the team title and the boys finished fourth in a tough field.

After a bus breakdown near Worland, the Panthers hustled over the mountain for the second race of the year, with coach Ashley Hildebrand noting the girls “only had enough time to get their numbers on and get in a short warmup” before the  race started.

That didn’t slow down the girls’ team.

Karee Cooley led the team with a second place finish in 20 minutes, 25 seconds.

Just behind her was the duo of Anyston Keller and Kaytlee George, as Keller was third in 20:37 and George was fourth just two seconds behind.

“Kaytlee’s time was actually a personal best. We wanted her to go out faster in the first mile this race, and she did with an excellent result,” Hildebrand said.

Aubree Kraft finished sixth with a time of 21:26, and Kara Sanders rounded out the team scoring in 13th with a 22:47.

Eleasah Horsley finished in 19th with a 23:25 and Paige Sanders was the final varsity runner with a 22nd place finish in 23:39.

As a team the Panthers finished with 28 points, well ahead of Worland in second place with 59 points as Lander was third with 70.

“This was a new course, and unfortunately for the varsity girls they did not have time to preview the course,” Hildebrand said. “The course was hilly, a bit confusing, and it was a hot day. They still raced well.”

In the boys’ race the Panthers were led by a new face in freshman Ryder DeBoer, as he placed eighth with an 18:22.

“Ryder has been running really well in practice, so we were anxious to see how he would run in his first actual meet and he had a great day,” Hildebrand said. 

Channing Wenzel was the second runner in for Powell, as he took 19th in a time of 19:52.

Michael Stensing and Ben Smith were just behind in 20th and 21st with times of 19:54 and 20:00 respectively.

The fifth runner closing out  Powell’s scoring was Karson Howe in 24th with a time of 20:18.

Nathan Varian took 25th with a 20:40 as the final varsity runner.

As a team the Panthers were fourth with 80 points, as host Buffalo took the victory with 31 points. Worland was second with 41 and Lander was third with 65.

“The boys’ team ran really well together, with our No. 2-5 runners sticking close to one another,” Hildebrand said. “This allowed them to take fourth place as a team, and put themselves into a position to be competitive in our conference and at state.”

In the junior varsity race the Panthers entered four girls, and all four placed in the top 10.

Landyn Horsley was third in 25:05 and Natalee Laing took fourth in 26:15, Abigail Curdy placed seventh in 26:56 and Charlie Taylor was 10th in 27:36.

Wyatt Hill was the lone boys JV racer due to sickness, taking 35th with a 24:43.

The Panthers jump back into Montana this weekend, heading to Bozeman on Saturday afternoon for an invitational with a number of top Montana teams as well as Park County rival Cody.