Heading over the mountain for the final regular season tournament of the season the Powell Panther golf team battled the elements, as the Panther girls took seventh and the boys took eighth at the Buffalo Invite.

“We had two days in Buffalo on the most challenging course that we will play this fall,” coach Troy Hildebrand said. “It is always in good condition and the greens are difficult for high school players to navigate when they only see them once a year. We also had the first adverse weather that we have seen this season with cooler temperatures and winds between 30-40 mph on Thursday. Friday was much better weather and overall the scores of the field showed improvement.”

Emery Hernandez continued to place inside the top 10, shooting 100 and 98 over both days to take ninth.

“She is hitting a lot of very good shots each round and I am expecting her best golf over these final two weeks,” Hildebrand said.

Coy Erickson was close behind with dual rounds of 106, taking 19th overall.

“Coy had a couple tough holes each day but she is also doing plenty of good things within each round to find herself in the top 10 hunt at both conference and state,” Hildebrand said.

Ali Scott was third in for the Panther girls, shooting rounds of 114 and 112 to take 28th overall.

“We’ll spend some time this week on the greens and that should get her confidence back where it has been all season,” Hildebrand said of the freshman.

Maddie Croft was the final Panther, shooting rounds of 132 and 125 to take 43rd overall.

“She is a player that does a great job of always staying very even keeled and is also a player that puts the work in each week at practice to find areas to improve,” Hildebrand said.

Cody ended as the champions of the tournament with a total score of 609 over both days. Buffalo’s Addison Bettinger took first place with dual rounds of 80 to win by 12 strokes.

For the boys, Cody Fisher led the way and took 12th with two rounds of 83.

“He continues to play very good golf each week and he’ll definitely be a factor at both conference and state over the final two weeks,” Hildebrand said.

Park Harvison was second into the clubhouse for Powell, carding rounds of 85 and 93 to take 28th.

Jace Harris was third for Powell, recording two rounds of 99 to take 51st while Abel Teten and Kason Sherman tied for 53rd with a total of 206 over both days.

Tucker Muecke was the final Panther in the tournament finishing with rounds of 99 and 112 to tie for 58th.

Campbell County took the boys’ team crown with a total of 639 over both days. Jaxon Burr of Campbell County was the individual champion with rounds of 69 and 73 to win by nine strokes.

Powell now returns close to home for the postseason, heading to Lovell at 10 a.m. on Thursday and 9 a.m. on Friday for the conference tournament.

“Lovell isn’t a long course but it is very challenging and it is also in great shape this year,” Hildebrand said. “It will be a great test as both groups battle to be in the top three and earn a trophy this week.”