In his 16 years at the helm of Powell High School cross country, Cliff Boos’ philosophy has remained the same: “to do your best and work to get better.”

A direct enough approach that has led to successes, such as three state titles in five years (2006, 2008 and 2010) for his girls squads and a stretch of eight years where either the boys or girls teams finished in the top three.

“The thing about cross country is, it is objective when it comes to who you’re going to run,” Boos said. “Whoever runs the fastest times are going to run the varsity races. If someone runs a faster time in the junior varsity race than one of our runners in the varsity race, then that can change.”

The Panthers have some depth to choose from this season as to whom the five scoring runners will be in each race, with 11 boys making up the roster, along with nine girls.

“We’re about where we usually are with numbers,” Boos said. “Though we’ve got a couple more boys than we normally have.”

And in those boys, he sees a lot of potential.

Sophomores Alan Merritt and Jayden Yates, junior Jesse Erickson and senior Matthew Waite bring ability and experience for the Powell boys, even while being predominantly young.

“Alan had a great freshman year for us, did real well in track and field and ran a lot over the summer,” Boos said. “Matthew’s family moved to Virginia last year and he ran there. But they’ve moved back, and he has really come around and is strong.

“Jesse really turned a corner last year and is running really well, and Jayden is someone we had last year and should contribute.”

Boos also has an influx of some freshmen who will be expected to help in Colin Queen and Dylan Cordes.

“Dylan had a tremendous season in eighth grade last year, and he has shown a lot of improvement this year. We are looking for great things from him,” Boos said. “And Colin was conference champ last year in middle school. He’s an all-around athlete, with baseball and basketball, and he’s one of those people that are aggressive and a natural leader in making everyone better.”

Boos also mentioned more of the youth brigade with sophomores Alex Smith, Dylan McEvoy and Steven Shopa among those expected to add to the depth of the team.

On the girls side, team leader and sophomore Emma Korte returns with incoming freshmen Kayla Kolpitcke and Natalie Dillivan giving them a strong push at the top.

“Emma was really solid for us last year and was voted MVP by her teammates,” Boos said. “Kayla and Natalie were great runners in middle school last year and have been working really hard to get ready and are excited. Kayla, especially — I look for her to have an incredible first year on varsity.”

Some nagging injuries and conflicting commitments will be something to work through and keep an eye on.

“Kaitlyn Decker has a little bit of a calf problem, and Teo Faulkner has had some knee problems that we’re trying to work through,” Boos said. “It will be day to day, but I’m looking forward to what they’ll be able to do.”

Boos also noted that the likes of Yessica Carrasco, Dagne Stratton, Emily Sweet and Emma Andreasen will be keys to helping the team try to get to state.

“You never know who will pop up and have an impact,” he said. “We just look for improvement. Go out every day and do your best and just see what happens. If we do our best, then we will see success, and it’s just nice to see that they are so excited.”

The Panthers set out to do their best at last weekend’s Billings Invitational against a litany of bigger schools, a great litmus test at the start of the season.

See Thursday’s Tribune for a recap of the races.