Boys ninth as Powell shut out of state honors

For the first time in several years, the Powell High School cross country teams returned from the 3A state meet without a trophy. Similar to the 3A West conference meet, the Panther girls finished fourth in a deep field. The Panther boys were ninth at Douglas.

“The girls ran well,” said Panther head coach Cliff Boos. “It was such a talented field. We had a good meet and a good day. It was nice to run without being frozen out or getting rained on.”

Sophomore Sierra Morrow provided Powell with its top finish of the weekend, running to a 12th-place finish in a time of 21:54. Junior Tally Wells added a 15th-place finish in 22:16 while Bailey Sanders also slipped inside the top 20.

The Panthers’ lone freshman runner wrapped up a stellar second half of the season with a time of 22:30, good enough for 19th overall.

“Just to see Bailey get so excited every time you gave her a time was special,” said Boos. “She’s so enthusiastic about how she does running. She’s one of those positive individual stories you see every year.”

Tess Mitchell followed in 23rd with a time of 22:49. The Panthers’ scoring lineup was rounded out by senior Desiree Murray, who wrapped up a stellar four-year career with a time of 24:01, good enough for 39th place.

“Desiree was struggling some with the flu, so she didn’t run her best time,” said Boos. “She’s had a great four years though.”

Carly Klein (54th, 25:10) and Alyssa Hildebrand (74th, 28:07) rounded out Powell’s state lineup. A total of 79 runners stepped into the starting chute for the 3A state championship race.

As a team, the Panthers finished with a team score of 108. Cody captured the 3A state title with a score of 47. Star Valley, the 3A West champion at Powell one week earlier, had to settle for state runner-up honors with 64 points. Jackson grabbed the final team trophy with a score of 71.

The top five teams from the 3A West meet were also the top five teams at the state meet, giving testimony to the strength of cross country in western Wyoming.

On the boys’ side, Zander Andreasen reached the finish line first for the Panthers, clocking in at 18:14. That was good enough to give the sophomore 18th place in the boys’ field. Andrew Feller, who had raced to a third-place regional finish the previous week, struggled to a 19:18 and 38th place.

“Andrew was another kid that was fighting whatever illness is going around this past week,” said Boos. “We were hoping he’d be like Sierra the week before and shake it off and run well, but he wasn’t able to. He’s disappointed, but he did so many good things for us this season and placed third the week before at the conference meet. He’s got nothing to hang his head over.”

Sophomores Grant Nickles (20:10) and Matt Abraham (20:15) were the next Panthers to arrive at the finish line. The pair placed 52nd and 53rd, respectively. Classmate Quin Wetzel arrived home in 20:56, good enough for 63rd to close out the scoring portion of Powell’s lineup.

Chase Wellner (66th, 21:00) and Wyatt Horner (80th, 23:15) rounded out the Panthers’ state meet roster. A total of 88 runners completed the boys’ 3A championship race.

In the team race, Jackson successfully defended its 3A state title with ease, scoring 34 points. Star Valley finished as the state runner-up with a score of 84 while Newcastle edged Lander for third-place by two points with a score of 94.

The Panthers were ninth out of 13 teams with a score of 224.

“We bring a lot of kids back from both the boys’ and girls’ teams this year,” said Boos. “Hopefully the kids will continue to improve during track and in the off-season and we should be in good shape next year.”