The Powell Panther girls track and field team finally had a chance to compete and took advantage, finishing second at the Burlington Invitational while qualifying athletes for state in five different events.

Leading the way with individual first place finishes were Karee Cooley in the 800 meters who won in 2 minutes, 32.5 seconds, Kinley Cooley in the 1600 meters with a time of 5:36.42, Kate Williams in the pole vault clearing 8 feet, 6 inches, Paige Sanders in the triple jump with a leap of 34-6 and Anai Torres in the discus with a heave of 118-2.

Sanders and Torres were two of the Panther athletes to qualify, along with Audrey Johnson taking second in the 400 meters (1:01.2), Kinley Cooley taking second in the 3200 meters (12:10.88) and Nalani Jordan grabbing second in the discus just behind Torres with a throw of 114-7.

“Anai and Nalani picking up where they left off at state last year was awesome to see, especially this early in the season,” coach Scott Smith said. “Punching their tickets to state already is a very nice cherry to put on top of the day.”

Smith added that two of those other athletes in Johnson and Sanders “did a great job of using their indoor seasons to catapult them into great starts outdoors, auto-qualifying in difficult events to qualify in.”

Along with those strong finishes the Panthers added two first place relay finishes, as Averie Warner, Ashlee Jacobsen, Autumn Kidd and Kindyle Floy won the 4x100 relay (54.16) and the team of the Cooleys, Macie Velasco and Kenna Jacobsen won the 4x800 relay and qualified for state with a time of 10:22.52.

Other top five individual finishes included Shelby Zickefoose taking third in the 1600 meters (5:58.53) and fourth in the 800 meters (2:42.9), Sanders tying for third in the long jump (16-1 1/2) Nyah Johnson taking third in the discus (98-1), Audrey Johnson taking fourth in the 200 meters (27.45), Williams taking fourth in the 100 meter hurdles (17.7), Stella Shoopman finishing fifth in the 300 meter hurdles (55.45), Floy tying for fifth in the high jump (4-7) and Torres taking fifth in the shot put (31-10).

With some high placements early, Smith said that the throwing group is optimistic early in the year for both the boys and girls.

“Coach [Tom] Rowley was really excited with how well the young kids competed this early,” Smith said. “There will be peaks and valleys but they showed a lot of potential and it is going to be fun to watch them progress.”

The Panthers finished comfortably in second place with 172 points, 20 points behind winners Worland and well ahead of third place Tongue River which had 68.5.

After that first meet the Panthers will take a couple of weeks to prepare for their next meet, April 12 at home for the LA Kohnke.

BURLINGTON INVITE

* Denotes state qualifying mark

Team scores — 1. Worland 192, 2. Powell 172, 3. Tongue River 68.5, 4. Riverside 30.5, 5. Lovell 30, 6. Burlington 29, 7. Thermopolis 20.5, T8. Wind River and Greybull 17, 10. Rocky Mountain 12.5, 11. Wyoming Indian 9, 12. Ten Sleep 2

100 meters — 8. Kindyle Floy 13.54, 9. Genevieve Moran 13.65, 11. Addy Brown 13.78, 15. Averie Warner 14.03, 19. Ashlee Jacobsen 14.3, 20. Autumn Kidd 14.38, 27. Ryli Belliston 14.95, 33. Ryann Hutzenbieler 15.48, 34. Cambree Dicks 15.51

200 meters — 4. Audrey Johnson 27.45, T6. Kindyle Floy 28.19, 11. Paige Sanders 29.03, 19. Averie Warner 30.05, 22. Addy Brown 30.55, 23. Ashlee Jacobsen 30.6, 24. Peyton Ott 30.62, 25. Autumn Kidd 30.73, 28. Alaja Love 31.31, 41. Genevieve Moran 37.02

400 meters — 2. Audrey Johnson 1:01.2*, T11. Eleasah Horsley 1:12.86

800 meters — 1. Karee Cooley 2:32.5, 4. Shelby Zickefoose 2:42.9

1600 meters — 1. Kinley Cooley 5:36.42, 2. Karee Cooley 5:38.27, 3. Shelby Zickefoose 5:58.53, 13. Salem Brown 6:52.91, 14. Jordyn Nelson 7:00.91

3200 meters — 2. Kinley Cooley 12:10.88*

100 meter hurdles — 4. Kate Williams 17.7, 6. Stella Shoopman 19.16, 12. Vera Thomas 19.65, 13. Addy Brown 19.77

300 meter hurdles — 5. Stella Shoopman 55.45, 7. Vera Thomas 58.01

4x100 relay — 1. Averie Warner, Ashlee Jacobsen, Autumn Kidd and Kindyle Floy 54.16

4x400 relay — 2. Eleasah Horsley, Shelby Zickefoose, Karee Cooley and Audrey Johnson 4:36.08

4x800 relay — 1. Karee Cooley, Macie Velasco, Kinley Cooley and Kenna Jacobsen 10:22.52*

High jump — T5. Kindyle Floy 4-7

Pole vault — 1. Kate Williams 8-6

Long jump — T3. Paige Sanders 16-1 1/2, 11. Peyton Ott 14-3 3/4, 12. Cambree Dicks 14-2 1/2, T14. Ryli Belliston and Alaja Love 13-9 1/2, 19. Ryann Hutzenbieler 13-6 1/4, 22. Addy Brown 13-0 1/2, 24. Lainni Cary 12-6, 26. Genevieve Moran 12-2 1/2

Triple jump — 1. Paige Sanders 34-6*, 12. Ryann Hutzenbieler 28-0 1/2, 13. Cambree Dicks 27-10 3/4, 15. Stella Shoopman 27-5 3/4, 19. Lainni Cary 26-11 1/2

Shot put — 2. Nalani Jordan 33-11, 5. Anai Torres 31-10, 7. Nyah Johnson 29-9, 11. Sam Edgell 27-11, 19. Noelle Leighton 26-6, 21. Rowan Borcher 26-1, 31. Adrianna Torres 23-2 1/2, 34. Claire Hultgren 22-5, 39. Kenedi Clevenger 20-4

Discus — 1. Anai Torres 118-2*, 2. Nalani Jordan 114-7*, 3. Nyah Johnson 98-1, 12. Adrianna Torres 80-1, 13. Rowan Borcher 78-9, 15. Sam Edgell 76-6, 17. Noelle Leighton 75-7, 25. Kenedi Clevenger 65-8, 36. Claire Hultgren 53-8