Following up on her record-breaking performance the week before, Kinley Cooley finished first and led the Panther girls cross country team to a win Friday in Buffalo, while the Panther boys placed sixth, with three of the teams in front of them being 4A.

“We experienced another hot day and an even more challenging course with some long uphill climbs, but our kids really got after it and some ran even faster than they did last week on a flatter course,” coach Ashley Hildebrand said.

Leading the way for the Powell girls once again was Cooley, who pulled away early and claimed a comfortable victory at 19 minutes and 17 seconds, approximately 43 seconds ahead of second place.

“Kinley is a very strong starter and was able to pull away from the second place finisher within the first mile,” Hildebrand said.

Next in for the Panthers was Kenna Jacobsen, who rebounded from a sixth place team finish last week to take home eighth overall and second for the Panthers in 20:51.

Third across for the Panthers was Karee Cooley, who finished 16th with a time of 21:56.

Just behind her in 17th and 19th were Melissa Merritt and Shelby Zickefoose, as Merritt posted a time of 21:59 and Zickefoose ran a 22:05.

Macie Velasco finished in 27th with a 23:06, and Eleasah Horsley came in 32nd with a 23:29.

“Kenna, Shelby, Macie and Eleasah all ran faster on this course than they did in Billings and it was really good to see our five scoring runners all placing in the top 20,” Hildebrand said.

Powell scored 57 points, just enough to hold off host Buffalo, who posted a score of 62.

On the boys’ side the Panthers once again were led by Liam Taylor, who finished seventh overall in 17:07.

“Liam has really grown in the last year with regard to thinking about and applying his race tactics during the race, and that, combined with the good mileage base he built this summer, has served him very well so far,” Hildebrand said.

Colin Walker was the second runner across for the Panthers, placing 28th with a time of 19:14.

Third across was Korbyn Warren, who finished in 31st with a time of 19:30.

“Korbyn was not feeling his best this week, but after some rest this weekend we expect him to bounce back next week,” Hildebrand said.

Nathan Varian (19:51), Troy Cheatham (19:52) and Alex Werner (19:59) were the fourth, fifth and sixth runners across for Powell, finishing in 34th, 35th and 36th, respectively. All three ran faster than in Billings.

Rounding out the varsity team for the Panthers was Michael Stensing, who placed 50th in a time of 21:11.

The Panther boys placed sixth with 133 team score, as Buffalo won the boys’ team race with 52.

In the JV girls, Salem Brown led with a sixth place finish (23:43), Jordan Black placed eighth (24:25), Caydee Eden placed 23rd (26:00), Allison LeBlanc placed 28th (26:54), Paige Sanders placed 36th (28:07) and Jordyn Nelson placed 42nd (29:14) as the girls’ placed third as a team.

In the JV boys, Channing Wenzel placed 22nd (20:44), Michael Legerski placed 35th (21:36), Thomas Shuman was 43rd (22:16) and Nelson Kohlbus was 62nd (27:01).

Powell heads back into Montana this weekend, taking part in the Bozeman Invitational on Saturday.