The Powell High School boys and girls cross country teams placed well at the Buffalo Invitational Friday, with several Panther runners cracking the top 20 in the second meet of the season.

As a team, the Powell girls placed third overall, behind Cody and Buffalo, while the boys took fifth as Buffalo took the boys’ title.

PHS junior Daniel Merritt took second place overall in 17:43.33, just a couple steps behind the winner, David Jeurgens of Cody, who finished in 17:41.81.

“Daniel [Merritt] is a very strategic runner with a good kick, so I look for him to continue to place high in our future meets,” said PHS head coach Ashley Hildebrand.

Merritt finished 27th at last year’s state meet — with a time of 18:35.9 — and hopes to improve through this season.

“I look for him to continue to place high in our future meets,” Hildebrand said.

Riley Schiller was the second Panther to finish, taking 13th place with a time of 18:57.49. Schiller was followed by Ben Whitlock, who posted a time of 19:13 and placed 21st.  Rounding out team scoring were Breckin Streeter with a personal record of 19:31.22 for 27th and Justin Hobbs who took 35th in 20:27.05.

In the girls’ race, Kabrie Cannon was the top finisher for the Panthers, finishing in 10th place with a time of 21:57.31. Freshman Kinley Cooley — who missed the first race of the season due to possible COVID-19 exposure — was the next across the line for Powell with a 12th place finish and a time of 22:05.

“Kinley [Cooley] wasn’t happy about having to miss our first meet in Billings and came off the starting line with some fire in her belly,” Hildebrand said.

Brynn Hillman and Jordan Black both placed in the top 20 with times of 22:37 and 22:40. Gracie Wolff came in fifth for Powell, finishing with a personal record time of 25:17. Liz Peterson was next, posting a big improvement in her time from last week, Hildebrand said.

“This course was not as flat as the course we ran on last week in Billings, but some of our kids actually posted faster times this week or very close to their times last week,” the coach said, adding, “Runners who are new to cross country are getting in better shape and learning how to race. The hard work that all of our kids are putting in at practice is paying off.”

The team travels to Riverton for the Berry Bryant/Kyle Johnson Invitational tonight (Thursday) and then has a break until the Sheridan Varsity Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 18. 

—By Mark Davis