The Powell Panther boys’ track and field team finished third against some difficult opponents at the LA Kohnke Invitational on Saturday at Powell High School, finishing with 78.5 points and showing potential against some of the top teams in the state.

Individually the Panthers couldn’t find the top spot in any events, but took the top spot in the 1600 sprint medley relay via the team of Breckyn Kobbe, Karcher Foley, Sawyer Wormald and Liam Taylor who won with a time of 3 minutes, 40.67 seconds.

The margin of victory in that relay was nearly 12 seconds for the Panthers, who qualified for state in the process and neared an important mark early in the season.

“Both (boys and girls) sprint medleys were flirting with school records which is awesome to see this early in the season,” coach Scott Smith said.

Individually the Panthers were able to get a pair of second place finishes, as Liam Taylor took second place in the 800 meters (2:07.78) and Braxton Nelson took second in the high jump clearing 6 feet, 2 inches.

Powell added one new qualifying mark for the state meet in addition to the 1600 sprint medley, as the 4x100 relay team of Nelson, Lincoln Crawford, Foley and Kobbe finished second with a time of 45.63 seconds.

Other top five finishes for the Panthers included Crawford taking fourth in the 110 meter hurdles (16.82); Brady Harvey taking fourth in the discus (119-4) and Sawyer Wormald taking fifth in the 300 meter hurdles (43.98). Overall the Panthers finished with 78.5 points to take third, just ahead of Lander which was fourth with 73.5 points. Cody was second with 102.5 and Lovell ran away with the team competition with 150.5 points.

Despite finishing third in a competitive team race, Smith said he is proud of the improvement the boys’ team has shown this early in the season coming up against three of the top teams in the state.

“We saw a large improvement in many of our boys’ performances, which is great for our young team,” Smith said. “As with the girls, Lander, Lovell and Cody are the three top rated boys and our guys competed very well with them. They show a lot of raw potential that we need to work with to keep the improvement we’ve already seen up.”

Following the Kohnke the Panthers have a quick turnaround, as the Worland Invitational, originally scheduled for Thursday, has been moved up to today (Tuesday) due to a wintry weather forecast on Thursday.

After that meet the Panthers will take the Easter weekend off before returning to the track on Thursday, April 24, heading to Cody to take part in a dual against the Broncs and Fillies.

LA KOHNKE INVITE

* Denotes state qualifying mark

Team scores — 1. Lovell 150.5, 2. Cody 102.5, 3. Powell 78.5, 4. Lander 73.5, 5. Thermopolis 73, 6. Riverton 67, 7. Worland 63, 8. Burlington 43, T9. Rocky Mountain and Riverside 11, 11. Greybull 8, 12. Meeteetse 3

100 meter dash — T9. Breckyn Kobbe 11.81, 26. Braxton Nelson 12.23, T38. Cobey Khan and Brayden Benander 12.37, T55. Tristin Winninger 12.67, 66. Xander Clark 12.92, 76. Cash Peterson 13.07, 90. David Stearns 13.49, 94. Damian Rakness 13.78

200 meters — 10. Karcher Foley 24.78, 11. Braxton Nelson 24.99, 22. Cobey Khan 25.65, 23. Brayden Benander 25.69, 44. Tristin Winninger 26.63, T52. Xander Clark 27.23, 57. Cash Peterson 27.61, 62. Troy Cheatham 27.9, 64. Damian Rakness 28.23, 65. David Stearns 28.46, 66. Jude Thomas 28.49

400 meters — 9. Landon Hyde 56.88, 20. Cobey Khan 59.29, 21. Thomas Shuman 59.44, 26. Troy Cheatham 1:01.4

800 meters — 2. Liam Taylor 2:07.78, 7. Korbyn Warren 2:17.72, 16. Nathan Varian 2:25.81

1600 meters — 9. Korbyn Warren 5:01.48, 10. Colin Walker 5:05.43, 17. Nathan Varian 5:16.61, 21. Michael Stensing 5:28.49, 22. Julian Frost 5:34.17, 28. Jude Thomas 6:34.22

3200 meters — 6. Colin Walker 11:00.32

110 meter hurdles — 4. Lincoln Crawford 16.82, 6. Sawyer Wormald 17.63, 7. Michael Legerski 18, 9. Dayton Lawrence 18.76, 12. Xander Clark 19.21, 15. Renzy Matthews 20.08, T20. Damian Rakness 21.38

300 meter hurdles — 5. Sawyer Wormald 43.98, 6. Michael Legerski 44.51, 13. Renzy Matthews 48.03

4x100 relay — 2. Braxton Nelson, Lincoln Crawford, Karcher Foley and Breckyn Kobbe 45.63*; Brayden Benander, Tristin Winninger, David Yates and Cobey Khan 50.39

4x400 relay — 7. Landon Hyde, Michael Legerski, Korbyn Warren and Liam Taylor 3:58.63

4x800 relay — 2. Colin Walker, Michael Stensing, Nathan Varian and Korbyn Warren 9:21.33

1600 sprint medley relay — 1. Breckyn Kobbe, Karcher Foley, Sawyer Wormald and Liam Taylor 3:40.67*

High jump — 2. Braxton Nelson 6-2*, T7. Landon Hyde 5-6

Pole vault — 10. Renzy Matthews 9-6

Long jump — 17. Karcher Foley 17-7, 18. Lincoln Crawford 17-5, 28. Breckyn Kobbe 16-9

Triple jump — 8. Sawyer Wormald 36-10, 17. Renzy Matthews 33-6

Shot put — 6. Brady Harvey 40-4 1/2, 9. Landon Smallwood 39-4, 15. Kaden Wolff 37-7 1/2, 17. Levi Cox 37-1 1/2, 18. Gabe McMillan 36-10, 22. Conner Farwell 36-3, 41. JW Faulkner 31-9, 47. James Emmett 30-6, 67, Dane Smith 23-3 1/2

Discus — 4. Brady Harvey 119-4, 7. Kaden Wolff 114-5, 21. Gabe McMillan 100-11, 23. Landon Smallwood 99-7, 28. Levi Cox 89-5, T31. JW Faulkner 88-6, 33. James Emmett 87-11, 40. Conner Farwell 81-4, 61. Dane Smith 55-10