The Powell Panther girls’ cross country team grabbed a win and the boys continued to show potential in the early season during a sunny, cooler day Friday in Buffalo.

Leading the way for the girls once again was Shelby Zickefoose, turning in a personal best time of 20 minutes, 28 seconds to take seventh overall.

“Shelby’s goal was to get under 21 and not only did she meet her goal, she beat her time last week by over 30 seconds,” coach Ashley Hildebrand said. “We talked about evening out her mile splits in this race and she did a really good job of doing just that, which allowed her to finish her last mile much stronger.”

Also earning a top 10 finish was Anyston Keller, who took ninth with a time of 20:39.

Melissa Merritt was the third fastest Panther, one second off her personal best time with a 20:47 to take 12th.

All three of those girls running under 21 minutes was a large boost for the Panthers.

“Having all three of these girls run under 21 at this point in the season is fantastic and speaks to the work that they put in over the summer,” Hildebrand said.

Macie Velasco finished fourth  for Powell, taking 14th in 21:20, and Kara Sanders rounded out the scoring in 20th with a time of 21:40.

Quickly behind Sanders was Kaytlee George with a time of 21:42, and Natalee Laing was the final Panther racer with a 24:06 to take 40th — all three of those racers ran a personal best time.

Powell finished first with 45 points as a team, just ahead of Buffalo in second with 47 and Sheridan in third with 49.

Korbyn Warren led the boys once again, taking 13th with a time of 18:01.

“We were very happy with how Korbyn raced, placing in the top 15 in a very fast race that saw the winner running under 16 minutes,” Hildebrand said.

Channing Wenzel took 23rd as the second Panther across, finishing in 19:01. Hildebrand said she’s excited to see Wenzel’s improvement over the season after his personal best time.

Michael Stensing took 30th in a personal best time of 19:27, and Ben Smith was the final varsity runner across in 21:09 to take 40th.

The boys did not have enough runners to register a team score in the varsity or JV races.

“All of our young men are proving to have a ton of potential and we look for them to improve immensely as the season progresses,” Hildebrand said.

The girls’ JV team was led by Eleasah Horsley who took third with a time of 22:14, followed closely by her younger sister Landyn Horsley who ran a 22:25 to take fifth.

Avery LeBlanc was ninth with a time of 23:15, Caydee Eden and Paige Sanders were 12th and 14th with personal best times of 23:32 and 23:56 respectively.

Allison LeBlanc took 17th with a personal best time of 24:19, Charlie Taylor was 29th with a time of 25:46 and Jordyn Nelson was 33rd with a time of 26:56.

The JV girls took the top spot with a team score of 25.

In the JV boys’ race, Nathan Varian took sixth with a time of 19:19 and Wyatt Hill took 38th with a time of 23 minutes flat.

The Panthers head into Montana for a second time this season, going to Bozeman to take part in the Bozeman XC Invite at 4 p.m. on Saturday.