With less teams on hand, and more student-athletes able to contribute, the Powell track and field team had a powerful performance at the first annual Park County Classic in Meeteetse last Thursday.

The meet had a three-team field with the Panthers, Cody and the host Longhorns, and while Cody came away with the overall victory, garnering 208 points for the girls and 226 for the boys, Powell closed the gap from the season-opener with 157 points from the girls and 175 tallied by the boys.

“Usually by this time, we’d have only had one meet in,” head coach Scott Smith said. “We’re just at that point of getting more kids coming out that are involved in other activities, so we look at this as being a good preseason for us.”

The meet began with the Lady Panthers sweeping the top four spots in the 100-meter hurdles as Danna Hanks, Lexee Craig, Caitlyn Miner and Emily Sweet finished first through fourth with Hanks crossing the line with a time of 16.92 seconds.

Powell then got a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter dash from McKenna Hanson, timing in at 14.81 seconds, less than one second off the winning time of 13.84 from Cody’s Shaylee Schutzman.

Gabri Lundborg ran to a fourth-place finish in the 200, and the Lady Panthers showed their hurdling dominance yet again in the 300-meter event, taking four of the top five finishes.

Hanks won it with a time of 51.83 seconds, with Sweet finishing second, Maddy Hanks fourth and Mollie Kissner fifth.

Rachelle Cole ran a close second in the 400-meter dash, and the 4x100 relay team of Craig, Miner, Maddy Hanks and Danna Hanks was just 1.29 seconds off the winning pace for a second-place finish.

Three more firsts were posted by the Lady Panthers with Julia Kay O’Neill winning the 800-meter run in 2:39.73, and Anissa Warner winning both the high jump (5-feet, 1-inch) and long jump (16-feet, 5-inches).

Hanson would place second in the triple jump, reaching 30-feet, 2-inches and Rachel Bonander took second in the shot put with a toss of 30-feet, 3.5-inches.

Bonander finished third in the discus, throwing it 86-feet, 1-inch, with Coby Calcotte posting a throw just seven inches shorter for fourth.

And competing for the first time this season on the pole vault, Powell got a second-place finish from Craig (8-feet, 1-inch) and fourth from Maddy Hanks (7-feet, 7-inches).

Wracking up the points for the Powell boys were four first-place finishes and five second-place finishes.

Paige Gann got the first win of the day in the 100-meter dash, timing in at 12.28, with teammate A.J. Lewis hot on his heels in second with a time of 12.29.

Nate MaGill and Morgan Erickson then repeated the first, second effort in the 110-meter hurdles, with times of 18.42 and 23.62, respectively.

MaGill would go on to also win the 300-meter hurdles in 46.99, and the Panther 4x100 relay team of Gann, Jon Morrow, Jacob Harrison and Lewis got a win in 47.89 seconds.

Lewis would finish second in the 200-meter dash and Colby Warner cleared 5-feet, 4-inches in the high jump to take second.

Warner would also be runner up in the triple jump, landing at 32-feet, 5.75-inches.

More points were added in the event as Dalton Woodward (32-feet, 2.75-inches) and Nic Urbach (32-feet, 1-inch) took third and fourth.

Lewis placed third in the long jump at 18-feet, 9.75-inches, and the Panthers finished third through fifth in the 800-meter run in the form of Jesse Erickson (2:34.03), Cesar Corro (2:39.75) and Jayden Yates (2:47.67).

The discus saw two Powell throwers finish in the top five as Zach Easum’s throw of 121-feet, 2-inches was good for third and Mason Olsen’s 113-foot, 6-inch heave earned him fourth.

The duo repeated their finishes in the shot put as well, with Easum putting the shot 42-feet, 3-inches and Olsen 41-feet, 7-inches.

“We saw some more kids being able to contribute, but we probably won’t have a meet where we have everyone until May,” Smith said. “I think it’s good to have kids that are active in other things, it makes them more well-rounded athletes and better kids.”

After the strong second outing of the season, the Panthers will be on the road at Worland Thursday, April 7 before looking ahead to a home meet, the L.A. Kohnke - Powell Athletic Roundtable, Saturday, April 9, when they will host Cody and Riverton.