The Panthers and Lady Panthers claimed the crowns in the team standings, again showing the depth of their young roster.
“The thing I look at ... we had a couple of kids who barely didn’t get into the track classic, and they went out and had …
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With several of the 14 schools at Friday’s Meeteetse Invitational in Meeteetse short-handed due to the Wyoming Track Classic, Powell High School made the most of it.
The Panthers and Lady Panthers claimed the crowns in the team standings, again showing the depth of their young roster.
“The thing I look at ... we had a couple of kids who barely didn’t get into the track classic, and they went out and had good days,” PHS head coach Scott Smith said. “This was a big meet for a lot of our young kids who had something to prove, and they came out and had a big day.”
Five Panthers (three boys, two girls) were absent from the Meeteetse competition, as they were in Casper competing with the top track athletes in the state at the Wyoming Track Classic. But for one day, PHS didn’t miss a beat without them.
The Panthers scored 88 points to edge Rocky Mountain (82), while the PHS girls ran away with the victory with 160 points to runner-up Cody’s 136.
Six wins pace Lady Panthers
Juniors Danna Hanks and Lexee Craig each collected a pair of wins Friday to lead the Lady Panthers’ scorers.
Hanks took first in both hurdle events, finishing in 16.35 in the 100 hurdles and 49.29 in the 300 hurdles. Hanks’ top competitor this season, defending 3A state champion Emily Reed, of Cody, was not present Friday as she was at the Track Classic. Still, Smith was happy to see Hanks maintain her competitive edge.
“She worked well. It’s hard sometimes when you’re running without anybody right there with you, and she had to do that in both races,” he said. “But she ran two really technical races; she looked good, her form was good and she ran hard.”
Hanks also took fifth in the 200 with a time of 28.49.
Craig found her success in the field events, earning a personal record of 15 feet, 2 inches in the long jump for a win, and winning the pole vault after clearing 8-00. With a time of 17.59, Craig also earned third in the 100 hurdles behind Hanks.
PHS’ other victors were sophomore Teo Faulkner, who ran the 3200-meter run in 13:11.20, and McKenna Hanson, a freshman who leaped 31-10 in the triple jump for a win. Faulkner also took second in the 1600 in 6:00 flat.
“She just ran really aggressively,” Smith said of Faulkner. “Our distance runners came out and ran well, they just need to keep this aggression and they’ll continue scoring points for us and improving.”
Also in the 3200, freshman Emma Andreason took second in 13:40.29 while senior Gretchen Morretti was third in 13:42.34.
Sophomore Shayla Harsh punched her ticket to state in the high jump, placing second with a height of 4-11. She cleared the pole in more attempts than Pepper Lewis of Rocky Mountain, who took first.
Harsh also placed fifth in the 100 with 13.76. Senior Stephanie Liggett took fourth in the 800 in 2:42.19, and senior Bailey Sanders finished the 1600 in 6:08.46 to place fourth.
Senior SarahJean O’Neill continued to provide the dramatics for PHS, taking second in the 400 in 1:03.67 despite an asthma attack that started around the final 100 meters of the race. O’Neill has battled asthma several times in recent events but has shown a knack for competing through them.
“You couldn’t ask for more guts than that,” Smith said of O’Neill.
Freshman Maddy Hanks was second in the pole vault with a clearance of 7-06.
The Lady Panthers’ 4x400 relay team of Maddy Hanks, Liggett, Sanders and Rachelle Cole finished second in 4:32.43.
Panther boys place 11 in top five
The PHS boys earned a team victory the hard way. No Panther placed first in any event Friday, but 11 top-five finishes pushed the team to the top.
“We didn’t have as many event wins as we would’ve liked, but we had a lot of kids scoring points,” Smith said. “With as young as these kids are, it’s good to have a lot of them scoring for us.”
Sophomore Paige Gann earned the best finish for PHS, taking second in the 300 hurdles in 44.44.
“It’s good to finally see Paige healthy again,” Smith said of the youngster.
After Gann, sophomore Nate MaGill placed fourth in the event in 46.01. MaGill also took fifth in the 110 hurdles in 18.08.
Mason Olsen earned third place in the discus after a heave of 123-06. His senior teammate Matt Walsh finished fifth with a throw of 122-06. In the shot put, sophomore Zach Easum used a throw of 41-05 to take fifth.
Ezra Andreason (11:51.00) and Matt Kousoulos (12:08.76) took third and fourth, respectively, in the 3200 run.
Junior Jackson Griffin took fifth in the 400 with a time of 55.32. He also placed fourth in the high jump with a height of 5-08. In the 800, junior Teagan Cordes placed fifth in 2:17.33.
Powell’s 4x400 relay team of Kaden Moore, Griffin, Gann and Cordes placed third in 3:47.79.
The collective performances of his athletes had Smith raving about the team’s end-of-season prospects.
“I don’t know if we have a lot of horsepower, but we’re going to have an awful lot of kids going to state,” he said. “This week is a chance to get a couple more pre-qualifiers and fine tune some things. The real season starts next week.”
PHS’ final regular-season meet is Friday, when the Panther boys and girls travel to Cody at 2 p.m. for the Cody Trackstravaganza. The 3A regional meet will follow at Star Valley High School on May 15-16.