Cooler temperatures offset a hill-filled course in Lander on Thursday, as the Powell High School cross country teams finished third and fifth at the 3A West Conference Meet.

The Panther girls placed in the top three despite missing three of their top runners. Coach Ashley Hildebrand said they decided to rest a few of the runners for the state meet Saturday in Cheyenne.

“We did not race Karee [Cooley], Anyston [Keller] or Aubree [Kraft]. We made the decision to rest them as we go into our final race next week. We still thought our girls’ team would place well, even without those three, and they did just that,” Hildebrand said.

Kaytlee George took charge to lead the Panthers, as she took fourth place for All-Conference honors with a time of 20 minutes, 26 seconds.

“Kaytlee went out chasing the leaders and ran an excellent race, holding on to that top spot throughout the race,” Hildebrand said.

Eleasah Horsley was the next Panther in, running her second best time of the season with a 21:46 to take 14th.

Close behind Horsley were the Sanders sisters, as Paige took 17th with a 21:54 and Kara was 18th with a 22:01.

Macie Velasco rounded out the Panther’s top five in her second race of the season, turning in a season best time of 22:21 to take 20th.

Landyn Horsley ran a season best time of 23:47 to take 34th, while Natalee Laing was close behind in 37th (24:08) and Abigail Curdy was the final Panther in 39th (24:25).

As a team the Panthers finished with 73 points, just one point behind host Lander, while Worland won with 40 points.

“We are so proud of these girls, who not only placed in the top three as a team, they all ran just seconds off of their times in Powell, with two running faster times,” Hildebrand said. “Lander is a much harder course, but they attacked it, and with the cooler temps this week were able to run really well.”

On the boys’ side the Panthers also took advantage of the cooler temperatures, as Ryder DeBoer led the way with a 15th place time of 18:06.

Channing Wenzel used a personal best time to push ahead into the second running spot, as he took 19th with a time of 18:17.

Nathan Varian was right behind Wenzel, as he took 20th with a time of 18:20.

Ben Smith and Karson Howe were grouped closely together to wrap up the team scoring for Powell, as Smith was 32nd with a 19:23 and Howe ran a personal best time of 19:20 to take 33rd.

Michael Stensing was the sixth runner in with a time of 19:29 to take 36th, and Wyatt Hill was the seventh runner across in 58th with a time of 20:50.

Justin Marquez and Matthew Watson were also competing for the Panthers, as Marquez took 64th with a 21:33, 30 seconds faster than he had run earlier in the season, while Watson ran a 21:46, a minute faster than earlier in the season.

As a team the Panthers had 119 points to take fifth, 12 behind host Lander, while Mountain View took the team title with 36.

The Panthers now head down to Cheyenne for a fourth consecutive season, as the Wyoming State Cross Country Meet will be at Little America Saturday for a third straight year.

The Panther girls are hoping to be at full strength, and reclaim the team title for the first time since 2023, and Cooley will attempt to defend her individual title and win that crown for a third straight year for the Panthers; older sister Kinley Cooley won in 2024.

The Panther boys are hoping to continue climbing up the ranks, and reach the podium for the first time since 2010 when they were third in what is expected to be a tightly contested boys’ field.