The Powell High School cross country teams were on the road to Lander Friday, competing in the 3A West Conference Meet.

The Panthers finished fifth in the seven-team field, led by junior Joey Hernandez, who finished 17th with a time of 18:48.64. Star Valley won the team title.

Senior Kayla Kolpitcke was the top finisher for the Lady Panthers, finishing seventh in 21:10.59. Right behind her was sophomore Kabrie Cannon, whose time of 21:35.24 put her in 10th place; both runners earned All-Conference honors for their efforts. As a team, the Lady Panthers also finished fifth, while host Lander won the team title.

PHS head coach Cliff Boos said he was very encouraged by the performances of both teams, pointing out that it had been a while since they had competed at the Lander course — and he called the time improvements “amazing.”

“You have to realize, the last time we ran Lander was the third meet of the season last year,” he explained. “We had kids this time around running two, three, even four minutes faster on this course than last year. Everyone who ran this course last year improved dramatically.”

Peter Visser of Star Valley finished in the top spot for boys with a time of 16:31.94, while Katie Giorgis of Mountain View was first on the girls’ side with a time of 20:31.53.

“Visser’s time was a whale of a time, especially on the Lander course with that big, old hill,” Boos said. “He’s a long-legged guy and did really well — he had the lead right from the start, and he was not going to be denied.”

Junior Tyler Pfiefer, who began the season as the Panthers’ top runner, is still sidelined with an injury; Boos held him out of the conference meet, though he hopes to have him back for the state meet this weekend.

Panthers

Following Hernandez in 17th place was freshman Daniel Merritt in 22nd, with a time of 19:08.74.

“Daniel’s an amazing kid, and he’s all business, just like his brother [former Panther distance runner Alan Merritt] was,” Boos said. “He’s a little more of a character, really, but he seems to have a little more confidence at this stage of his career than his brother did. It took Alan a while to get up there and run with the leaders, but this kid [Daniel] just gets after it.”

Junior Lane Franks and senior Dylan Cordes also cracked the 20-minute mark. Franks was 31st with a time of 19:34.74 and Cordes finished just behind him in 32nd at 19:43.97.

“Dylan [Cordes] is still running really well,” Boos said. “He’s having a great senior season for us.”

Sophomore Cole Frank finished 46th with a time of 20:33.80, while Riley Schiller was 50th with a time of 20:46.85.

Junior Isaac Summers closed out the Panthers’ varsity contingent with a 51st-place finish, posting a time of 20:52.12.

Lady Panthers

Kolpitcke led the Lady Panthers with her seventh place-showing, while Cannon took 10th.

“To have them both finish in the top 10 and make All-Conference, that’s really nice to see,” Boos said of Kolpitcke and Cannon. “It was a really strong field on the girls’ side, a lot of good competition.”

Cannon was followed by seniors Karina Boreen (23:59.43) and Kaitlyn Decker (25:39.16) in 41st and and 51st place, respectively. It was an impressive showing for Decker, who took a couple of seasons off to compete as a member of the PHS cheer team before returning to cross country in this, her senior year.

“I’m so glad she came out. She’s been such a positive member of the team, always upbeat,” Boos said of Decker. “She’s a very talented athlete.”

Junior Madelyn Horton was fifth on the team, finishing 60th in a time of 26:33.49. Fellow juniors Jenna Merritt (26:40.63) and Hailee Hyde (27:00.81) rounded out the Lady Panther contingent, finishing 61st and 64th, respectively.

The PHS cross country teams will head to Afton Saturday for the 3A State Cross Country Meet. Each team will take seven runners and an alternate; Boos said the final rosters will be decided this week.