Thirteen was not unlucky for the Powell girls’ cross country team on Saturday in Cheyenne, as the Panthers raced to the top of the 3A standings for their first state title in 13 years while the boys’ team gained valuable experience.

BACK ON TOP

A fourth state title has been a long time coming for the Panthers, who have shown vast improvement over the past three years, including a third place finish last season.

Cody was seen as a dominant force over the past four years in cross country, having won the previous four titles heading into Cheyenne on Saturday.

In what was expected to be a fast course coming in, the Panthers used the three races before theirs to determine the best strategy for the day.

“After previewing the course and seeing the times being posted in the boys’ races, we knew that this course was not as fast as we had initially anticipated,” coach Ashley Hildebrand said. “We told the girls not to focus on running personal bests like we do in many races, but to focus on placement, running together and staying as close to one another as much as they could.”

That strategy worked out for the Panthers, despite trailing after the first mile to the Fillies.

Over the final 2 miles of the race, Powell pushed past, breaking up points for Cody.

Cody got one runner across before Powell, but freshman Karee Cooley finished just behind in fifth (20:32.1) to get the scoring started.

Finishing in eighth was Kenna Jacobsen (20:40), earning All-State honors alongside Cooley while also getting in before the second Cody runner to break up points further and put Powell ahead by a point after the first two runners.

Powell’s third runner across was Kinley Cooley in 13th (21:06.3), coming
in one place ahead of the third Cody runner to grow the gap to two points heading into the final two runners.

Several positions passed before Myah Rakness crossed the line as Powell’s fourth runner in 19th (21.16.5).

The Panthers finished out the victory with the next runner, as Melissa Merritt came in 20th (21:26) to finish out the scoring for Powell with 65 points.

Hildebrand stressed the importance of lowering the time gap between the first and fifth runners after the conference meet, which the Panthers did by dropping five seconds and helping improve the team score while breaking up points for Cody.

“It’s important, because the top runners can only pass so many people,” Merritt said. “We have a lot more options of people we can pass, so there’s a lot of pressure on us even though we are not in the front.”

Cody’s fourth runner came across in 21st, but the fifth runner was broken up by Powell’s sixth runner, Jordan Black, who took 25th (21:39) to come in ahead of Cody’s fifth runner in 28th.

“Our No. 4 and No. 5 runners, Maya and Melissa, left it all on the course and were able to get in front of Cody’s No. 4 runner,” Hildebrand said. “Our No. 6 runner, Jordan, put the nail in the coffin by coming in before Cody’s No. 5 runner.”

Powell’s final runner was Shelby Zickefoose, who crossed the line in 35th (22:01.1) to cap off an impressive day for the Panthers.

“It is really exciting to see Powell on top of the podium again,” Hildebrand said. “Winning a state championship is a hard thing to do and it reflects the hard work and dedication of the girls and their buy-in to our program.”

After a loss the weekend before to Cody at the 3A West Regional in Riverton, the Panthers returned the favor by winning via an identical 11-point difference with 65 points to Cody’s 76 — snapping Cody’s bid for five straight state titles.

Worland’s Zena Tapia ran away with the individual crown, winning by over 30 seconds with a 19:33.26.

BOYS GAIN EXPERIENCE

The boys’ team had a chance to be the first to experience the course on Saturday morning, gaining valuable experience after a year of growth.

Korbyn Warren was the first Panther across the line in 34th (18:23.15) just ahead of teammate Liam Taylor.

Unfortunately for Taylor, he was disqualified after stepping out of the course for several steps.

“He is usually our No. 1 runner across the line. He started off in excellent form, working his way up to eighth place by the 2-mile mark,” Hildebrand said. “However, between the 2 and 3 mile marks he was not feeling or looking well and struggled to the finish line. Along the way, he inadvertently took several steps outside of the marked course and, unfortunately, was disqualified for that infraction.”

In that case, Colin Walker was the second scorer for the Panthers — finishing in 72nd (20:07.19).

Walker was nominated as the Panthers’ most inspirational team member to be recognized by the Wyoming High School Activities Association.

The final three runners across for Powell were Nathan Varian in 78th (20:43.86), Thomas Shuman in 84th (21:24.35) and Jon Hawley in 98th (23:25.9).

“Our boys had a great season in terms of their growth and improvement as runners, and while they didn’t make the podium our goal is to get them there,” Hildebrand said.

Powell finished 15th overall.

The boys will return all runners apart from Hawley next season, hoping to improve as the team will return to Cheyenne next year while hoping to add some depth from incoming freshmen.

FAMILY BOND

If you ask any one of the girls on the cross country team to describe the bond of the team in one word, the answer you are most likely to get is “family.”

“It’s cool to do this with the best team ever,” Merritt said. “I think when people talk about their team as a family, this is it. These girls are my life right now and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Hildebrand felt it was important to bring the entire team to state, after a long season saw a host of runners competing for the final seven spots.

“We felt that it was really important to bring the entire team to state because they are such a close team, and with the girls, we had quite a few that competed back and forth throughout the season for those seven varsity spots at state,” Hildebrand said. “It was an amazing thing to have our entire girls’ team on the podium accepting the trophy.”

Hildebrand and her assistant coach Tracy McArthur have taken on what Hildebrand calls a motherly approach to the team, helping nurture each runner to ensure they are doing their best each week.

“We have the same coaching philosophy and work very well together,” Hildebrand said. “We take a motherly approach to coaching our cross country family as we like to call it. We try to make sure that we know when our kids are struggling mentally or physically so that we can offer the support that they need on their bad days as well as pushing them to be their best on their good days.”

BRIGHT FUTURE AHEAD

Powell is expected to be in contention once again next year, not losing any of the seven runners who competed at the state meet while losing only two runners total  in seniors Brynn Hillman and Gracie Wolff.

“We hope to continue to build upon the success we had this season, and we have a big group of girls coming back who want to make that happen,” Hildebrand said. “They are a highly motivated group of talented girls, and they know that they have the ability to challenge for a trophy again next year.”

Hildebrand said that each runner in the program has posted strong enough times that would see them in the top seven for a lot of teams in 3A, which speaks to the depth of the program as a whole. They may even add another runner back into the mix after Audrey Johnson opted to sit this season out due to injury.

Hildebrand said the middle school program continues to see a lot of runners joining and growing before they reach high school, while runners also recruit via word of mouth to bring their friends on the team.

“We welcome all levels of runners from beginners, who just want to be a part of our team and run for fun, to those who are very serious and want to be highly competitive,” Hildebrand said.

The Panther boys will lose one runner off the roster this year, Hawley, while returning the rest of the team and hoping to grow after only having six runners race at the state meet.