It was a record setting afternoon in Billings on Aug. 30, when Powell High School senior Kinley Cooley made school history by becoming the first Powell girl to win the Billings Invitational. She ran a 18:49.06, smashing her school record by nearly 50 seconds while also leading the Panther girls to the highest team finish in school history.

SUMMER PREPARATION

Heading into this season, Cooley has set out on a mission to prove that she belongs at the top, putting in countless hours of hard work and preparation over the summer after a slightly disappointing individual end to her junior campaign — finishing 13th and missing out on an All-State recognition after finishing seventh her sophomore season.

“I’m not going to lie, I worked really hard this summer,” Cooley said. “Last year, it wasn’t anything I did wrong, it was just some sickness stuff and iron stuff that threw me off.”

Following cross country last season Cooley figured out her medical issues, which led to record breaking indoor and outdoor track seasons that put her atop most of the records at Powell High School for distance.

After those strong seasons she knew she would need to work hard over the summer to get back to full form.

“I knew I was going to have to work hard this season, because I kind of wanted to redeem myself a little bit,” Cooley said. “Even though nothing was wrong with how I competed last year, I put in a ton of miles and really a ton of cross training. I think I did more cross training this summer than I did actual running.”

Cooley said one of the reasons she feels she has been able to excel at sports overall is because she doesn’t fixate on one particular thing at a time, as she enjoys swimming, biking and running together to complete her training.

“It’s like working, swimming, biking and running all together to kind of get that good balance so that your body isn’t too tired of one thing,” Cooley said.

THE RACE

That summer preparation paid off in a big way in Billings, with Cooley racing to the finish line and dominating her school record time of 19:38.46 that she set in her sophomore season at a meet in Powell.

Heading into the race, Cooley knew there would be competition at the meet, as the Hardin cross country team consistently produces top distance talent.

She knew she would have to compete against Zoey Real Bird and Karis Brightwings-Pease, who both ran under 19:30 last season as freshmen.

“Going into the race I was a little nervous to compete against the Hardin girls because they’re notoriously super strong runners,” Cooley said. “They have those two fast girls who know how to work hard together, and I knew that they were going to be a tough duo to go up against. Really, my goal was to kind of try and work in a pack with them.”

She said early on in the race she got a surge while going uphill in the first mile, and carried her momentum to push into the downhill portion and race ahead into first place.

Cooley and one of the top Hardin runners kept pace, before Cooley broke away and couldn’t hear any footsteps around her.

“Then all of a sudden I couldn’t hear [her] behind me, and I thought ‘well, might as well just keep going this pace and not wait for them because that’s not doing any good for me,’” Cooley said.

Racing on her own ahead of the pack, Cooley continued to pull ahead. She caught a glimpse of the clock with 400 meters to go and knew that she could break into the 18s.

“I saw how low the number was and I really tried to give it all I had to get to the finish, because I was like, either way, I am PRing,” Cooley said. “It was exciting coming through the finish. If you ask coach, I was not coherent. I wasn’t saying any actual real words, I was just on the ground, but it was a good kind of pain.”

SENIOR LEADERSHIP AND GOALS

Cooley has been one of the lead runners for the Panthers throughout her four years on the team, but has felt a need to step up this season as new faces have littered the Panther cross country team.

“There’s a lot of new girls this year that I’ve never been on a team with before, because I competed with the girls who were sophomores last year in middle school, and now it’s a whole bunch of new faces,” Cooley said. “I feel like it’s always important to have the role of a leader on a team … I just remember Kabrie Cannon my freshman year, her just being like, it’s going to be OK. The race is what you make it.”

Along with those new faces, there are some familiar ones  returning to the Panthers as they brought back six of their seven state runners from a state championship team a season ago, with Cooley saying the team is excited early on with the opportunity to defend their title.

“I’m feeling so excited and confident about how we are going to do this season, I just think we’re stronger than ever,” Cooley said. “Everyone wants to work hard — last year the idea of winning state was just kind of at the back of our minds really, because Cody’s also a tough team to beat. We didn’t really know it was going to happen there, but this year because we won state last year, everyone is just so hungry for the win at state this year.”

Individually, Cooley is continuing to set high standards for herself, but feels she is keeping them more reasonable this season after setting such high goals last year.

“I think an issue that I kind of had last year was I set too high of goals for myself. It’s good to have reaching [high] goals, because if you set your goals too low, you’re never going to accomplish anything,” Cooley said. “I think I set my goals too high last year, and part of my plan this year is setting goals that are actually attainable.”

Cooley and the Panther girls will look to continue their strong start as they head to Buffalo this Friday to take part in another invitational.