Panthers add two more qualifiers in final regular season meet

Teams might not pride themselves on their ability to procrastinate, but it does make for some good drama.

Two Powell Panther freshmen waited until their final regular season meet to qualify for the state meet, while another earned her way into the PHS record books as PHS won all but one event and beat Cody 125-53 in Tuesday evening’s dual.

Katrina Twitchell won the 500-yard free with a qualifying time of 6:35.88, nearly six seconds faster than the Class 3A requirement. Olivia Lang was the runner-up in the 100-yard breast with a time of 1:22.25, 0.75 seconds ahead of the qualifying benchmark.

Lang finished behind Caitlyn Miner, who posted a personal-best time of 1:13.30, the fourth-fastest time in school history (one spot ahead of PHS alum SarahJean O’Neill).

It comes as little surprise that Miner, who is qualified in every event (including diving), is capable of breaking records, but head coach Luke Robertson said he was surprised by her timing.

“I want to say this is the first time I’ve seen a record not happen at state,” Robertson said. “Typically, the records are fast enough, for a kid to have a really good shot at dropping that much time, they have to do it on a taper.

“So that’s pretty exciting to see a fourth-place all-time record at this point in the season.”

Miner also won the 100-yard fly with a time of 1:06.62.

Senior Amanda Tracy, whose name appears five times on the record board that hangs on the north wall of the Powell Aquatic Center, finished 0.20 seconds shy of the fifth-fastest time in the 50-yard free. She won the event with a time of 26.62.

Despite all that was accomplished by the PHS swim team on Tuesday, all eyes are trained forward.

Robertson hopes his team isn’t done picking up qualifications, though his benchmark of 14 was finally reached.

“There’s some relief with having 14, but there’s some sense of urgency with wanting to get at least one more,” Robertson said.

Sophomore Sydney Horton has been just seconds away from a qualification in the 500-yard free for the past couple weeks, and was just 0.67 seconds shy on Tuesday.

“That’s one we really want to get,” Robertson said. “I think there’s a couple others that definitely have a shot of getting in there. They’re a little further out, but they could do it.”

Powell’s next — and final — chance to qualify for state will come at the 3A West Conference meet in Kemmerer on Oct. 16-17.

“I think at conference we have a really good shot at picking up Sydney and picking up some more events,” Robertson said.

Robertson also mentioned Dagne Stratton, Rylie Kannard and McKenzie Thompson as swimmers within reach of a qualification.

“It’s hard because you see some of these kids working so hard in practice and you want to see them do well, you want to see them qualify when they’re working that hard,” Robertson said.

Those not yet qualified for state will begin to taper (train less and rest more) on Friday in an effort to be at their fastest during the conference meet in Kemmerer.

Those already qualified for state will not begin their taper until after conference.

Powell won all three of the dual’s relay races, an event still in minor flux, according to Robertson.

With four positions in each relay team, finding the optimal combination of swimmers can take the entirety of a season, Robertson said.

“I’m close. I feel like in most cases I’ve got it down to five girls, and I’ve got to make some tough decisions,” Robertson said. “I won’t know until after conference.”

Junior Aly Schneider swam a Class 4A qualifying time in the 200-yard IM, but was disqualified for a non-simultaneous touch of the wall during a transition between strokes. The disqualification came as Schneider attempted to qualify in her final outstanding event. Schneider bounced back with a win in the 100-yard free.

Junior Katie Brown won the 200-yard IM and was second in the 100-yard free.

Kendyl Bohlman was Powell’s top finisher in the 200-yard free. The sophomore finished second with a time of 2:25.48.

Senior Tristan Bohlman won the 100-yard free with a time of 1:04.23.

Bohlman and Tracy dove three times each in their final home event.

Junior Mary Lynn won the diving competition with a score of 158.85.