Powell qualifies 13th swimmer in Worland, hosts Cody on Friday

The Powell High School boys swim team is ahead of schedule.

Last season, the Panthers waited until the final meet before state to qualify its 13th and final swimmer.

It took just six meets to accomplish the same feat this year.

“We are on a great track and have five weeks left for getting qualifiers,” PHS head coach Stephanie Warren said.

Freshman Trent Wilson earned his first ever qualification with a second-place time of 6:14.38 in the 500-yard free as the Panthers won their dual at Worland, 113-69, on Friday.

“Overall we had strong swims again. Despite sicknesses and all that, they’re still swimming pretty hard,” Warren said.

Powell won eight of the 12 events, and five qualified Panthers added to their list of events in which they are eligible to compete at state.

Senior Seth Fuller added two events, and nearly placed his name on the PHS hall of fame board for the second straight week. Fuller’s time of 58.62 in the 100-yard fly was just shy of fifth place in Panther history. Fuller qualified in the fly and the 200-yard IM, which he won with a personal-best time of 2:09.86.

Senior Tyson Wages also qualified in two more events in Worland. Wages won the 500-yard free with a time of 6:13.90 and was second in the 200-yard free with a time of 2:14.79.

Wages finished just behind sophomore Jared Fuller, who won the 200 free with a personal-best time of 2:14.48, an improvement of 3.03 seconds. Jared Fuller qualified in an event for the second straight meet after picking up his first qualification of the season in the Gene Dozah Invite on Jan. 9.

Sophomore Kacey Creed won the 100-yard free in 55.21, a new personal best and his eighth qualification of the season.

Senior Brandon Anderson earned his fourth qualification when he took second place with a time of 1:11.41 in the 100-yard back.

Panther divers Hudson Wilkerson and Nate Magill finished second and third, respectively, while they worked on new dives.

Wilkerson scored a 177.40 while Magill called 120.4 points.

“They’re both qualified so we’re just trying to make their 11-dive list a lot stronger,” Warren said. “I’m

having them throw dives that they’re not the most comfortable with as we get prepared for some of the bigger meets.”

A handful of underclassmen are cursing 

“We’re still seeing some good time cuts from our younger kids,” Warren said. “Hudson (Wilkerson) and Dillinger (Wilkerson) and Joe Rogers again swam the breast stroke. They’re still a couple seconds away but they’re improving.”

Sophomore Wesley Patrick continued to make progress in the 100 free. Patrick cut 2.13 seconds to finish in eighth place.

“It’s his second year swimming, and he’s still continuing to drop,” Warren said. “Really good improvement.”

Sophomore Ky Davis cut 2.49 seconds in the 200 free, in which he took seventh place.

Junior Owen Dent dropped 6.77 seconds as he finished third in the 200-yard free.

Powell hosts Cody in a dual at 5 p.m. on Friday. The Panthers then return to Worland for a 10 a.m. invite on Saturday.