Powell nearly doubles state qualifications

The Powell High School boys swim team came back strong after the break to beat Lander — the winner of 20 straight state championships — at the Cody Invitational on Friday. The Panthers then hosted and took second at Saturday’s Gene Dozah Invitational, while Lander turned the tables for a first place finish of its own.

Between the two competitions, Powell swimmers qualified in 17 new events while adding two more individuals to the list of state meet qualifiers.

“Coming out on top at the Cody Pre-D Invitational is a great way to start out the new year,” said PHS assistant coach Jerry Rodriguez.

It was Powell’s first win over Lander in Rodriguez’s nine years as an assistant coach.

Powell won the Cody Pre-D Invitational with 461 points while Lander followed with 414 points. Coming in third was Douglas with 188 points, followed by Riverton with 122, Cody with 109 and Newcastle with 72.

At the Gene Dozah Invitational, Lander won with 319.5 team points with Powell following with 270 points. In third place came Sublette County, with 192 points, followed by Worland (164), Douglas (153.5), Buffalo (77), Riverton (75), Cody (50) and Newcastle (33).

“It helps the team to see that we can compete with Lander,” PHS head coach Stephanie Jackson said of the win in Cody. Jackson added that the flip-flop of first place team finishes was also good, because it showed the Powell swimmers they’ll need to continue to push themselves to continue their success against the strong Lander team.

The Panthers’ Cody win was set in motion by a 1:55.89, first-place finish in event No. 1, the 200 medley relay, by Richard Spann, Kacey Creed, Joe Kuntz and Chris Lopez.

Creed would also post first-place finishes in both the 200 IM, with a time of 2:13.55, and the 500 freestyle, with a time of 5:26.47.

Also taking individual gold was Hudson Wilkerson, who won diving with a score of 195.05; Nate MaGill took second with a 182.95 score.

Wilkerson and MaGill also placed first and second, respectively, in Powell by posting their highest scores of the season over six dives. Wilkerson had a score of 217.40 and MaGill with a score of 196.15. Both divers had qualified for state in the first meet of the season.

Although the team has participated in only three competitions thus far this season, Powell now has a total of 13 boys who’ve qualified for state across 33 events.

The two new individuals to qualify for state were freshman Bryce Hogen and sophomore Joe Rogers; Hogen qualified in the 100 breaststroke and Rogers qualified in both the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

Spann led in newly qualified events by adding four events over the weekend — 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly — to bring his overall total to six.

Junior Gavin Asay is now qualified in three events, adding the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM.

Fellow junior Creed added the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke to his list of now five events.

Qualifying alongside Creed in the 500 freestyle were Kuntz and Braden Schiller. Kuntz and Schiller posted their qualifying times with respective third- and fourth-place finishes in Powell.  Kuntz also qualified in the 100 backstroke, meaning he now has five state qualifying events.

Jared Fuller and Trenton Wilson also added to their qualifying events: Fuller added the 200 freestyle while Wilson added the 100 breaststroke.

The Panthers will next compete at home against Worland at Friday at 5 p.m.

Men 200 Medley Relay

1. Richard Spann, Kacey Creed, Joe Kuntz and Chris Lopez 1:55.89, 4. Jared Fuller, Nate MaGill, Gavin Asay and Braden Schiller 2:03.12, 7. Jay Cox, Bryce Hogen, Ben Cannizzaro and Alex Hanson 2:20.18

Men 200 Freestyle

5. Dillinger Wilkerson 2:16.26, 6. Braden Schiller 2:17.61, 7. Joe Rogers 2:20.50, 14. Jay Cox 2:51.19, 19. Dallin Allred 3:11.82

Men 200 IM

1. Kacey Creed 2:13.55, 4. Gavin Asay 2:32.58, 5. Chris Lopez 2:44.87

Men 50 Freestyle

5. Richard Spann 25.79, 7. Trenton Wilson 26.96, 12. Hudson Wilkerson 28.52, 20. Weston Moore 31.05, 21. Wes Patrick 33.78, 22. Ben Cannizzaro 34.09

Men Diving

1. Hudson Wilkerson 195.05, 2. Nate MaGill 182.95, 6. Bryce Hogen 128.50, 8. Alex Hanson 122.20

Men 100 Butterfly

3. Joe Kuntz 1:05.34, 6. Chris Lopez 1:14.47, 7. Ben Cannizzaro 1:20.00

Men 100 Freestyle

4. Richard Spann 59.22, 5. Jared Fuller 1:01.09, 8. Braden Schiller 1:02.96, 15. Ky Davis 1:11.09, 16. Weston Moore 1:13.33, 24. Dallin Allred 1:28.50

Men 500 Freestyle

1. Kacey Creed 5:26.47, 4. Wes Patrick 7:25.36, 7. Austen Layton 8:29.19

Men 200 Free Relay

2. Hudson Wilkerson, Joe Rogers, Braden Schiller and Trenton Wilson 1:51.89, 3. Jared Fuller, Gavin Asay, Nate MaGill and Dillinger Wilkerson 1:52.80, 10. Austen Layton, Dallin Allred, Wes Patrick and Weston Moore 2:23.03

Men 100 Backstroke

4. Joe Kuntz 1:08.90, 7. Gavin Asay 1:13.39, 9. Nate MaGill 1:14.93, 11. Ky Davis 1:21.35

Men 100 Breaststroke

2. Dillinger Wilkerson 1:13.99, 4. Trenton Wilson 1:19.74, 6. Bryce Hogen 1:20.29, 7. Jared Fuller 1:21.47, 8. Joe Rogers 1:22.21, 13. Jay Cox 1:27.71

Men 400 Freestyle Relay

3. Joe Kuntz, Chris Lopez, Joe Rogers and Kacey Creed 3:57.77, 6. Dillinger Wilkerson, Alex Hanson, Ky Davis and Richard Spann 4:29.94, 9. Wes Patrick, Bryce Hogen, Weston Moore and Ben Cannizzaro 5:07.42, 10. Hudson Wilkerson, Austen Layton, Dallin Allred and Jay Cox 5:14.98

Men 200 Medley Relay

3. Richard Spann, Kacey Creed, Joe Kuntz and Chris Lopez 1:54.25, 6. Braden Schiller, Nate MaGill, Gavin Asay and Trenton Wilson 2:03.21, 10. Ky Davis, Dillinger Wilkerson, Ben Cannizzaro and Jay Cox 2:15.45

Men 200 Freestyle

1. Kacey Creed 2:03.55, 4. Jared Fuller 2:12.43, 13. Jay Cox 2:43.51, 15. Wes Patrick 2:49.17

Men 200 IM

8. Joe Kuntz 2:32.68, 10. Gavin Asay 2:33.95

Men 50 Freestyle

6. Trenton Wilson 26.68, 7. Dillinger Wilkerson 27.25, 8. Chris Lopez 27.32, 12. Hudson Wilkerson 27.84, 17. Alex Hanson 29.18, 28. Weston Moore 30.84, 35. Austen Layton 33.43, 41. Dallin Allred 37.44

Diving

1. Hudson Wilkerson 217.40, 2. Nate MaGill 196.15, 7. Alex Hanson 129.15, 8. Bryce Hogen 128.75

Men 100 Butterfly

3. Richard Spann 1:02.86, 9. Joe Rogers 1:11.85,

Men 100 Freestyle

5. Joe Rogers 59.41, 8. Chris Lopez 59.76, 10. Dillinger Wilkerson 1:00.12, 11. Braden Schiller 1:03.31, 18. Nate MaGill 1:07.94, 21. Ben Cannizzaro 1:11.88, 24. Weston Moore 1:14.09

Men 500 Freestyle

3. Joe Kuntz 6:03.07, 4. Braden Schiller 6:14.57, 8. Ky Davis 7:01.50

Men 200 Freestyle Relay

2. Joe Kuntz, Chris Lopez, Richard Spann and Kacey Creed 1:43.40, 5. Trenton Wilson, Jared Fuller, Hudson Wilkerson and Joe Rogers 1:49.03, 13. Alex Hanson, Austen Layton Weston Moore and Wes Patrick 2:09.28, 16. Bryce Hogen, Jay Cox, Ben Cannizzaro and Dallin Allred 2:11.70

Men 100 Backstroke

8. Jared Fuller 1:08.91, 19. Ky Davis 1:25.10, 23. Dallin Allred 1:39.93, 24. Austen Layton 1:42.05

Men 100 Breaststroke

2. Kacey Creed 1:05.43, 6. Richard Spann 1:14.60, 9. Gavin Asay 1:17.59, 10. Bryce Hogen 1:18.17, 11. Trenton Wilson 1:18.23, 18. Jay Cox 1:27.66

Men 400 Freestyle Relay

4. Jared Fuller, Dillinger Wilkerson, Joe Rogers and Braden Schiller 4:07.89, 7. Nate MaGill, Ky Davis, Hudson Wilkerson and Gavin Asay 4:28.53, 14. Austen Layton, Wes Patrick, Alex Hanson and Weston Moore 5:08.62