{gallery}12_07_10/wrestling{/gallery}Jim Seckman (right) goes on the attack in his bout with Shea O'Neill of Livingston, Mont. in the finals of the Powell Invitational. Seckman pinned O'Neill in 5:33, his sixth pin in six matches during the competition, to win the tournament championship at 152. Tribune photo by Don Amend Panthers take own tourney this weekendSeven wrestlers reached the finals to lead the Powell Panthers to a win and a positive start to the season last weekend.Five more Panthers earned medals as Powell picked up 329.5 team points to finish ahead of second-place Worland, who finished wih 243.5 points. Natrona County High School finished third and Greybull/Riverside fourth in the 21 team field.

Two Panthers won gold medals in the JV division. The JV's finished in fifth place.

“It was a good tournament and a good win for us,” said Coach Nathan Urbach.

Jim Seckman and Olie Olson were the top winners for the Panther varsity.

Seckman pinned all three of his 152-pound opponents in pool competition, two of them in less than a minute, to earn his way into the bracket, where he pinned three more to win the gold medal. His final match was his longest, coming with just 37 seconds left in the match over Shea O'Neill of Livingston, Mont..

At 160, Olson also pinned three opponents in pool wrestling, and opened bracket wrestling with another, but he faced a tough semi-final opponent in Thermopolis state medalist Chris Ryan. A 7-6 win over Ryan matched him with another state medalist, Jake Homer of Natrona County, and after more than five minutes of standoff wrestling, Olson took Homer to his back for a pin.

Second-place finishers for the Panthers were Randy Andrews, Colt Nix, Jessee Craig, Robert Friday and Trevor Griffeth.

Andrews lost a two-point decision to Rocky Mountain's Kaleb Hoyt in a battle of state champions, and Nix was trapped on his back by Sheridan's Trevor Goss as he attempted to roll through on a takedown, and lost by a pin.

In what may have been the toughest weight class in the tournament at 125, Craig reached the finals for a rematch of last year's 119 state championship match with Worland's Jared Leithead. Like that match, this one went into overtime before Leithead managed a takedown for the win.

Friday battled another state champion, Jay Stine of Worland on equal terms before dropping a 3-2 decision and Griffeth lost by pin to a 4A medalist, Lane Millay of Kelly Walsh.

Fourth-place finishers for the Panthers were Charles Wittick at 103, Luke Wozney at 130, and Waylon Bays at 152. Bays' loss in the semifinals was to Seckman. Dylan Rood (112), Mike Mundy (160) and Kurt Bullinger (215) all finished sixth.

In the JV ranks, Brandon Phister and Anthony Lujan won gold medals. Tyler Patterson finished second, with his loss coming to Lujan in the finals and Colbee Craig and Erik Denny botth finished third.

Urbach said he was happy with the way his team had wrestled against some superior competition, and he was happy with the performance, particularly Friday, who came on late last season, earned a medal at state and lost narrowly in the finals.

“Kurt (Bullinger) did pretty well, too, and Mike Mundy had a good tournament,” Urbach said.

There is room for improvement, Urbach said, but there's plenty of time to make those improvements before the season ends.

“It's all practice until state,” Urbach said.

The Panthers will see even tougher competition this weekend when they travel to Rapid City, S.D. for a traditionally tough tournament with wrestlers from three states. Last year, 29 teams participated, and the Panthers finished 13th. Eleven Panthers finished in the top 12, including Olson, who reached the finals before settling for second.

The following weekend, Powell will stay closer to home to compete in the Battle of the Big Horns in Worland. The tournament is a dual meet tournament that the Panthers have won the past two years.