Despite not having wrestlers in two weight classes, the Panthers placed ninth out of 27 teams at the Tom LeProwse Invitational in Bozeman, Montana, over the weekend. Five Powell High School wrestlers made the top eight individually — Ty Dearcorn, Zach Easum, Reese Karst, Eli Briggs and Michael Maddox.

Powell and Cody were the only Wyoming schools to compete at the invite. Powell picked up 95 points and Cody 55.5. The Panthers were bested by schools from Bozeman, Billings, Helena, Butte, Great Falls and Colstrip, Montana.

Dearcorn pinned his way to the 182-pound championship match, taking no more than 1:14 to dispatch four opponents. In the championship, Dearcorn faced off against Hayden Schrull from Helena High, falling by a 15-0 major decision.

Easum was Powell’s second highest placer, finishing in third at 205 pounds. Easum won five of his six matches by pin, with the longest winning match lasting 1:04. Easum’s sole loss came by pin at 3:15 in the semi-finals to Blake Johnston of Colstrip.

At the 132-pound weight class, Karst was pinned by Josh Macy of Billings Skyview at 6:45 in the first round. After this loss, Karst pinned his way to the consolation semi-finals where Bridger Wenzel of Polson pinned Karst at 4:30 to put him into the fifth place match. Karst was again pitted against Macy, but this time Karst flipped the script and pinned Macy at 2:05 to claim fifth place.

Both Briggs and Maddox took eighth place.

Briggs received a first round bye and lost in the second round to Tanner Stack of Missoula Sentinel by a 13-3 decision. The loss put Briggs into the consolation bracket, where he had a bye in that bracket's second round. Briggs pinned Greyson Mandic of Butte in 2:43 in the consolation round three. A forfeiture then put Briggs against Justin Jenks of Helena in the seventh place match, where Jenks prevailed in a 4-2 decision.

Maddox, wrestling at 113 pounds, won his first two matches by pin. In the quarterfinals, Nolan Dulaney of Helena Capital High School won by a 9-2 decision to put Maddox into the consolation bracket. Maddox then won by a 8-2 decision over Bridger Lamb of Billings Skyview to make the seventh place match. In that match, Maddox lost to Tyler Casey of Great Falls at 4:56.

The Panther wrestling team will next compete at the Missoula Invitational on Friday and Saturday, with the time to be announced. On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the wrestlers will face off against Laurel, Montana, in Laurel at 5:30 p.m.