Kicking off their action in 2023 heading to Montana, the Powell High School wrestling team came up against strong competition in Bozeman — finishing eighth as a team at the Bozeman LeProwse tournament.

Powell was led in part by two athletes competing at nearly opposite ends of the weight classes, with Gabriel Whiting placing third at 103 pounds and Stetson Davis finishing third at 205 pounds.

Whiting (15-5) advanced to the quarterfinals after a pin in the second round, before losing to Tristan Vladic from Billings Senior by major decision 11-3.

“He wrestled the kid that won it in the quarters,” coach Nick Fulton said. “We were in the match down three late, had to push the pace and make up those points. He gave up five right at the end and the score was uglier than the match really was.”

Dropping down to the consolation bracket, Whiting won his next three matches by pin to advance to the third place match, where he defeated Keegan Hunt from Butte in a 14-10 contest.

At 205 pounds, Davis (19-1) made his way all the way to the semifinal match after winning his first three contests by pin including teammate Jimmy Dees in the quarterfinal.

Davis came up against Mason Christian from Butte, who scored a late takedown to claim a 9-7 victory and end Davis’ undefeated season.

“He’s a quality kid,” Fulton said. “We have seen him wrestle and wrestled him last year. Stetson was able to push the pace, gave up a late takedown and lost 9-7. A real quality kid as far as the loss, and that’s OK.”

Davis rebounded and won by major decision in the consolation semifinal before winning the third place match with a pin.

On top of the two third place finishers, the Panthers had four other wrestlers that advanced to the quarterfinals this weekend.

Dees (12-5) advanced to the quarterfinals at 205 pounds and went 2-2 on the weekend; Dusty Carter (1-2) advanced to the quarterfinal at 182 after going 1-2 on the weekend; Lannon Brazelton (1-2) made it to the quarterfinal at 170 and went 1-2 on the weekend; Jeremy Harms (2-2) went 2-2 at 145 pounds after making it to the quarterfinal.

“All of our guys wrestled really well,” Fulton said. “We ran into some good kids and went out that round just before placing. We scored points in nearly every weight.”

Overall the Panthers finished with 115 points as a team, finishing as the highest Wyoming team and eighth overall out of 30 teams in attendance.

Powell split up its team over the weekend, with 14 other athletes going to Cody to take part in a junior varsity tournament on Saturday.

The Panthers had six athletes finish in first; Tyler Wenzel (106), Chevy Hill (113-120), Reese Lowe (145), Denton Wainscott (182), Jacob Eaton (220) and Zain Younas (285).

HOME QUAD

Powell will make a brief pit stop at home this week, hosting a quad between Cody, Huntley Project and Laurel on Tuesday (today) at 5 p.m.

“We are going to get a workout in and get ready for two really tough duals on Tuesday night,” Fulton said. 

Huntley Project finished above the Panthers in their home tournament and in Bozeman, and are the defending class B state champions in Montana.

Laurel tied for 19th in Bozeman, but Fulton is uncertain if the team was at full strength at the tournament.

“It’s about matches right now,” Fulton said. “We are excited to wrestle at home right now. We are getting better and learning every week and it’ll be nice to see how we stack up.”