The Powell High School boys’ wrestling team’s early improvement continued, as the Panthers fought hard at the Tom LeProwse Tournament in Bozeman on Friday and Saturday.

Once again the Panthers had a limited number of entrants in the varsity ranks at the tournament, featuring only five total in the event.

No Panthers placed at the tournament, with the furthest advancement coming from Tyler Wenzel. He made it to the quarterfinals after a forfeit and two pins early before losing to the eventual champion via pin and then falling in the consolation bracket to finish 3-2 at 144 pounds on the weekend.

“He lost to the eventual champ in the quarters. The kid is one of the most elite around the region, and Tyler kind of battled with him. Put him in some scramble situations. But the kid got the better of him and then he lost out there in the blood round,” coach Nick Fulton said. “Tyler’s steady, the guys he loses to are obviously talented kids, but Tyler’s right in the conversation with anybody around.”

Two other Panthers earned 3-2 records in the event, as Jonathan Hine earned two pins out of his three matches at 118 pounds and Sean Lowe earned two pins and a tech fall in his three wins at 132 pounds.

“Jonathan had a good weekend, solid weekend … Lost to the kid that was third and the kid that was fifth, so the losses he took were to quality opponents,” Fulton said. “Sean’s getting better every time he goes out there. Competing hard, had some nice wins … Sean continues to just cut down on big mistakes … He’s developing his leg attacks and really wrestled better in all positions.”

Russell Goolsbey finished with a 2-2 record, earning a pin and major decision in his two wins at 126 pounds.

“Russell continues to do really well. Despite his age, he’s competing really hard again at a good tournament. He’s getting better every day and getting a little more seasoned. This month of January will be big for him, as it will for all of them moving forward,” Fulton said.

David Yates also competed at 132 pounds but was unable to record a win to finish 0-2.

“He’s a senior but he’s a second-year wrestler. Most tournaments seniors can’t wrestle JV, so he’s going out there, he’s getting better. He’s relatively new to the sport despite his age, but competing hard and trying to do the best he can out there,” Fulton said.

The Panthers were without Broc Frank, who Fulton said sustained an injury which will hold him off the mat “for a little bit” as Powell hits the busiest stretch of the season.

While Powell had five athletes at the varsity ranks, Fulton attempted to get nearly the rest of his 20 athletes matches at the junior varsity tournament on Saturday, but those matches were cut short by the tournament which didn’t allow the Panthers as much match time as they’d hoped.

“We elected to enter a lot of our younger guys in JV, kind of in hopes that they would get a lot of matches at a good competition level for them. I was a little frustrated how Bozeman ran the tournament,” Fulton said. “They just axed that JV tournament right in the middle of it. I was frustrated that some of my young guys didn’t get the mat time that I had hoped for going in but that was out of our control. The young guys did compete really, really well in the matches they got to wrestle.”

The Panthers finished 29th overall as a team in the varsity tournament, but Fulton noted he was “more pleased” with the team’s performances, as the Panthers improved on the things they worked on over break.

Powell heads north on a quick trip at 5 p.m. today (Tuesday), taking part in a quad in Laurel between the Panthers, Cody, the hosts and Huntley Project. Cody and Powell will wrestle the two Montana schools in duals.

“Both of them are great teams,” Fulton said. “We need to get good matches for our varsity guys. We need to try to get as many JV matches as we can get in as well. I’ve got a lot of young talent, they just need mat time, and they didn’t get as much last weekend as I had hoped.”

That will start a quick stretch of duals for the Panthers, as they will also host 2A Greybull at 5 p.m. on Friday, where the team will drop its state championship banner for the 2024-25 season in front of the home crowd.

“Hopefully do that where a lot of our seniors from last year are still home on Christmas vacation, and hopefully we can get a lot of them there to celebrate the accomplishments of last year. Then we’re looking forward to another great opportunity for our current team to be able to showcase their improvement at home,” Fulton said.

Powell will continue its stretch of duals with a matchup against Worland next Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. before returning to a tournament on Jan. 16-17 in Missoula, Montana.