Kicking off the season with its annual home wrestling tournament, the Powell High School wrestling team finished fourth as a team, led by two individual winners in Stetson Davis and Yessenia Teague.

Davis led the way for the Panthers on the boys’ side, finishing the weekend 7-0 and winning the opening tournament at 220 pounds.

He cruised through the tournament, finishing six of his seven matches via pin including the championship match over Jace Grant from Cody.

“Stetson had a great tournament, looked really good on his feet,” coach Nick Fulton said. “He gave up an early take down (against Grant), cleared bottom and got on his offense and wore him out and got a pin in that third period. That’s a great way to start the season.”

Grant competed at 195 pounds last year while Davis jumped three weight classes from 170 pounds. Grant finished as the state runner-up in 3A last year at 195.

The other champion for the Panthers was a first, as the tournament hosted a separate all-girls tournament with girls’ wrestling being sanctioned as a sport this season.

Teague dominated over the two -day competition, winning all six of her matches via pin to win the title at 125 pounds.

“She looked pretty dominant out there,” Fulton said. “She is a pretty tough-minded individual, works hard and she is an easy girl to cheer for. I was awful happy for her to win our home tournament in her senior year.”

Another Panther made the finals in the opening weekend, with freshman Gabriel Whiting finishing second at 106 pounds.

Whiting made it to the finals after going 3-1 on Friday, and advancing by two decisions on Saturday before falling in the championship via pin to Konner Heath from Laurel in under a minute.

“[Whiting] is a pretty cagey kid, he really does well in scramble positions and has great feel,” Fulton said. “It was a great start to a high school career.”

Jimmy Dees impressed for the Panthers at 195 pounds. He went 2-1 on Friday and advanced to the semifinals in the A bracket before losing to Noah Sides from Natrona County, who was the 4A champion at 182 pounds last season and eventually placed third overall.

“Jimmy had a good tournament,” Fulton said. “He lost to the state champion from Natrona, was up in the match and then got a little out of position and got caught. Those are things we can work on.”

Jonathan Harms placed behind Davis after losing to his teammate in the semifinals at 220 pounds, coming in fourth and going 3-4 on the weekend.

Other placers for the Panthers included Weston Thomas at 120 pounds in sixth place, Denton Wainscott (182) in sixth place and Dusty Carter (195) in sixth.

Overall the Panthers finished with 80 points as a team, finishing fourth in the tournament behind Laurel, Huntley Project and Natrona County.

“I was very pleased, there are obviously things we can work on and things we can get better at but their intensity and efforts in their matches as a whole were really good,” Fulton said.

At the junior varsity level the Panthers also had success, with Tyler Wenzel winning at 106 pounds, while Chevy Hill (120) and Kash Brazelton (145) finished as runners-up.

Overall the Panther Invitational saw its largest competition ever, with 456 athletes coming from around Wyoming and Montana to compete.

ROAD TRIPS

The Panther wrestling team now splits up to head out on two separate road trips this weekend.

Varsity athletes will be heading as a squad to Gillette to compete in the Thunder Basin Invitational, competing in eight duals over two days.

“They bring in the toughest teams from around the region,” Fulton said. “That is going to be a great test for us. We won’t have all of our weights shaken out, but we need to perform well. The caliber of that tournament is tough.”

Other athletes will be heading to Worland to compete in the Battle in the Big Horns, which means it’s likely almost every Panther wrestler will have wrestled more than 10 matches before the holiday break.

Powell is still dealing with some lingering injuries from football, and expects some athletes to return later in the season to compete for the team.

“These kids work hard, there is a lot of promise there,” Fulton said.