The Powell High School girls’ wrestling team had six opportunities to get on the mat throughout the week, with five duals in Montana and a home dual giving the Panthers a chance to compete.

LAUREL DUALS

Heading up to Montana on Tuesday, Jan. 6, the Panthers took on Huntley Project as well as the host Laurel in duals.

While the Panthers got a number of matches, they were unable to compete each time against wrestlers at their own weight due to weigh-in restrictions, so they typically wrestled heavier opponents, with several of the matches that evening counting as exhibition matches as opposed to official dual matches.

In those matches, the top competitors for the Panthers this season secured victories, while the younger, less experienced Panthers found not wins but improvement.

“We won four out of seven with Huntley,” coach Jeriah Horsley said. “We’re really seeing the improvements come across with our newer wrestlers. Every time they wrestle there’s an improvement in what they’re doing. It just takes time. They’ve got a good attitude about pushing themselves forward. So that was fun to watch.”

HOME DUAL

The Panthers competed at home for the first time this season on Friday, welcoming in Greybull-Riverside for a dual in front of the home crowd.

Powell got forfeit wins at 100, 105 and 110 pounds, before Eleasah Horsley got a pin late in the first period to make it 24-0.

The visitors got the win at 120 pounds and forfeit wins at 130 and 135, with 125 being open for both.

Nalani Jordan got a pin early in the second period to make it 30-18, before a pair of pins for the visitors tied it at 30.

Powell got the win with a forfeit at 170, another open weight for the visitors, to make it 36-30.

“The Greybull-Riverside dual went fantastic,” coach Horsley said. “That was their first true varsity dual for just the girls’ team, and they came in and showed what Powell was made of.”

BILLINGS DUALS

The Panthers hopped back on the road on Saturday evening, taking on the three top Billings schools in Skyview, Senior and West.

Again the Panthers were able to get several matches in, with the busy evening providing some strong athletes for the team to compete against.

“We really wrestled well, but I think those three duals, kind of back-to-back this week, really kind of slowed us down a little bit,” coach Horsley said. “There have all been some pretty good, strong, athletic girls that we’ve been up against for the week. That was just fantastic.”

ANOTHER BUSY WEEK

The Panthers again have a busy week of action both home and away, starting with a dual at 5 p.m. today (Tuesday) against Worland in the Panther gym.

Powell then heads back on the road, heading to Idaho Falls, Idaho, to take part in the Tiger Grizz Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

“Looking forward to this week with the Worland dual and then we go to Idaho with our five placers from the Belgrade Super 14 Tournament,” coach Horsley said. “I feel like these girls are really starting to be there conditioning wise, they’re starting to really clean up their technique and their shots. They’re looking very sound, where we want them. We’ve still got little things of course to work on. But wrestling these tougher tournaments, these bigger tournaments, is really pushing where we want them to be.”

Following the trip to Idaho, the Panthers will return to Wyoming for the remainder of the season.