Lady Panthers take first at Pinedale

Powell swims past Lander, Sublette for top spot

Posted 10/10/19

The Powell High School girls’ swimming and diving team followed up an impressive showing at Riverton on Friday with one of even more significance Saturday — topping the seven-team field …

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Lady Panthers take first at Pinedale

Powell swims past Lander, Sublette for top spot

Posted

The Powell High School girls’ swimming and diving team followed up an impressive showing at Riverton on Friday with one of even more significance Saturday — topping the seven-team field at the Pinedale Invitational.

The Lady Panthers finished the meet with 499 points, out-distancing defending 3A state champion Lander (421 points) by 79 points. Sublette rounded out the top three with 338 points.

“Last year we were second place in this meet, scoring 247 [points] to Lander’s 326,” said PHS head coach Bob Smartt. “We had the most team depth of the seven teams in attendance. Unfortunately, the state championships are only scored to 12 places. Also, Lander was missing three of their top swimmers.”

The Lady Panthers took the lead during the meet’s second event, the 200 freestyle, and never looked back. Four Powell swimmers scored points in the 200 free: Elizabeth Liggett (2:16, fourth place), Grace Harder (2:22, seventh), Gabby Paterson (2:26, ninth), and
Sydney Legler (2:26, 10th).

In the 200 individual medley, Anna Fuller (2:29) and Addison Moretti (2:33) placed first and second, respectively, both in personal best times.

In the 50 freestyle, “our top athletes were Madison Lowery in sixth in 28.21, and Emma Mitchell in seventh in a tech-suited swim of 28.39, not far off the state mark of 28.00.”

In a dominating performance, Emma Karhu scored a personal best 348.95 for 11 dives to beat Sublette’s Isabella Romasko by 59 points. Also placing in diving for Powell were Kami Jensen (241, fourth), Maddi Hackenberg (237, fifth), and Taycee Walker (217, seventh).

The 100 butterfly was the highest-scoring event for the Lady Panthers.

“Lucia Harder won in a personal best with ‘outside smoke’ from lane eight in 1:09,” Smartt said. “Sydney Legler, wearing a tech suit, improved her personal best by almost five seconds to 1:10 for third place, Ashlyn Aguirre was fifth (1:11) and captain Rachel Kuntz was seventh (1:13).” 

Lowery was the only Lady Panther to score in the 100 freestyle, with an eighth-place finish in 1:03.45. The 500 freestyle was another top event for Powell, with Moretti (6:06), Liggett (6:10) and Grace Harder (6:17) finishing 1-2-4 and Gabby Paterson in 10th (6:45).

“Our top swimmers in the 100 backstroke were Sidney O’Brien in fifth and Emma Mitchell in sixth,” Smartt said. “Anna Fuller was second in the 100 breaststroke and Rachel Kuntz was sixth.”

Smartt called the win a “team effort,” with 20 Lady Panthers scoring individual points including Lily Halter (50 free), Kylie Kahl (100 backstroke) and Lauren Lejeune (100 breaststroke).

The team had 11 personal-best performances, including Grace Sapp in the 100 backstroke.

“Usually it is difficult to achieve best times at this meet, due to the the altitude of 7,180 feet,” Smartt explained. “However, the Panthers scored very well in the three events which are most affected by the altitude: 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 500 free, which reflects many hours of hard training.”

The PHS swimming and diving team is in Worland today (Thursday) for a dual meet; they host Lander Friday at the Powell Aquatic Center.

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