Competing at home for the final time brought out some top performances for the Powell High School swim and dive team, adding a new qualifier at a home triangular on Friday while competing well against the biggest competition to date in Lander on Saturday.

On Friday the Panthers added one new qualifier, as Hunter Taylor became the seventh to make it to state this season with his first place performance in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 15.17 seconds.

“That was really exciting for him. He’s been working really hard towards that so it was exciting to see him meet that qualifying time on Friday night,” coach Stephanie Warren said.

In addition to Taylor, the Panthers had four additional first place finishes, all from the Panther seniors in their final home meet.

Hugh Carpenter won two events, topping the 50 free (23.73) and the 100 fly (57.75), while Trystan Preator had a large time cut in the 200 IM (2:24.25) and Will Fuller won the 100 free (55.48).

“All three of them did a great job,” Warren said. “This group of seniors is extremely goal oriented, so they’re always setting goals and sharing those goals and encouraging the other individuals and the team to set goals. Those are great ways they’ve been leading, and then just their encouragement of the others, and cheering everyone on and encouraging each individual during practices and during meets has been really good from this group of kids.”

Those three seniors, along with Tyler Kruger, won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:48.5.

Additional top five finishes included Gabe Buchholz, who placed second in the 500 free (6:10.44) and fifth in the 100 breast (1:26.67); Fuller placed second in the 100 back (1:03.65); Kruger placed third in the 200 IM (2:29.04) and fourth in the 100 fly (1:04.2); Preator took third in the 100 fly (1:02.8); Kooper Arends placed third in the 100 back (1:09.11); Dayton Lawrence took fourth diving with 164.4 points; Gabe Leighton was fourth in the 500 free (6:59.5) and Sam Williams was fifth in the 200 free (2:18.72).

Overall the Panthers were second with 319 points, as Cody was first with 374 and Worland was third with 176.

In Lander at the Bruce Gresly Memorial Invite on Saturday Powell matched up with 12 other teams, including nearly every 3A team in the state except for Buffalo and Newcastle along with several 4A teams.

“They were extremely excited to see the other teams. That was great for them, so they were excited and encouraged by the amount of swimmers that were there,” Warren said. 

Powell had one event winner, as Fuller took the top spot in the 50 free with a time of 23.32 seconds.

Just behind in a tie for second was Carpenter with a time of 23.75 seconds.

Other top 10 finishes included Carpenter who took third in the 100 fly (58.93); Fuller took seventh in the 100 back (1:04.21) and Lawrence was 10th in his first 11 dive competition of the season with a score of 164.55.

As a team Powell finished sixth with 94.5 points; host Lander took the top spot with 248.5 points and Lyman was second with 211.5.

The Panthers now head into their final week of action, starting with a dual today (Tuesday) at Cody at 5 p.m. before heading to Buffalo on Friday for their final meet of the season.

“This week we’re really hoping that we can get the ones that are really close to qualifying. We have a couple that are really close in a couple of events,” Warren said. “We’re hoping (this week) will give them the opportunity to do that, and then as we get ready to prepare for conference, it’ll help us to kind of figure out more and what we’re going to do as far as our lineup for conference.”

POWELL TRI

* Denotes state qualifying mark

Team scores — 1. Cody 374, 2. Powell 319, 3. Worland 176

200 medley relay — 2. Will Fuller, Gabe Buchholz, Trystan Preator and Hugh Carpenter 1:55.93; 3. Kooper Arends, Ethan Haslem, Hunter Taylor and Dayton Lawrence 2:11.58

200 free — 5. Sam Williams 2:18.72, 7. Gabe Leighton 2:38.39

200 IM — 1. Trystan Preator 2:24.25*, 3. Tyler Kruger 2:29.04*

50 free — 1. Hugh Carpenter 23.73*, 6. Hunter Taylor 27.03, 7. Kooper Arends 29.26, 10. Ethan Haslem 34.5

1-meter diving (six dives) — 4. Dayton Lawrence 164.4*, 7. Sam Williams 112.5

100 fly — 1. Hugh Carpenter 57.75*, 3. Trystan Preator 1:02.8*, 4. Tyler Kruger 1:04.2*

100 free — 1. Will Fuller 55.48*

500 free — 2. Gabe Buchholz 6:10.44, 4. Gabe Leighton 6:59.5

200 free relay — 4. Gabe Buchholz, Sam Williams, Hunter Taylor and Tyler Kruger 1:51.22

100 back — 2. Will Fuller 1:03.65*, 3. Kooper Arends 1:09.11

100 breast — 1. Hunter Taylor 1:15.17*, 5. Gabe Buchholz 1:26.67, 6. Ethan Haslem 1:30.03

400 free relay — 1. Hugh Carpenter, Tyler Kruger, Will Fuller and Trystan Preator 3:48.5; 4. Kooper Arends, Gabe Leighton, Dayton Lawrence and Sam Williams 4:43.33

BRUCE GRESLY MEMORIAL INVITE

Team scores — 1. Lander 248.5, 2. Lyman 211.5, 3. Evanston 211, 4. Cody 143, 5. Rock Springs 124, 6. Powell 94.5, 7. Kemmerer 71, 8. Douglas 62.5, 9. Rawlins 55, 10. Sublette County 50, 11. Worland 45, 12. Jackson 42, 13. Cheyenne South 30

200 medley relay — 7. Will Fuller, Gabe Buchholz, Hugh Carpenter and Hunter Taylor 1:57.92

200 free — 14. Trystan Preator 2:05.89*

200 IM — 26. Kooper Arends 2:52.31

50 free — 1. Will Fuller 23.32*, T2. Hugh Carpenter 23.75*, 16. Gabe Buchholz 25.82*, 43. Ethan Haslem 34.58

1-meter diving (11 dives) — 10. Dayton Lawrence 164.55

100 fly — 3. Hugh Carpenter 58.93*, 17. Gabe Buchholz 1:11.98

100 free — 25. Hunter Taylor 1:02, 40. Gabe Leighton 1:10.24

200 free relay — 11. Kooper Arends, Hunter Taylor, Sam Williams and Trystan Preator 1:50.57

100 back — 7. Will Fuller 1:04.21*, 13. Kooper Arends 1:09.97, 19. Sam Williams 1:20.53

100 breast — 14. Hunter Taylor 1:16.88, 21. Trystan Preator 1:21.34, 27. Ethan Haslem 1:32.45

400 free — 6. Hugh Carpenter, Gabe Buchholz, Trystan Preator and Will Fuller 3:45.04