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The state swim meet begins today (Thursday) in Gillette.
The Panthers spent their final practice at the Powell Aquatic Center fine-tuning their starts and turns. The team also went through the exhaustive process of trying to pare down which …
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Riedhammer adds name to roster
Junior Matt Riedhammer added his name to the Panthers’ list of state swimming qualifiers by cashing in at the aptly-named Last Chance meet held last week in Lander.
Riedhammer qualified in the 200 individual medly and narrowly missed adding his name to the roster of 100 breaststroke qualifiers as well. In so doing, he became the 12th member of the Panther swim team to earn a spot in the state starting blocks this week.
The state swim meet begins today (Thursday) in Gillette.
The Panthers spent their final practice at the Powell Aquatic Center fine-tuning their starts and turns. The team also went through the exhaustive process of trying to pare down which swimmers would compete in which events in Gillette.
“So many of our students qualified in multiple events and each athlete can only compete in two individual events and two relays at state,” said Powell swim coach Jerry Rodriguez. “We have lots of options.”
With those options, however, comes a lot of guesswork and a smattering of strategy.
“It is a matter of putting them (the swimmers) in their best events, keeping in mind where they are ranked within the other 3A swimmers and trying to guess where all the other teams will place their swimmers,” said Rodriguez.
The Panthers’ coach targets Lander, with 23 qualifiers, as the team to beat. A small but talented Buffalo team is probably the Tigers’ strongest challenger on paper. After that, Rodriguez notes, things are really up for grabs.
“Kemmerer will be our strongest competition,” Rodriguez noted of the Rangers, who narrowly edged Powell out of 3A West runner-up honors at the conference meet. “Worland, Douglas and Lyman will be right with us as the points get spread amongst the 11 3A teams.”
The Panthers traveled to Gillette on Wednesday for their final pre-state team practice. Preliminary competition in both swimming and diving begins today (Thursday).
A list of the Panthers’ official state entries had not been provided as of press time. State meet qualifiers for Powell High School included Kyle Anderson (100 fly), Billy Baker (100 back), Alex Bjornestad (200 free, 500 free, 100 back, 200 IM), Jakob Bowers (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly), Jarred LaPierre (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 200 IM), Jake Magill (diving), Edward Oursler (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 100 back, 100 breaststroke, 100 fly, 200 IM), Telton Pedersen (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 100 breaststroke, 100 fly, 200 IM), Matt Riedhammer (200 IM), Nic Tracy (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 100 back, 100 breaststroke, 100 fly, 200 IM), Ben Wetzel (100 free, 200 free, 500 free) and Quin Wetzel (100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 100 fly, 200 IM).
