Powell Panther swim and dive team finished third at the Absaraka Conference meet in Cody over the weekend, with several top finishes pacing the Panthers at the Paul Stock Aquatic and Recreation Center.

Leading the way for Powell was a pair of second place finishes both on the board and in the pool, as Taggart Shumway finished second in diving with a score of 374.7 in 11 dives and Hugh Carpenter took second in the 100 fly with a time of 56.74 seconds.

“Taggart has worked very hard over the last four years and it was really great to see it all just come together his senior year at conference,” coach Stephanie Warren said. “He had a great performance, super happy with his second place finish.”

Carpenter added another top finish in the 200 IM, placing third with a time of 2:12.55.

“Hugh had a fantastic weekend. He was very excited. He had a slow start to the season, and now things are coming together and he’s looking very, very strong,” Warren said.

The other ‘A’ finals performance for Powell came from Will Fuller, who swam the 100 back in a time of 1:00.1 and the 50 free in 23.1.

“He had two really good swims on Friday. Saturday, he still did pretty well, but not quite as well as Friday,” Warren said.

Powell had plenty of ‘B’ finalists in the meet, starting with Trystan Preator taking seventh in the 100 free (57.45) and ninth in the 200 free (2:09.21); Shumway seventh in the 50 free (25.12); Conner Mayes eighth in both the 200 IM (2:24.44) and the 500 free (5:55.32); Gabe Buchholtz eighth in the 100 fly (1:07.25) and 10th in the 100 back (1:08.68); Hunter Taylor 10th in the 500 free (6:35.92) and Sam Williams 11th in both the 200 free (2:13.74) and the 100 free (1:00.48).

Dayton Lawrence also took 11th in diving with a 222.75.

The highest placing relay for the Panthers came in the 200 medley, as the team of Fuller, Mayes, Preator and Carpenter took second with a 1:50.19.

Overall the Panthers took third as a team with a score of 173, just ahead of Newcastle with 154, while Worland finished with 125 and Douglas was sixth with 92.

“We had a really good weekend, we saw some personal best times and even lifetime bests for many of them,” Warren said. “They had an excellent night Friday, swam amazing. Saturday, we still swam pretty strong. There were still a lot of good things that came out of Saturday, a third place finish overall. We’re very pleased with that.”

Buffalo ran away with the team title with 386 points while Cody was second with 327 — Buffalo won nine of 12 events at the meet.

“Their speed is fantastic, but their numbers are quite a bit bigger than ours too. So they have speed and depth,” Warren said. “We expected that. Seeing those guys throughout the season, we knew they were going to kind of be the top two. So we were very happy with the fact that we got third.”

Powell will make a quick trip back to Cody today (Tuesday) to take part in the Last Chance meet, which will be the final opportunity to qualify for the state meet which starts next Thursday in Gillette.

“We’ll be taking a few of them over Tuesday night to see if they can’t have one last opportunity to get that qualifying mark,” Warren said. 

That meet is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.

ABSARAKA CONFERENCE MEET

* Denotes state qualifying mark, p indicates preliminary time

Team scores — 1. Buffalo 386, 2. Cody 327, 3. Powell 173, 4. Newcastle 154, 5. Worland 125, 6. Douglas 92

200 medley relay — 2. Will Fuller, Conner Mayes, Trystan Preator and Hugh Carpenter 1:50.19

200 free — 9. Trystan Preator 2:09.21*, 11. Sam Williams 2:13.74, 15. Onyx Miller 2:52.25p

200 IM — 3. Hugh Carpenter 2:12.55*, 8. Conner Mayes 2:24.44*

50 free — 4. Will Fuller 23.1*, 7. Taggart Shumway 25.12*, 17. Hunter Taylor 28.83p, 21. Dayton Lawrence 31.22p, 24. Jim Black 34.37p

1-meter diving (11 dives) — 2. Taggart Shumway 374.7*, 11. Dayton Lawrence 222.75

100 fly — 2. Hugh Carpenter 56.74*, 8. Gabe Buchholtz 1:07.25*, 13. Onyx Miller 1:40.58p

100 free — 7. Trystan Preator 57.45*, 11. Sam Williams 1:00.48, 17. Jacob Gardner 1:09.36p, 19. Jim Black 1:17.51p

500 free — 8. Conner Mayes 5:55.32*, 10. Hunter Taylor 6:35.92

200 free relay — 5. Gabe Buchholtz, Hunter Taylor, Taggart Shumway and Trystan Preator 1:46.22

100 back — 4. Will Fuller 1:00.1*, 10. Gabe Buchholtz 1:08.68*

100 breast — 16. Jacob Gardner 1:30.14p

400 free relay — 3. Hugh Carpenter, Gabe Buchholtz, Conner Mayes and Will Fuller 3:30.39