A difficult road trip through Montana kicked off in Bozeman this past weekend for the Powell Panther wrestling team, where the Panthers placed as the top Wyoming boys’ team and the girls finished with two placers at the Tom LeProwse Tournament.

The tournament brought more than 40 teams from around Montana and Wyoming. The Panthers finished in 13th with 81 points despite not having a placer on the weekend.

“Bozeman was a tournament this year that was full of talent and really deep,” coach Nick Fulton said.

McKale Foley led the way for the Powell boys at 170 pounds as he finished with five wins after an opening loss to the No. 1 seed before being pulled medically in the final round before placement.

“He’s a hard worker and a good kid,” Fulton said. “He was beating some good guys. Battled back to that blood round, he got dinged up a little bit and it was more precautionary to rest him.”

Leading the girls was the pair of Allison LeBlanc and Angelina Bontadelli who both made the semifinals but ended up placing fifth at 114 pounds and 145 pounds respectively.

LeBlanc finished 4-2 while Bontadelli went 3-2.

“Angelina had a tough one in the semifinals, got in a tough position and the girl capitalized on it,” Fulton said. “Allison really started to look like herself this weekend. She was competing hard and taking shots.”

Fulton thought his team showed significant growth in areas they worked on over the course of the winter break as nearly every Panther scored points.

“We spent roughly 18 hours in the practice room over break. I was really happy to see the things we had specifically focused on technique-wise really implemented this weekend,” Fulton said. “It was evident what we had focused on over break. That was refreshing to see, our kids grew up a lot this weekend.”

Other Panther wrestlers included Chevy Hill going 3-2 at 113 pounds; Patrick Haney went 3-2 at 145 pounds; Jeremy Harms went 3-2 at 152 pounds; Denton Wainscott went 3-2 at 205 pounds; Wyatt Nicholson and Gabriel Whiting went 2-2 at 113 pounds; Braxton Batt went 2-2 at 120 pounds; Cody Seifert went 2-2 at 145 pounds; Reese Lowe went 2-2 at 152 pounds; Mitchel Wainscott went 2-2 at 160 pounds; Jacob Eaton went 2-2 at 205 pounds; Doug Bettger went 2-2 at 285 pounds; Talon Nuss went 1-2 at 103 pounds; Tyler Wenzel went 1-2 at 126 pounds; Kash Brazelton and Chase Visocky went 1-2 at 145 pounds; Troy Cheatham went 0-2 at 126 pounds; Rhys Bray went 0-2 at 160 pounds; Dusty Carter went 0-2 at 182 pounds while Jonathan Harms and Zain Younas went 0-2 at 285 pounds.

“They are so competitive and want to win so badly and sometimes that leads to putting pressure on themselves,” Fulton said. “Some of our guys really wrestled through adversity well and really grew up in terms of focusing on performance rather than focusing on wins.”

Other Panther girls’ wrestlers included Eleasah Horsley going 2-1 at 114 pounds before being pulled due to illness; Abigail LeBlanc went 1-2 at 114 pounds; Caydee Eden went 1-2 at 100 pounds; Nalani Jordan went 0-2 at 132 pounds and Kaprina Haney went 0-2 at 138 pounds.

“Montana is a little bit ahead of Wyoming in terms of women’s wrestling,” Fulton said. “Our ladies are starting to show some growth. That mat experience is so crucial for them.”

HEADING BACK NORTH

Powell will continue the Montana road trip Tuesday (today) by heading to Worden to take part in a quad with Huntley Project, Laurel and Cody.

Both Montana teams will dual each Wyoming team starting at 5 p.m.

“This week is a grind,” Fulton said. “January is a grind. I mentioned I think we got 18 hours of mat time over break, I think we have eight practices over the next three weeks.”

Powell will then head north to Missoula on Friday and Saturday for the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic.

“It’s 32 of the best teams in the region,” Fulton said. “That will be another good test for our guys. Some years it’s a step above Bozeman.”

The Panthers return to Wyoming next week starting with a dual against Worland on Thursday.