A long, enduring month spent primarily in Montana is set to kick off this weekend for the Powell High School wrestling team, which heads to Bozeman to take part in the Bozeman LeProwse tournament on Friday and Saturday.

“Montana is a great wrestling state,” coach Nick Fulton said. “A lot of good teams, good coaches and good kids. The exposure to the talent up there is nice, but it’s also nice to go wrestle other guys.”

He said if wrestlers continue to compete against the same person over and over again then it will be difficult to improve, citing the need to face new opponents to help not become stagnant in growth.

“It’s not only about getting mat time, it’s about getting quality matches,” Fulton said. “The next couple of weeks should provide that for us.”

Powell went into the break with one undefeated wrestler in Stetson Davis, who has won a majority of his matchups at 220 pounds via pin, while Yessenia Teague has led the way for the girls having only lost one match this season.

Powell has also had strong contributions from freshman Gabriel Whiting who finished second at the Powell Invitational and went 6-2 at the Pat Weede Memorial, Dillon Melton who went undefeated at the Pat Weede Memorial, and Jimmy Dees who placed third in Powell and lost only one match in Gillette.

At the Pat Weede Memorial in Gillette before the break, the Panthers had vacancies at 126 pounds and 160 pounds, but Fulton is not going to force anybody to cut weight at this point in the season to create a full lineup.

“I think we will be doing some weight moving a little later in the year,” Fulton said. “Towards the end of January and February there will probably be some movement in the lineup. Right now we are going to let them sort themselves out, hold some wrestle-offs. I want kids to feel good and not diet too much, focusing on improving in practice and not coming into practice just to make weight.”

There are still several Panthers out with injuries, but Fulton said if those wrestlers return this year then it would likely be at the end of January.

He said the team had a strong winter break, and has been competing at practice since Dec. 28 with the hope of making a jump over this next month.

The entire team will not be going to Bozeman to compete, as the Panthers will send their junior varsity wrestlers to a tournament in Cody this weekend.

After the tournaments this weekend, the Panthers will host a quad between themselves, Cody High School, Huntley Project High School and Laurel High School on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 5 p.m.