It was more than talk.

The Powell High School girls’ swim team finished second at the Lander Invitational Saturday, just days after head coach Luke Robertson and a handful of swimmers said the Panthers would be legitimate threats at state this year.

Only Jackson bested the Panthers, who scored 267.5 team points, 37.5 more than the third-place Lander Tigers and nearly double that of fourth-place Kemmerer (134).

Jackson and Lander finished one-two at state last fall while Powell finished sixth.

“I think the big thing is just the confidence it builds in our team,” said head coach Luke Robertson. “We can compete and we’re a solid team this year.”

Sophomore Amanda Tracy led the Panthers with two first-place finishes (200 and 500 free) and earned a team-high 32 points for Powell.

A strong showing from Powell juniors helped propel them into the top three.

Stephanie Liggett scored 23 points for Powell with a second-place finish in the 200 yard IM and a fifth-place finish in the 100 fly. Junior Gretchen Moretti matched Liggett with a 23-point performance as well. Moretti was the runner-up in the 100 yard breast and fifth in the 200 IM.

Moretti said she was impressed with how the team performed, especially after only two weeks of training. The team felt confident going into the tournament, she said, but “this weekend we realized we are a strong team.”

SarahJean O’Neill finished third in the 100 yard breast and eighth in the 100 free, good for a total of 17 points for Powell.

“It was definitely a team effort,” Robertson said. “It wasn’t just one or two kids. Those points add up and make a difference.”

The Panthers also faired well in the meet’s three relays, netting themselves 74 points. Powell was third in the 200 yard medley relay, fourth in the 200 free relay and second in the 400 free relay.

Robertson said he will keep mix-and-matching his relay teams until he finds the fastest combinations.

Taryn Bohlman racked up 18 points by finishing fourth in the 200 free and seventh in the 100 free, plus she swam for the ‘A’ team during both free relays.

Tristan Bohlman claimed 11 points for Powell by finishing sixth in the 100 back and 11th in the 100 fly. She also swam in the 200 medley and 400 free relays.

Senior Baxter Heinert finished tied for eighth in the 50 free and 10th in the 100 free, and also swam for Powell’s ‘A’ free relay teams, earning eight and a half points in the process. Senior Lydia Allen finished ninth in the 100 fly and 100 breast, good for eight team points.

Powell’s impressive early-season showing will offer short-term pride and confidence, but the Panthers’ performance has long-term implications. Powell qualified nine swimmers across 17 events, compared to just six swimmers in the first meet of 2012.

“That was really great,” Robertson said of the nine qualifiers. “And we had a lot of kids that were within two seconds, three seconds, they were right there within striking distance.”

Eight returning swimmers qualified in Lander.

Tracy qualified in the 200 and 500 free, Taryn Bohlman in the 100 and 200 free, Tristan Bohlman in the 100 fly and 100 back, Liggett in the 200 IM and 100 fly, Moretti in the 100 IM and 100 breast, O’Neill in the 100 free and 100 breast, Heinert in the 50 and 100 free and Allen in the 100 fly.

Aly Schneider of Lovell led a strong performance from Powell’s freshmen, who will be counted on to solidify the Panthers’ depth. Schneider became the first freshman to stamp her ticket to state by qualifying in the 100 back and 50 free, in which she finished fifth and 10th, respectively.

Schneider said she wasn’y expecting to qualify in her first high school meet.

“I looked at the clock (and) did a little jig in my head,” Schneider said, giggling. “Everyone gave me high fives, I felt really happy.”

Katie Doughty did not qualify in any events but was just three seconds off the pace with her 10th-place finish in the 200 free. Doughty was eighth in the 500 free and earned a total of eight points for the Panthers.

Katie’s sister Emily earned four points for her team with a ninth-place finish in the 100 back, with a time just 2.03 seconds slow of qualifying.

Freshman Katie Brown earned a point in the 200 IM with her 12th-place finish, and would have scored in the 100 breast if four of her Panther teammates didn’t place higher than her. Only four swimmers from the same school are allowed to score in a single event.

“We were just so stacked in that event,” Robertson said. “We had five kids that could have scored but only four are allowed to.”

Brown cut nearly three seconds in the 200 IM.

Others making notable time cuts were sophomore Jace Sharp, who cut 25 seconds in the 500 free and one second in the 50 free, both significant improvements relative to the event.

Freshman Beth McCaslin swam eight seconds faster than her best USA Swimming time in the 100 back.

“For a lot of them (freshmen) the training load is a lot more than they’ve seen before,” Robertson said. “You see them cut just a ton of time.”