What a difference two weeks can make.

Taking big strides from their season-opening home tournament, the Powell High School boys’ golf team went to Lander last week and fared 110 shots better.

The Lander Golf Course is traditionally a tough one, said PHS head coach Troy Hildebrand, “so I feel like the guys really took a positive step forward” at the Thursday-Friday tournament.

The boys finished fifth among seven teams.

“While we are still a long ways from competing for the top spots at tournaments, I was very pleased with our progress,” Hildebrand said, adding, “We did a better job of managing the course and eliminating some of the disaster holes that we had in our home tournament.”

Leading the way was Reece Hackenberg, who improved by 34 shots from the season opener in Powell (an average of nearly a stroke per hole) to shoot a 99 and a 104 in Lander.

“This was a really good week for Reece as he broke 100 for the first time and truly found some confidence in his game,” Hildebrand said. “Only being a freshman, he has a great opportunity to continue growing as a player and I expect him to continue improving each week.”

Robert Rodriguez, who missed week one, “played OK for being on a tough course” and shot 103-102, Hildebrand said.

“As a senior leader for us, I expect him to get better and better each week,” the coach said of Rodriguez, predicting he’ll be ready for the “stretch run.”

Freshman Rob Sessions knocked nine shots off his Powell debut, shooting 108-101 in Lander.

“As another freshman for us, he is showing great promise and has a lot of natural talent,” Hildebrand said, saying Sessions has “incredible potential as a golfer.”

Senior Sean Wagner shot 103-110. That was 14 shots better than what he posted in his first-ever competition in Powell.

“For as new as he is to golf, Sean really does a great job of managing his game and getting the most out of each round,” Hildebrand said.

Sophomore Treven Keeler fired rounds of 107 and 108 in Lander, shaving 13 shots from his season-opening performance.

“Treven has been pretty consistent all year as he continues to work hard on some different aspects of his swing,” Hildebrand said. “I really believe that his best rounds are still ahead of him this fall and when he gets it all put together he will see some big improvement in his scores.”

Powell’s lowest four scores totaled 412 on day one and 415 on day two for a total team score of 827.

The hosting Lander Tigers won the event with a two-day total of 665, followed by Pinedale (669) and Jackson (704).

Pinedale’s Jordan Costello ran away with the individual title. He shot 65-64 (13 under par) to finish 14 strokes ahead of Lander’s Trey Massey.

On the girls side, Lander’s Macy Jacobson shot 84-87 to win the individual title by a single shot. Cody’s Fillies won the team event.

On the PHS junior varsity team, junior Kyle Church shot a 117 and a 112, nine shots better than week one.

Hildebrand said Church did a nice job improving from day one to two.

“He just needs more tournament experience to figure out how to post the best score for each round,” Hildebrand said, citing Church’s improvement since his freshman year.

Sophomore Kacey Creed shot two rounds of 119.

“I was really proud that he worked hard to find ways to get around the course and post the best score possible even when he wasn’t getting off of the tee in great shape,” Hildebrand said. “That is a nice sign of his growth as a player.”

PHS tees off in Buffalo today (Thursday) and Friday for what will be the final tune-up before the conference tournament.