While competing in Park County over two days, the Powell High School boys’ swim and dive team showed improvement throughout the lineup, as the Panthers competed against four other teams in Cody on Friday before hosting the Gene Dozah Invitational on Saturday.

In Cody the Panthers matched up with a number of familiar foes, with the Panthers again having strong performances at the top.

Trystan Preator was Powell’s lone victor, as he took the top spot in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 4.46 seconds.

Hugh Carpenter placed second in the 100 back with a time of 1:03.91 and third in the 500 free with a time of 5:47.19.

Hunter Taylor placed third in the 100 fly (1:10.91), Preator took fourth in the 200 free (2:10.89), Will Fuller placed fifth in the 200 free (2:11.59) and Dayton Lawrence took fifth in diving with a score of 146.85.

“This is the time they are hoping to drop if they can maintain or just take a second off,” coach Stephanie Warren said. “Some of our already qualified kids, they’re actually doing a really good job themselves. Hopefully that leads to a good taper in the end.”

Powell finished third overall as a team, earning 224 points behind Riverton with a winning 385 points and Cody at second with 264. Worland was fourth with 159 points and Newcastle was fifth with 50.

Competing at home on Saturday the Panthers welcomed in those same teams and added Buffalo to the mix.

Carpenter was the lone Panther to claim victory at home, as he took the top spot in the 100 fly with a time of 58.57.

Lawrence moved up and took second in diving with a score of 167 and Fuller placed second in the 50 free with a time of 23.8 seconds.

Other top five finishes included Fuller who took third in the 100 back (1:05.65) and Carpenter placed fourth in the 200 free (2:02.46).

Along with the top finishers, the Panthers saw significant improvements throughout the lineup, including some of the newer swimmers lowering their times.

“One of our newest swimmers Ethan (Haslem) did a great job, I think both days he dropped a lot of time,” Warren said. “Kooper Arends had a great 200 IM, it was just exciting to see all of them drop in time … Having these younger kids step up and really watching their times drop is exciting to see. Hopefully they’ll get some more time cuts and maybe even a couple more qualifiers out of it.”

Powell finished fourth as a team out of the six teams in attendance, earning 179 points. Riverton took the victory with 317 points just ahead of Buffalo with 309, while Cody was third with 224, Worland was fifth with 127 and Newcastle was fifth with 36.

“It was good competition all around. It was nice to see Buffalo on Saturday. We didn’t see them on Friday night, and they always bring some great competition with them,” Warren said. “It’s nice to be able to see them and swim against them more frequently.”

Heading into the final several weeks of the regular season the Panthers are continuing to see improvements, as they compete once again around the Big Horn Basin this weekend.

That means a trip to Worland, where the Panthers dual the Warriors on Friday night before taking part in an invitational on Saturday where they will likely see a number of the same opposition with Warren hopeful the Panthers will see Lander or Douglas at the event.

“We might see a couple other teams that we haven’t seen yet,” Warren said. “It’ll be nice that we might have an opportunity to see some other teams that we haven’t seen before, but at the same time, even seeing the ones that we continue to see, they always bring good races. Each of the swimmers has their competition that they swim against and they watch and follow, so that helps to keep them motivated.”

CODY QUINT

* Denotes state qualifying mark

Team scores — 1. Riverton 385, 2. Cody 264, 3. Powell 224, 4. Worland 159, 5. Newcastle 50

200 medley relay — 4. Will Fuller, Gabe Buchholz, Hunter Taylor and Hugh Carpenter 1:59.68

200 free — 4. Trystan Preator 2:10.89, 5. Will Fuller 2:11.59, 7. Tyler Kruger 2:17

200 IM — 7. Gabe Buchholz 2:32.9

50 free — 6. Hunter Taylor 27.6, 9. Kooper Arends 29.23, 12. Gabe Leighton 29.72, 19. Ethan Haslem 33.81

1-meter diving (six dives) — 5. Dayton Lawrence 146.85

100 fly — 1. Trystan Preator 1:04.46*, 3. Hunter Taylor 1:10.91, 6. Kooper Arends 1:31.58

100 free — 4. Will Fuller 56.26*, 10. Dayton Lawrence 1:08.62, 12. Gabe Leighton 1:09.22

500 free — 3. Hugh Carpenter 5:47.19*

200 free relay — 3. Tyler Kruger, Dayton Lawrence, Hunter Taylor and Trystan Preator 1:49.39

100 back — 2. Hugh Carpenter 1:03.91*, 7. Gabe Buchholz 1:11.29

100 breast — 7. Tyler Kruger 1:23.64

400 free relay — 2. Will Fuller, Gabe Buchholz, Trystan Preator and Hugh Carpenter 3:52.41; 7. Dayton Lawrence, Gabe Leighton, Kooper Arends and Ethan Haslem 4:49.86

GENE DOZAH INVITATIONAL

Team scores — 1. Riverton 317, 2. Buffalo 309, 3. Cody 224, 4. Powell 179, 5. Worland 127, 6. Newcastle 36

200 medley relay — 4. Will Fuller, Gabe Buchholz, Hugh Carpenter and Tyler Kruger 1:56.65; 8. Kooper Arends, Gabe Leighton, Ethan Haslem and Hunter Taylor 2:26.78

200 free — 4. Hugh Carpenter 2:02.46*, 8. Trystan Preator 2:11.19, 10. Gabe Buchholz 2:17.64

200 IM — 9. Kooper Arends 2:54.82

50 free — 2. Will Fuller 23.8*, 11. Hunter Taylor 26.79

1-meter diving (six dives) — 2. Dayton Lawrence 167*

100 fly — 1. Hugh Carpenter 58.57*, 4. Tyler Kruger 1:03.96*, 9. Gabe Buchholz 1:11.52

100 free — 12. Kooper Arends 1:05.62, T15. Dayton Lawrence 1:08.69, 18. Gabe Leighton 1:11.99, 20. Ethan Haslem 1:17.55

500 free — 6. Tyler Kruger 6:59.17

200 free relay — 2. Hugh Carpenter, Gabe Buchholz, Trystan Preator and Will Fuller 1:39.86

100 back — 3. Will Fuller 1:05.65, 14. Gabe Leighton 1:24.41

100 breast — 9. Hunter Taylor 1:18.65, 12. Trystan Preator 1:22.06, 16. Ethan Haslem 1:32.06

400 free relay — 6. Tyler Kruger, Kooper Arends, Dayton Lawrence and Trystan Preator 4:13.24