A season ago the Powell Panther boys’ wrestling team earned its first podium finish since 2020, finishing fourth in the team race after crowning an individual state champion for a second consecutive season.

That trophy placement along with an abundance of returning state competitors in a deep senior class has the Panthers aiming high this season in a competitive race at the top in 3A.

“We have a really good class of seniors,” coach Nick Fulton said. “We graduated some good seniors last year, but we’re stepping in this year with 14 or 15 seniors, and a solid junior class right behind them. We’re looking to use a little bit of that experience to hopefully reach some good goals for the kids and good goals for the team.”

Six medalists return this season, including Wyatt Nicholson at 106 pounds; Gabe Whiting and Chevy Hill at 113 pounds; McKale Foley at 165 pounds; Dusty Carter at 175 pounds and Doug Bettger at 285 pounds.

Alongside those placers included several other Panthers who competed at the state tournament a year ago including Talon Nuss at 106 pounds; Tyler Wenzel at 126 pounds; Patrick Haney and Cody Seifert at 144 pounds; Mitchel Wainscott at 157 pounds and Jacob Eaton at 215 pounds.

Fulton ultimately expects most if not all of his returning state competitors along with each new athlete in the program to take a step this season, moving up the rankings or improving by seasons’ end if they are just coming into the program as a freshman.

“I expect all of them to take another step, and that is my expectation with all of them, from our incoming freshmen to our top medalists,” Fulton said. “We do have six medalists that got medals in their pocket. We got a lot of guys that were knocking right on the door that put in a lot of time over the summer. We need to get our lineup spread out where we can maximize our points. That’s the first step, we’re looking to fill a solid lineup with a lot of weights, two deep, top to bottom. That’s kind of the goal right now and then take it one day at a time.”

Heading into this season there have been several rule changes to scoring in high school wrestling, adopting the higher level rules used at the collegiate level to include a three point takedown as well as a four point near fall.

With that new scoring system, Fulton said that his mentality will remain aggressive, but will change slightly to adapt early in the year to put his athletes in certain scenarios that may benefit them at the end of the season.

“We always want to be on the attack, scoring points dictates the pace of matches. The three point take down and four point near fall are kind of the big rule changes,” Fulton said. “I’ve got a pretty veteran team. I told them, we’re gonna have a little fun. We’re gonna work on scoring points especially early in the year. Philosophically, I don’t know it might benefit us down the road, just having multiple opportunities to score for multiple positions, when the pressure tightens up down toward the end they will have been in that situation a bit more. I wouldn’t say I do that with a really young team, but I do have some guys that have got quite a bit of time in and under their belt. It might cost us early, I told the guys that, but we’re focused on getting better every day and looking forward to February/March this year.”

With their sights set high to end the year, the Panthers have the depth to compete at the top in 3A, especially with defending state champion Green River, sixth place Evanston and seventh placed Riverton moving up to 4A.

Powell is expected to be in the mix alongside a pair of west teams in Pinedale and Cody, while some other west and east teams could compete for the team title.

“Quite frankly, at this juncture, I’m not overly concerned with who else is out there. We’re going to try to win one day at a time and just keep getting better,” Fulton said. “We showed pretty good growth last year, these guys with their work ethic, their attitude is tremendous and they have good leadership.”

Fulton, alongside his assistant coaches Juston Carter and Cody Kalberer, are preparing the team for a difficult first tournament of the season, starting at home with the Powell Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

He said they are bringing in 26 or 27 teams from around Wyoming and Montana, including two state champion teams from Montana in Laurel and Huntley Project, along with Lockwood which placed in the top three.

Wyoming teams will include Powell and Cody, along with 4A teams in state runner up Sheridan and Natrona County, as well as other teams around the state and Montana.

“There’s going to be some fur flying in the first weekend,” Fulton said. “We’re excited for that. My guys are excited. We always use that as a measuring stick.”

Competition is scheduled for a noon start on Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday with the junior varsity competing at Powell Middle School both days.