Depth helped propel the Powell Panther swim and dive team to a second place finish at the 3A North/Absaraka Conference meet in Worland on Friday and Saturday — finishing with 246 points and 29 points behind victors Buffalo.

“We had a very good couple of days,” coach Stephanie Warren said. “Lots of very good swims, that’s always an exciting thing to go to your conference meet and get good times after working as hard as they have.”

Leading the way as the highest placer for the Panthers was Kobus Diver, who finished second in the 500 free (5:28.65).

Rui Parker earned a third place finish in the 100 back (58.01) while Powell also got fourth place finishes from Hugh Carpenter in the 200 free (2:05.39), Jon Hawley in diving (329.15) and Gabe Rose in the 100 fly (58.51).

Powell was powered by 10 placements in the top six, while having an additional 16 performances in consolation finals and in the top 12 that helped push the Panthers up the leaderboard.

“We did not have a lot of the top six places but our depth really helped us,” Warren said. “All those points added up, that’s the nice thing about conference is we can have that and all the points won’t be so spread apart like at state.”

Those included all four divers placing in the top 12, and all swimmers making it to Saturday in the 200 IM, 100 fly and 500 free.

Powell added one new state qualifier over the weekend when Trystan Preator qualified for the 100 fly (1:07.52).

“He started tapering this last week and was able to back off of morning practices,” Warren said. “The afternoon practices for them were different and he was able to reap the benefits of all of that.”

Warren said that they were going to try and keep the athletes working in order for them to have a good time at state as well.

LAST CHANCE MEET

Swimmers who have not qualified or are looking to qualify in more events will be heading to Cody on Tuesday (tonight) at 5 p.m. to take part in the Last Chance Meet.

Warren was hopeful that the final chance for the athletes would come on Thursday, but is planning to give those who haven’t qualified the chance to rest in order to try and have their best time on Tuesday.

“Giving them a little bit of rest so hopefully they can have their best swim,” Warren said. 

She said that some of them will be swimming events they haven’t swam before to see if they have a chance to qualify in those, and is hopeful to get another qualifier or two at the meet to add to the 16 already qualified for state in Gillette next week. 

ABSARAKA CONFERENCE

* Denotes state qualifying mark, p denotes preliminary time

Team scores: 1. Buffalo 275, 2. Powell 246, 3. Cody 228, T4. Riverton and Worland 206, 6. Newcastle 83, 7. Douglas 46

200 medley relay: 4. Rui Parker, Kobus Diver, Gabe Rose and Adam Williams 1:48.14; Aidan Cannizzaro, Hunter Davis, Nathan Fuller and Ashtin Prentiss 2:04.04p

200 free: 4. Hugh Carpenter 2:05.39*, 6. Conner Mayes 2:08.57*, 7. David Polson 2:11.37, 16. Korbyn Warren 2:30.57p, 18. Alex Watts 2:43.44p

200 IM: 8. Gabe Rose 2:14.53*, 11. Nathan Fuller 2:26.35*

50 free: 6. Rui Parker 24.65*, 10. Adam Williams 25.47*, 18. Justin Hobbs 28.5p, 21. Levi Hawley 29.53p

1-meter diving (11 dives): 4. Jon Hawley 329.15*, 6. Ashtin Prentiss 291.75*, 8. Taggart Shumway 278.8*, 11. Justin Hobbs 214.15

100 fly: 4. Gabe Rose 58.51*, 7. Nathan Fuller 1:03.68*, 10. Trystan Preator 1:07.52*, 11. Conner Mayes 1:08.21

100 free: 7. Cole Fauskee 55.06*, 9. Will Fuller 56.64*, 10. Hugh Carpenter 57.32*, 16. Ashtin Prentiss 59.17p, 20. Korbyn Warren 1:08.45p, 23. Alex Watts 1:12.97p, 25. Branton Moore 1:23.67p

500 free: 2. Kobus Diver 5:28.65*, 5. David Polson 5:54.19*, 9. Trystan Preator 6:10.15

200 free relay: 4. Rui Parker, Will Fuller, Adam Williams and Cole Fauskee 1:38.65; Aidan Cannizzaro, Hugh Carpenter, Ashtin Prentiss and Conner Mayes 1:45.84p

100 back: 3. Rui Parker 58.01*, 6. Adam Williams 1:02.34*, 7. Aidan Cannizzaro 1:03.55*, 10. Will Fuller 1:07.59, 13. Taggart Shumway 1:12.71p, 14. Hunter Davis 1:15.65p, 15. Lukas Legler 1:20.53p

100 breast: 6. Kobus Diver 1:09.26*, 8. Cole Fauskee 1:11.15*, 16. Jon Hawley 1:25.03p, 19. Levi Hawley 1:27.67p, 21. Hunter Davis 1:31.62p

400 free relay: 5. Gabe Rose, Hugh Carpenter, Will Fuller and Cole Fauskee 3:45.04; Conner Mayes, Nathan Fuller, Jon Hawley and Trystan Preator 4:18.08p