Propelled by strong performances up and down the lineup, the Powell High School boys tennis team won its first-ever state title on Saturday. And they won by a wide, comfortable margin.
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Propelled by strong performances up and down the lineup, the Powell High School boys tennis team won its first-ever state title on Saturday. And it wasn't even close.
With every Panther athlete finishing fourth or better, the PHS team amassed a whopping 54 points and nearly lapped the field at the state tennis tournament in Gillette. The closest competition, Campbell County High School, earned only 31.5 points, with Kelly Walsh and Cheyenne South further back in third with 23 points.
The Powell boys also claimed two individual titles: No. 2 singles player Dylan Preator successfully defended his title from last year with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 win over Tanner Lemm of Campbell County. And No. 3 doubles players Jay Cox and Logan Brown beat Jackson's Elliot Sanchez and Will Aepli 6-1, 6-4 to complete a dominant run through the bracket.
Meanwhile, both No. 1 doubles players Aidan Jacobsen and Justin Vanderbeek and No. 2 doubles players Grant Dillivan and Ethan Bartholomew earned second-place finishes. Jacobsen and Vanderbeek lost 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to Jefferson Neary and Austin Robertson of Campbell County on Saturday, while Dillivan and Bartholomew fell 6-3, 7-6 to Parker Phillips and Colton Allaire of Kelly Walsh.
No. 1 singles players Jesse Brown took fourth place after falling to Sheridan's Ethan Kutz on Saturday morning, 6-3, 6-3.
The Lady Panthers, meanwhile, finished in 12th place. Cheyenne Central took top honors for the girls.
Unlike just about every other Wyoming high school sport, tennis features a truly statewide tournament, in which schools of all sizes compete against one another. While Powell athletes had won six individual titles over the past four decades, they had never won a team championship before this weekend's historic performance.
The Panthers seized control of the Thursday-Saturday state tournament by winning their first 14 matches, taking a lead that they never relinquished.