Following a successful winter season that brought a state championship back to Powell, local wrestlers have been back at it and busier than ever this summer as the Big Horn Basin Wrestling Camp drew in more than 80 athletes to Powell High School in June.

“It was a good week for us to do it with wrestling fresh in their mind,” Panther coach Nick Fulton said. “Predominantly future Panthers, and it’s good to see them learn and grow over three days. It was a great success.”

Alongside coaches from around Powell, the Panthers welcomed in four-time Wyoming state champion, NJCAA runner-up and current University of Wyoming wrestler Sefton Douglass alongside former Panther wrestler and state placer Emma (Karhu) Douglass to help teach the camp.

Fulton said it was important for the Panthers to have the duo in the gym, as they helped both the boys’ and girls’ wrestlers throughout the week to learn new tips and tricks.

“Just adding to their tools a little bit, picking up some new things,” Fulton said. “I thought that worked well, Emma came in and worked with our female athletes quite a bit. Obviously she’s an exceptional role model and one of the best women, if not the best women’s wrestler to ever come out of our state in my opinion.”

After winning the state title in March, Fulton said the Panthers are continuing to build the program through the high school level all the way through the youth level, stressing the importance of improving over the summer in order to make the difference in the winter.

“I always tell kids that a match in the summer is worth two in the winter,” Fulton said. “We’ve been running open mats all summer, which we’ve seen a pretty consistent turnout especially with some of our upper elementary and middle school kids coming into our open mats.”

The program is continuing to grow and Fulton sees a lot of talent coming into the program despite losing key seniors from this past season’s team.

“It’s just that kind of vertical progression I’d say, keeping kids in the room a little bit, keeping them excited about wrestling. It seems to work well and keep building for the future. We graduated a lot of good seniors last year, but the cupboard certainly isn’t bare coming up, so we’re excited about that,” Fulton said.

Wrapping up the home camp, the Panthers always find a way to inject more energy into the program, allowing the campers to wrestle in front of a crowd under the light and get the experience of a dual.

“It’s kind of a fun way to end that camp,” Fulton said. “I kind of want to leave the kids with the taste of ‘I want to be a future Panther, I want to be out under the light in front of the home crowd.’ So we kind of dangle the carrot in front of their face a little bit. I think they enjoy it. It’s fun for us to watch, kind of see the matchups out there is pretty fun. Then it gives us an idea what they learned and what we need to work on moving forward in the summer.”

CHADRON CAMP

In addition to hosting a camp early in the summer the Panthers also made the trip to Chadron, Nebraska, taking part in a Chadron State College wrestling camp in June.

Fulton said they took part in a dual setting while also learning some technique, taking a younger squad including a number of freshmen who competed well against athletes who medaled at state events.

“They competed extremely well,” Fulton said. “We saw incoming freshmen beat several state medalists … I was really pleased, kind of gave us a new look as we’ve had a lot of the same kids in that varsity lineup for several years, and the new face of the Panthers isn’t looking too shabby. I’m excited about what we’re returning and what we’re bringing up.”

He added that it was especially important for the freshmen to get experience against older wrestlers this summer, trying to get them up to the high school level before the winter season after a number of already successful middle school and USA Wrestling careers.

“They needed to wrestle against that next level. For the most part, they rose to the challenge,” Fulton said. “They’re not perfect yet or anything, but boy, we’ve got a lot to work with there … They’re a fun group to travel with … I think they’ve bought in pretty well.”

He said the program is continuing to work through the summer until they take August off and the athletes shift into their fall sports before getting back on the mat in the winter season.