After a ninth place finish a year ago the Powell Panther boys’ swim and dive team is ready to continue its rebuild, bringing back five state qualifiers from that team including several athletes with high expectations in the pool and on the board.

One of those with strong expectations comes on the diving board, with senior Taggart Shumway returning after finishing 14th a year ago. He brings years of experience that should help him move up the rankings this season.

“He’s got a lot of good things coming from the years past that he can work on,” coach Stephanie Warren said. “He’s feeling really confident about where he started after the first week, and so I think we can expect to see some pretty good performances throughout the season for him, once we get everything back in shape and in order.”

There will be one other diver for the Panthers alongside Shumway, with sophomore Dayton Lawrence stepping on the board for the first time.

“It gives him another person to dive with, but is also helping Dayton, because he’s learning everything from scratch and they’ve already done really well together,” Warren said.

Heading into the pool the Panthers bring back several competitors, including a pair of juniors leading the way in Will Fuller and Hugh Carpenter.

“Will is looking great this year
already. We’re hoping to have him pick up where he left off last year,” Warren said.

Fuller’s conclusion to last season included a ninth place finish in the 100 back, a 12th place finish in the 50 free and being part of two Panther relay teams at the state meet.

As for Carpenter, the Panthers will not have him until the new year hits, as injuries just before the season will hold him out until at least the start of January and potentially a little longer in a winter competitive season that ends on Feb. 20-21.

He finished 16th in the 200 free and 19th in the 500 free at the state meet while also being part of two relay teams.

“Hopefully he’ll be back after Christmas break ready to go,” Warren said. “We’re keeping him in the water as much as we can … We’re going to get him mended and healed, and once he’s ready to go, he’ll be ready to go.”

Two other qualifiers from last year’s state meet include junior Trystan Preator, who finished 16th in the 100 fly and 28th in the 200 IM, as well as senior Conner Mayes, who finished 23rd in the 100 fly and was part of a relay.

“Trystan, he’s coming back really strong as well. He’s been swimming throughout the year and I think we can expect some really good things from him,” Warren said. “Conner, he hasn’t been swimming year-round but he has been in some other sports. So as soon as he feels like he’s in shape, I think we can expect him to qualify in quite a few events.”

In the younger ranks the Panthers will bring in a strong freshman in Tyler Kruger, who has been in the USA Swimming program which Warren said will help him lead a freshman class of approximately six swimmers.

“He’s been pretty successful on the USA swim team … He’s kind of leading those lanes and kind of teaching them what to do,” Warren said. “The good thing is, half the other freshmen have also been on the USA swim team at some point in time, so they’re all coming with some experience.”

As a team the Panthers will be in for a new experience this year, with three of the larger teams in the class moving up to 4A in Evanston, Green River and Riverton, as Evanston and Riverton were third and fourth a year ago and Green River was sixth.

That will make for a more competitive race down the board for those final two trophies at the state meet in Gillette, with the top two teams again expected to be Lander and Buffalo.

Powell will kick off its season at home this year, hosting a quad at 5 p.m. on Friday against Worland, Cody and Newcastle.

The Panthers then stay in Park County, making the trip to Cody at 10 a.m. on Saturday to take part in an invitational.

While the team will stay close to home, Warren is looking forward to when the team will be at full strength.

“I can’t wait until we get our first meet with everyone in it,” Warren said. “That’s always hard at the beginning of the season because of holidays and not having enough practices. So it’s really hard to put those pieces together until after Christmas break. But it’d be great to see some of these freshmen just kind of come out and show us what they can do, to see how comfortable they are in the water.”