Seth Romsa

Another year is in the books for high school sports in the area, with a fun summer still ahead around the country.

As always things have taken a long time to get to this point, with this past weekend being the first I haven’t had to attend anything for several weeks.

While sporting events have carried on throughout the spring, both Panther track teams and the girls’ soccer team brought home third place trophies following the shortest overall season of the year.

Powell has produced several individual state champions this year from cross country, to girls’ wrestling to outdoor track with school records falling left and right in the process.

Northwest College produced a national champion in wrestling and the first ever recipient of the David Rowlands Award winner in Austin Richens, as he became the first recipient at a Wyoming junior college to be named the top male athlete of the year across all sports this year.

College action typically takes a backseat over the final couple of months of the year, but I believe those coaches are still hard at work finishing up recruiting the final athletes for their teams as the fall seasons for the Trappers kick off in just two months at the start of August.

While this last year has produced plenty of results and excitement around a lot of different athletes, I know there are athletes and programs that will put in plenty of work this summer to get better and make next year even better for Panther sports.

After ending the spring sports seasons I have taken a major step back just to relax, as many things behind the scenes in the spring, including helping volunteer coach the soccer teams as well as officiating soccer in my free time, have left me needing a break heading into the summer months.

Helping coach over these past two seasons with the Panthers on the field has been one of the best experiences I have had since moving here, as those kids continually put in significant effort to improve and make those programs the best they can, as I am sure every program does at Powell High School.

Retirements have led to many experienced coaches leaving programs, as I wish them the best moving forward following strong careers both at the high school and middle school levels.

Of course, there's still one big sport to cover in the summer. Baseball has just got back on the diamond after another couple of weeks off following graduation, earning a 1-1 start to conference play.

That team should continue to improve as they get into the full swing of summer, as their schedule gets increasingly busier starting this weekend and running through the end of July.

Continuing on there will be plenty to keep track of this summer, as there are again going to be tons of camps for youth athletes around the area for different sports before the Panthers get back into action in the fall.

While there is a lot to keep track of in the area of baseball and camps, there will be plenty to watch around the country this summer.

The Stanley Cup Final between Las Vegas and Carolina kicks off tonight (Tuesday) with the NBA finals between San Antonio and New York set to begin on Wednesday.

Those will be just several professional sports ongoing this summer, including professional tennis, as the French Open at Roland Garros is ongoing and Wimbledon will kick off in England the final week of June and into July.

Plenty of golf tournaments, whether local or professionally, will take place as well as plenty of rodeo action around the area.

While all of those things will make for an exciting summer, it may not come as a surprise to many, but I am increasingly excited for the FIFA World Cup which is set to start next Thursday in Mexico.

That tournament will be held between Mexico, the United States and Canada, with the tournament expanding to 48 teams this year and bringing plenty of thrilling matchups throughout.

While I don’t want to get into too many details about what I think will happen in the tournament as I want to get into that in a different column, I want to say it has already been an exciting year for me as a sports fan.

As a reporter, I typically try to be neutral in examining things, but I have been increasingly more supportive of my favorite team in England, Arsenal, the last decade and even more so the past few years as they have risen back to the top of the Premier League.

Winning the Premier League this season was thrilling, and while Paris Saint-German prevented a double trophy season, defeating Arsenal in penalties on Saturday in the Champions League final, I am still proud of the season the team had.

Attacking reinforcements will likely be key if Arsenal wants to remain on top, and it feels as if they are committed to making those improvements to try winning the first Champions League in club history.

There are many things to talk about from this past year, but I am hopeful that things continue to improve in all sports in Powell, while also enjoying those at the professional level moving forward.

Moving forward can bring a lot of excitement, and I am hopeful that I can talk about a number of topics this summer with more free time.