PHS girls post 10 state qualifications

Posted 9/1/15

With so many talented swimmers lost to graduation, the 2015 Powell Panthers girls’ swim team needed an influx of young talent to remain near the top of the ultra-competitive 3A West, and pulled out a third-place finish in the season’s first …

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PHS girls post 10 state qualifications

Posted

Usual suspects excel, pair of freshmen emerge in Lander

Powell’s top girl swimmers performed as expected while a pair of freshmen emerged during the Panthers’ trip to the Lander Invite on Saturday.

With so many talented swimmers lost to graduation, the 2015 Powell Panthers girls’ swim team needed an influx of young talent to remain near the top of the ultra-competitive 3A West, and pulled out a third-place finish in the season’s first meet.

Perennial state champion Jackson took first with 314 points, host Lander took second with 253 and Powell finished with 229.50.

The Lander Invite gave PHS head coach Luke Robertson his first look at the field of teams that will vie for second place at conference, and possibly state.

“Lander’s going to be a tough team,” Robertson said. “Worland wasn’t there, but from what I heard ... Worland is going to be a tough team too this year.”

The Panthers were led by a trio of veterans who picked up right where they left off in 2014.

Senior Amanda Tracy qualified in the 100 fly and 100 breast, while making major improvements in her first high school meet since state.

Tracy won the 100 breast with a time of 1:15.59, good for a 4A qualification and 5 seconds faster than her previous best.

“Especially for someone who’s been swimming as long as Amanda, and has swam the 100 breast tons of times ... to cut that much time is a big deal,” Robertson said.

Her time of 1:09.82 in the 100 fly was good for third place, as well as a Class 4A qualification.

Senior Tristan Bohlman also posted a pair of qualifications in her 2015 debut.

Bohlman was the runner-up in the 100 back with a qualifying time of 1:11.58, and placed fifth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:39.99, also good to make it to state.

“Those are two of her stronger events,” Robertson said. “I was trying to spread us out a little bit so we had kids in all the events.’

Junior Aly Schneider qualified in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events. The Lovell student placed fourth in the 100 free (1:01.65) and fifth in the 50 (27.92), and posted 4A qualification times in both.

Junior Katie Brown placed seventh in the 100 fly, three places behind Tracy, with a time of 1:15.26 for her first qualification of the season. Brown failed to qualify in the fly last season, but came out with a vengeance in 2015 with an 13-second improvement.

“Just watching her in practice, she just looked like a different swimmer in the fly, so I knew right away I wanted to see what she could bring in the fly,” Robertson said.

Claire Miner finished fourth and qualified in the 100 back with a time of 1:14.24.  

Rounding out the Panthers who punched their ticket to the state meet was freshman Caitlyn Miner.

Caitlyn Miner, Claire’s younger sister, helped herself to a pair of qualifications — in the 200 IM and 100 free — in her debut as a high school swimmer. 

Caitlyn Miner took third and posted a 4A qualifying time of 1:01.46 in the 100 free, and finished seventh in the IM with a time of 2:41.70. Caitlyn Miner finished behind a pair of Jackson swimmers in the free.

Caitlyn Miner’s performance suggests more qualifications could be on the horizon.

“Since she was really good in the IM, that’s usually a good indicator that she’ll be good in all the events,” Robertson said.

Freshman Katrina Twitchell didn’t qualify in her first meet, but flashed her potential in the 100 free and 200 medley relay.

Twitchell swam the final leg — the 50 free — of the relay, and posted a split of 29.45, just .95 seconds shy of a qualifying time.

Her time of 1:08.10 in the 100 free was good for ninth place and 3.2 seconds short of qualifying.

Robertson said he can gauge a swimmer’s ability in practice but doesn’t know exactly what he has in a freshman until competition.

“It depends on the kid,” Robertson said. “I got to see (Caitlyn) compete in middle school. I had a better idea with Caitlyn than I did with Katrina.”

Twitchell comes from Lovell, and was an unknown to Robertson heading into the season.

“The first time I ever saw Katrina swim was the first day of practice,” Robertson said. “That was probably even more of a surprise because I didn’t know what she was going to bring to that first meet. I knew that Caitlyn was going to be fast, but (Katrina) definitely met my expectations and probably even exceeded them a little bit.”

Powell will need continued contributions from its younger swimmers to maintain the deep roster that carried it to back-to-back second-place finishes at state.

“The incoming freshmen have helped a lot, and I’ve been really impressed too with how my sophomores and juniors have improved over the season,” Robertson said. “For instance, (Eliana) Karhu and Sydney Horton.”

Karhu, a junior, and Horton, a sophomore, both made drastic improvements in the 50- and 500-yard free events.

Karhu cut 42 seconds off her best in the 500, and 4 seconds in the 50, while Horton cut 43 seconds in the 500 and 3 seconds in the 50.

The Panthers opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Powell’s team of Tracy, Caitlyn Miner, Bohlman and Schneider finished 1.39 seconds behind Jackson with a time of 2:02.73.

Powell also posted the second-fastest time in the 200 free relay. Bohlman, Caitlyn Miner, Schneider and Tracy combined for a time of 1:51.87. 

Caitlyn Miner’s performance in the second leg of the relay was another bright spot for the Panthers.

Her split of 27.08 was the second fastest on the team (behind Tracy) and was 1.42 seconds faster than the qualifying time for the 50 free.

No divers competed for the Panthers in Lander, but Robertson hopes three will be available in Cody.

Junior Mary Lynn, freshman Gracie McLain and Caitlyn Miner will comprise the PHS dive team this season.

The Panthers will travel to Cody on Friday for the six-team Cody Invite. The meet starts at 2 p.m. 

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