Panthers win in Worland, take third at home invite

Posted 9/15/15

Powell High School’s girls’ swim team narrowly won a four-team meet in Worland on Friday and took third at the eight-team Gene Dozah Invitational at the Powell Aquatic Center on Saturday.

The Panthers edged the host Warriors by 17 points to …

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Panthers win in Worland, take third at home invite

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Tight race for 2nd in West

The real race in the Class 3A Western Conference has long been for second place, and that race looks tighter than ever three weeks into the 2015 season.

Powell High School’s girls’ swim team narrowly won a four-team meet in Worland on Friday and took third at the eight-team Gene Dozah Invitational at the Powell Aquatic Center on Saturday.

The Panthers edged the host Warriors by 17 points to win in Worland, and were just 13 points behind second-place Lander at their home meet.

The three-way battle between Lander, Worland and Powell is likely to continue all the way through the end of the season.

“It’s going to be a tight race, I think,” PHS head coach Luke Robertson said. “Jackson, they’re the favorite. I know Lander’s going to be really tough, I know Worland’s going to be really tough.

It’ll definitely be a tight race for two, three, four.”

The Panthers scored 368 points on Friday while the Warriors totaled 351.

Powell’s 204 points on Saturday were again just enough to hold off Worland, which finished fourth with 201 points.

The Jackson Broncs won in Powell with 297 points. The Broncs have won nine of the past 11 state titles, leaving the rest of the state vying for second place.

The Panthers, Tigers and Warriors, however, all seem capable of finishing second to Jackson at both the 3A

Conference and State meets.

“I think we’ve got a shot,” Robertson said. “By no means is it going to be easy.”

The Panthers didn’t qualify any new swimmers over the weekend but expanded their existing swimmers’ list of events.

Powell had six top-three finishes to take third in the Gene Dozah despite not winning a single race.

For the second weekend in a row, junior diver Mary Lynn set a new personal best off the 1-meter diving board.

Lynn finished third — and was the only non-Jackson diver in the top seven — with a score of 164.35. Lynn scored a then-best 158.95 in Cody on Sept. 4.

“She’s just been diving real well,” Robertson said.

With Lynn and Caitlyn Miner, Powell may hold an advantage on the board over Lander and Worland.

“I think that’s going to help us out a lot this year,” Robertson said. “We definitely have two really strong divers in Mary Lynn and Caitlyn.”

Junior Aly Schneider placed third in the 100-yard free with a 4A qualifying time of 1:00.84. She also finished fifth in the 200-yard free with a time of 2:14.58.

Senior Tristan Bohlman finished third in the 100-yard back with a time of 1:10.18.

Freshman Caitlyn Miner was the runner-up in the 100-yard breast with a 4A time of 1:15.14.

The Panthers’ time of 1:52.48 in the 200-yard relay was good for third, behind Jackson (1:50.04) and Worland (1:47.75). Powell’s team consisted of Tristan Bohlman, Aspen Aguirre, Caitlyn Miner and Schneider.

The 400-yard free relay team of Kendyl Bohlman, Schneider, Aguirre and Caitlyn Miner finished third with a time of 4:14.83. Lander (4:09.92) finished second and Worland (4:01.98) won the relay.

Kendyl Bohlman was just .06 seconds shy of becoming the ninth Panther to qualify for state. Her time of 6:41.56 was good for sixth in the 500-yard free, but still a fraction slow of a bid to state.

Robertson said he expects Kendyl Bohlman to shave those 6-hundredths off very soon.

“We’re going to keep trying it, for sure,” Robertson said. “I think the more she races it, the more she figures out about herself, and pacing, and what she has to do to get there. So I definitely think we’ll get it, hopefully in the next race or two.”

Emily McCaslin was less than a half-second shy of her first qualification. The sophomore cut 14 seconds in the 200-yard IM to finish with a time of 2:45.49, good for 12th.

Claire Miner had the best individual weekend of any Panther. The freshman qualified for four state events in two days.

At the Dozah, Claire Miner cut 11 seconds off of her previous personal best to qualify in the 200-yard IM (2:47.02) and 2 seconds off the 100-yard fly (1:15.36)

“Claire had a phenomenal weekend,” Robertson said. “She added four events in two days. And significant time cuts too.”

Last season, Claire Miner qualified only in the 100 back. She’s already qualified in five events this season.

“She just had two awesome days,” Robertson said.

Junior Katie Brown qualified in the 200-yard IM with an eighth-place time of 2:40.60.

Junior Eliana Karhu cut 44 seconds off her time in the 500-yard free to finish in 7:16.67.

Junior Beth McCaslin cut 8 seconds in the 500 and sophomore Sydney Horton improved her 100-yard free time by 6 seconds to finish in 1:12.62. 

Worland Quad

The Panthers won five events as they bested the Warriors, Newcastle Dogies and Buffalo Bison in Worland.

Newcastle and Buffalo tied for third place with 189 points.

Powell won the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay, Schneider won the 100-yard free and 100-yard back races, Tracy won the 500 free and Brown took first in the 100-yard breast.

Schneider finished first in the 100 free (1:00.89), just ahead of teammate Claire Miner (1:03.90), who finished second with a 3 second cut.

Claire Miner’s runner-up finish was just one of two qualifications in the freestyle on Friday. She improved her 200-yard free time by 14 seconds (2:20.25) to qualify.

Schneider won her second race with a time of 1:11.31 in the 100 back, which qualified her for state and was just .31 seconds shy of the 4A qualification time.

McCaslin took fifth in the back with a time of 1:16.43.

Tracy won the 500 free with her 4A qualifying time of 5:45.03, and Caitlyn Miner finished third with a time of 6:14.29, also good enough for a 4A qualification.

Brown won the last individual race of the meet with a 4A qualifying time of 1:19.63 in the 100-yard breast.

The Panthers finished second and third in the 50-yard free thanks to the efforts of Tracy and Caitlyn Miner. Tracy’s time of 26.78 was .09 seconds behind first, and Caitlyn Miner finished in 27.05.

Both of Tracy’s races resulted in new qualifications.

Bohlman took second in the 100-yard fly with a time of 1:13.90.

Powell won the medley relay by one-tenth of a second over Newcastle.

The Panthers’ team of Tristan Bohlman, Brown, Tracy and Schneider finished in 2:10.70, while the Dogies finished in 2:10.80.

The Panthers then took second in the 200-yard free relay. Tristan Bohlman, Claire Miner, Dagne Stratton and Aspen Aguirre finished behind Worland with a time of 1:58.23.

Horton cut significant time in both of her events. She finished the 200-yard free in 2:39.14, 16 seconds faster than her previous best, and the 100 fly in 1:34.75, a 12-second boost.

Aguirre cut 23 seconds in the 200 free (2:25.58) and 9 seconds in the 100 breast (1:33.45).

The Panthers host the Warriors for a 5 p.m. dual on Thursday and then travel to Jackson for a two-day invite.

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