Panther swimmers make a strong showing against Lander in home opener

Posted 12/13/16

The perennially tough Tiger swimmers won the meet 100-85 by winning all but two events, but Panther swimmers finished second in all but one event to keep the score close. Eleven Panthers used the meet to qualify for state, including five who …

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Panther swimmers make a strong showing against Lander in home opener

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11 PHS boys qualify for state

The Powell Panthers opened the swimming season in their home pool with a strong showing against the defending state champion Lander Tigers.

The perennially tough Tiger swimmers won the meet 100-85 by winning all but two events, but Panther swimmers finished second in all but one event to keep the score close. Eleven Panthers used the meet to qualify for state, including five who qualified in both of their individual events.

Divers Hudson Wilkerson and Nate MaGill dominated the diving competition for the Panthers. Wilkerson, a junior, finished first with a score of 196.7, well above state qualifying score of 145. MaGill’s 187.35 was good for second and also qualified the senior for state competition. MaGill also qualified for state in the breaststroke with a third-place finish.

Powell’s other win was turned in by Richard Spann in the backstroke. His made his swim in a state-qualifying time of 1:02.82. He also qualified for state in the individual medley while finishing third in that event.

Junior Kacey Creed and senior Joe Kuntz also qualified in two events. Creed finished second in both the individual medley and the butterfly to earn his trip to state, while Kuntz finished fourth in the individual medley and third in the butterfly.

Chris Lopez qualified for state and earned second with his swim in the 50-yard freestyle. Gavin Asay’s fourth place finish in the butterfly easily qualified him for state and Trenton Wilson qualified while swimming to second in the 500 freestyle. Jaren Fuller and Braden Schiller both qualified in the backstroke, finishing fourth and seventh respectively in the event. Dillinger Wilkerson finished second in the breaststroke with another state-qualifying swim.

Other Panthers contributed to the team score without qualifying for state, including Joe Rogers who finished second in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the breaststroke; his breaststroke time was less than a second from qualifying.

Wilson and Dillinger Wilkerson finished fourth and fifth in the 50 freestyle, and both were about a second off the state-qualifying time. Schiller was fifth in the 100 freestyle, about four seconds away from qualifying, and Asay was 0.14 seconds away from qualifying with his third-place showing in the 500.

Bryce Hogan added fourth-place points to the Panthers’ score with his finish in diving.

All three A relay teams finished second for the Panthers, and the B teams scored third-place points in the medley and 200 freestyle relays.

The swimmers will round out the 2016 portion of the season this weekend. They’ll travel to Cody on Friday to take on the Broncs at 4 p.m. On Saturday, the team heads to Lander for a meet scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

The Panthers are coached by Stephanie Warren and Jerry Rodriguez.

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