Two duals and a two-day tournament over five days didn’t appear to phase Powell High School wrestlers.

The Panther wrestling team won duals against Laurel and Worland and finished second out of 22 teams at the Worland Invitational.

On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the wrestlers traveled to Laurel, Montana, to begin the five days of “healthy competition,” as described by head coach Nate Urbach.

“Hard fought match,” said Urbach of the 39-30 win. “Had some kids step up. Laurel is a tough team year in and year out.”

Of the 14 weight classes, Powell won eight, with three of the wins coming by way of Laurel forfeitures.

On Thursday evening, Powell wrestled a dual match against Lander as a precursor to the Lander Invitational that started Friday afternoon. Powell won 51-28.

“Good dual for the most part, we wrestled well,” said Urbach. “3A matches, so they are all important.”

On Friday, the Panthers competed in the two-day Worland Invitational where all 22 teams who competed were from Wyoming.

Powell’s varsity placed second with 164 points, behind Star Valley’s 204.5 points. Glenrock took a third place finish with 160 points, and Laramie placed fourth with 157.5 points.  Rounding out the top five team finishes was Kemmerer with 122.5 points.

“Good tournament for us,” said Urbach. “For an inexperienced team, we really battled throughout the two days.”

Of the 13 individuals wrestling on varsity, seven placed in the top six within their weight classes.

Sophomore Reese Karst was tournament champion at 132 pounds.

“Had a great tournament.” said

Urbach. “Beat defending state champ Cole Reiner.”

The matchup was the fourth meeting between the two wrestlers this season, and Karst has now won three of those four encounters.

Also winning a tournament championship was senior Zach Easum, in the 195-pound weight class.

“Looked dominant throughout the tournament,” said Urbach. “Pinned all opponents en route to the championship.”

Easum’s pinning ways carried into the championship match as he pinned Zech Aguilar of Laramie in 1:35.

Fellow senior Ty Dearcorn finished second in the 170-pound weight class.

Dearcorn’s first match was won by a tech fall and the next two were won by a pin.

“Wrestled tough throughout the tournament” Urbach said of Dearcorn. “Ran into a very tough (Hayden) Walker out of Kemmerer in the finals.”

Eli Briggs, also a senior, placed third. After a first round bye, Briggs pinned Luke Anderson of Star Valley to advance to the semi-final match.

In the semis, Briggs lost to the eventual tournament champion, then wrestled back to the third place match.

“Great weekend for Eli,” Urbach said.

Placing fourth was senior Terrance McLaughlin in the 285-pound weight class. In the quarterfinals, McLaughlin won by fall, but he lost in the semi-finals to Lane Johnson of Torrington by a pin at 3:57.

McLaughlin then dropped to the consolation semi-final round, where he won by a 5-1 decision. In the third place match, McLaughlin lost a 5-1 decision to Jadon Williams of Glenrock. Urbach said McLaughlin “did a good job getting fourth.”

Michael Maddox, a freshman wrestling in the 133-pound weight class, finished fourth. After losing his first match to Spencer Angell of Star Valley, Maddox won his way back to wrestle in the third/fourth place match. There, he lost by a major decision to Colter Julian of Kemmerer.

“Had a great tournament, wrestled a very good second day,” said Urbach. “He keeps improving every weekend.”

At 138 pounds, Brody Karhu “wrestled an outstanding tournament,” the coach said. “Ended up sixth at probably the toughest weight class in the tournament. Good job for a freshman.” Karhu won four of seven matches.

The Powell JV wrestling team also competed at the Worland Invitational and placed second as a team, also behind Star Valley. Powell scored 89 points to Star Valley’s 183.5.

Out of the eight weight classes where Powell had competitors, four placed in the top three. Dalton McMillan was the 132-pound tournament champion. Cameron Schmidt finished second at 160 pounds, and placing third was Matt Jones at 138 pounds and Cameron Lamb at 170 pounds.

On Tuesday night, Powell outdueled Lovell at home 65-7. Complete details will follow in a later issue.

The next competition for the Panthers is a dual match against Greybull at home at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31.

Win-Loss-Bye

**Overall records include Varsity, JV & 2nd Chance Brackets