A strong weekend on the road saw the Powell Panther wrestling team return home with several medalists at the Ron Thon Memorial in Riverton. Jimmy Dees earned the title at 215 pounds while also earning his 100th career win in the process. Powell also finished strong as a team following a narrow victory over Thermopolis on Thursday night. 

RON THON MEMORIAL

In what is seen as the all-class state tournament in Wyoming, the Panthers battled hard for a top 10 position surrounded by fellow class 3A teams at the Ron Thon in Riverton. 

Five class 3A teams finished 8-12 and were separated by 22 points, with the Panthers coming up short this go around while missing several key wrestlers and finishing in 12th with 96 points.

“It’s going to be a tight battle down the stretch,” coach Nick Fulton said.

Green River was the top 3A team in third with 153.5 points while Thunder Basin won the title overall with 173.5.

Leading the way for Powell was Dees, who dominated most of the weekend en route to the title match at 215.

Prior to the title match Dees won all four matches by pin. His first two matches lasted just over a minute, before he defeated Owen Barton of Kemmerer in the quarterfinals in 4:25 and Ian Dickinson of Rock Springs in 2:23.

In the championship match Dees battled against a hometown wrestler, taking on Riverton’s Ryan Watson. 

Dees held a strong lead early, but Watson battled back to take the lead late.

Late in the match Dees found a way to get points, escaping with an 8-7 match win and the title.

“He’s as good a kid as there is out there,” Fulton said. “Watson is a really athletic kid. He got out of one of Jimmy’s cradles and caught Jimmy on his back for five and clawed his way back in the match. He was down by one with about 10 seconds remaining and found a way, the kid locked his hands and (Jimmy) got an escape as the buzzer went off … Jimmy hadn’t had a lot of six minute matches this year and we needed that kind of match for him. Proud of him, earned his 100th career win this weekend which is quite the accomplishment.”

The next highest placers for the boys came from Doug Bettger, who finished fifth at 285 pounds.

Bettger lost in the quarterfinals to 4A competition from Cheyenne East, before battling back to the consolation semifinals.

He then lost in the consolation semifinals via a 4-0 decision to a Riverton wrestler before earning a 3-2 decision over cross-county rival Zach Barton of Cody in the fifth place match.

“A good weekend for Bettger,” Fulton said.

Two Panther wrestlers placed sixth for the Panthers, as Gabriel Whiting battled back from a quarterfinal loss to finish the weekend 4-3 at 113 pounds and McKale Foley followed suit to finish 4-3 at 165 pounds.

“Gabriel wasn’t stringing wins together at the start of the year he felt he was capable of. He’s really settled in and is looking steady in his matches,” Fulton said. “McKale had a tremendous weekend … He battled his way back through. Beat a kid out of Thunder Basin in overtime and a Star Valley kid that handled him before Christmas break … He turned those tables.”

Other wrestlers competing included Talon Nuss at 106 pounds (2-2); Wyatt Heffington at 138 pounds (2-2); Cody Seifert at 144 pounds (1-2); Chase Visocky at 144 pounds (1-2); Jeremy Harms at 150 pounds (1-2); Reese Lowe at 150 pounds (1-2); Denton Wainscott at 190 pounds (1-2); Chevy Hill at 113 pounds (0-2); Tyler Wenzel at 126 pounds (0-2); Kash Brazelton at 138 pounds (0-2); Rhys Bray at 157 pounds (0-2); Jacob Eaton at 215 pounds (0-2) along with Zain Younas and Jonathan Harms both going 0-2 at 285.

On the girls’ side, the Ron Thon Memorial serves as a state tournament preview, as the girls compete in an all-class affair in Casper next month.

The Panther girls ended in 25th place out of 39 teams, and were led by Allison LeBlanc who finished third at 110 pounds.

LeBlanc won two straight by pin and forfeit before a rematch of the state title match from last year against Moorcroft’s Rebekah Anderson in which LeBlanc finished runner-up.

Anderson got the better of LeBlanc once again, earning a 2-0 decision to advance to the title match.

LeBlanc battled back and earned a win over Cheyenne East’s Azlyn Silva with a 3-1 decision before getting a pin in the third place match over Brianna Uhrig of Green River.

“Allison is looking pretty aggressive and wrestling pretty well,” Fulton said.

Other Panther girls competing were Caydee Eden at 100 pounds (3-2); Eleasah Horsley at 115 pounds (2-2); Abigail LeBlanc at 115 pounds (2-2) and Kaprina Haney at 135 pounds (1-2).

THERMOPOLIS DUAL

Before going down to Riverton the Panthers made a pit stop in Thermopolis to take part in a dual.

Powell escaped with a victory, defeating the Bobcats 39-33.

“That was a heck of a good dual,” Fulton said. “Where they have guys they are quality.”

Wyatt Nicholson earned a 4-3 decision at 106 pounds and Chevy Hill got a forfeit to give Powell a 9-0 lead.

Thermopolis earned a pin at 120 pounds before Tyler Wenzel got a pin in 28 seconds at 126 to make it 15-6.

Consecutive pins for Thermopolis at 138 and 144 pounds gave them the lead, before a late push from Jeremy Harms at 150 earned an 11-7 decision in his favor.

“Typical Jeremy Harms style he came from behind in the third period,” Fulton said. “Got an escape with nine seconds left on the clock and got a three point near-fall.”

The Bobcats earned a 10-5 decision at 157 pounds and Foley earned a 6-5 decision at 165 pounds before Thermopolis got a pin at 175 pounds.

“McKale got a great win in that dual beating a state runner-up from last year,” Fulton said.

Denton Wainscott got a pin at 190 pounds and Dees and Bettger got forfeits to make the final score 39-33.

CONSECUTIVE DUALS

This week the Panthers will have a lighter schedule, with a pair of duals mixed with a tournament in Greybull on Saturday.

The first dual will be close to home, heading to Lovell on Thursday at 6 p.m. to take on the Bulldogs.

Powell will then head to Lander on Friday at 4 p.m. to take on the Tigers as part of a night that will feature both wrestling and basketball in Fremont County for the Panthers.

“We have those two varsity duals and of course we want to perform well,” Fulton said.

Greybull will then host a tournament on Saturday, with Fulton sending select varsity and junior varsity wrestlers to compete in the varsity tournament.

“We will take a selection of guys,” Fulton said. “A lot of our second line will go and some of our first line will go coming back from injury or some that have missed matches for one reason or another to get more mat time.”