Strong turnout fuels Panthers

Posted 3/22/18

That number is up 30 from last season, and well above the 60-plus average that have come out in years past, according to Panthers’ head coach Scott Smith. Those numbers guarantee a bit of much-needed depth for both the boys and girls’ …

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Strong turnout fuels Panthers

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The Powell High School track and field team is shaping up to have its deepest roster in years, with 111 athletes turning out to participate for the 2018 season.

That number is up 30 from last season, and well above the 60-plus average that have come out in years past, according to Panthers’ head coach Scott Smith. Those numbers guarantee a bit of much-needed depth for both the boys and girls’ teams.

“We’re going to have a lot of team competition within the team just to make the varsity,” Smith said. “That makes kids better — gives you more kids to select from. It’s also a lot more names to get to know.”

“We [the coaching staff] try to work with each kid individually to make them as good as they can be,” he said. “It will be a bit more of a challenge to find out what those individual needs are, but we’ll find a way to make it happen. If that’s a problem, that’s a problem I want to have.”

Smith said Powell Middle School has been doing an outstanding job the last few years of getting kids interested in track, and PHS is now benefiting from that interest.

“You just can’t say enough about those feeder programs,” Smith said.

The Lady Panthers return five individual state placers in JuliaKay O’Neill (second in the 400 and 800), Maddy Hanks (third in the pole vault), Caitlyn Miner (eighth in the 200 and pole vault), Sabrina Shoopman (eighth in the 100 hurdles) and Rachel Bonander (eighth in the discus).

“Obviously, JuliaKay O’Neill is probably our most outstanding returner,” Smith said, noting that the now-senior was a state champion as a freshman and holds the PHS record in the 800.

“She had a good indoor season, so she’ll be fun to watch,” he said of O’Neill.

Hanks, Shoopman, Natalie Dillivan and O’Neill all return from the 4x400 relay team that finished second at state last year.

“Plus we have some other kids that are coming up from middle school and transferring from other schools that have run times similar to those kids, so it’s going to be a very competitive relay,” Smith said.

Returning state qualifiers for the Lady Panthers are Kady Wells (200), Dillivan (400), Shoopman (300 hurdles), Hanks (300 hurdles), Hailee Paul (4x800), Aubrie Stenerson (long jump) and Bonander (shot put).

For the Panthers, returning individual state placers are Colby Warner (third high jump), Alan Merritt (sixth in the 3200 and eighth in the 1600) and Brody Karhu (seventh in the 400).

Returning state qualifiers for the Panthers include Jay Cox (400, 800, 4x400, 4x800), AJ Lewis (4x100), Karhu (4x400, 4x800, pole vault), Merritt (4x800) and Brooks Asher (pole vault).

“Colby [Warner] finished fourth in the state in high jump indoors; he had a really good indoor season,” Smith said.

Both Warner and O’Neill medaled at the Simplot Games and “they are probably our most obvious strengths,” the coach said.

“We’ve got about 60 kids who weren’t out with us in the past, and they’re not all freshman, there are some upperclassmen in there that have some pretty good athletic potential,” Smith said. “We’re really excited about that. Right now, we have pretty good-looking athletes, both boys and girls across the board. I don’t really see one area that necessarily has a huge advantage over others.”

Middle distance events look to be a strong suit for the team.

“That’s a good place to start,” Smith said. “Those kids that run the 400 and 800, some of them can go down to sprints, some of them can move up and go the distance [races]. That’s a really nice place to be able to go.”

The long-time PHS track coach said he’s been pleased with the effort and the potential his athletes have shown through the first couple of weeks of practice. There will be some big shoes to fill with the loss to graduation of athletes like T.J. Abraham, Nate MaGill and Paige Gann, but with the numbers on this year’s team, Smith said there are plenty of diamonds in the rough.

“The big thing is, we just need to keep getting better, and the way to do that is to just go out and compete against whoever comes our way,” he said. “We were very young last year, and a lot of seniors that placed at state last year have graduated. We’ve got some young kids coming up — we’ll coach ‘em up and get ‘em going and see where we can go from there.”

As for season expectations, Smith said he’s hoping both the boys and girls will bring home state trophies. The goliath that stands in the way? Star Valley, defending state champs for both.

“Star Valley has a fair number of kids coming back, and a really good program,” Smith said. “But looking at last year’s results from state, past them it’s pretty open. They graduated a lot of kids, too, so you never know how things are going to mix up.”

For a team the size of Powell, a dedicated coaching staff is imperative. Smith said the core of his staff has been working together for years, and with the help of a few quality newcomers, he couldn’t ask for a better crew to work with.

“The nucleus of the staff has been together since 2004,” Smith said.

Cliff Boos and Tracy McArthur work with the distance runners, Shelley Heny coaches sprints, Nevin Jacobs works with PHS’ throwers and Ashley Hildebrand helps with jumping events.

New to the coaching staff this season is Sean Munger, a former decathlete at Chadron State who’s finishing up his first year as a math teacher at PHS.

“He has a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of knowledge,” Smith said of Munger.

Local businessman Greg Bennett — the PHS school-record holder in the pole vault — is also on hand to help in that event, as is English teacher Vin Cappiello,

“They’re all good guys to have around,” coach Smith said.

The Panthers open the season Saturday at the Cody Invitational, with events scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. The seven schools registered for the meet are Powell, Cody, Lovell, Worland, Thermopolis, Riverton and Sheridan — a solid mix of 2A, 3A and 4A schools.

“I’m really excited to get things going this weekend in Cody,” Smith said. “Track’s a whole lot more fun when you’re competing. It looks like it’s going to be a really good meet this year. Not too big a meet, but really high quality.”

“It will be a lot of fun,” he said.

Editor's note: This version removes incorrect information about how long Smith has coached the team.

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