For the third year in a row the Powell Panther girls’ swim and dive team walked away with a third place trophy at the state meet.

The Panthers finished with 201 points, which is the most points scored by the team since its second place finish in 1997 when Powell finished with 244 points.

This year’s edition of the Panthers finished with 36 more points than last year, and 62 points ahead of fourth-place Cody.

Those points were led in part by a strong senior class, with Emma Mitchell (22), Grace Sapp (19), Gabby Paterson (18) and Kami Jensen (seven) scoring 66 of the team’s 133 individual points while contributing to relays.

“Strong senior leadership was a critical factor in our podium finish,” coach Bob Smartt said.

The highest placing relay for Powell was the 200 medley relay to kick off the day, finishing in second place with a time of 1:57.21. Grace Sapp (29.28), Emma Mitchell (32.63), Paige Thomas (28.25) and Addy Powell (27.05) were the members of the relay.

Sapp and Thomas had the second fastest splits of the day in their strokes, with all four members earning All-State honors after the top three finish.

Sapp was not done in the finals, pushing her way to a third place finish in the 100 back (1:03.34) to garner additional All-State honors.

The backstroke proved to be one of the top events for Powell, with Patricia Christensen (1:05.43) and Powell (1:06.03) finishing fifth and sixth respectively to give Powell half of the championship finalists for the event.

“The backstroke was the best event for our team with three championship finalists, a feat our team has not achieved in many years,” Smartt said.

Mitchell continued her climb on the Panther Wall of Fame in the 50 free, moving up to No. 2 all time after her time of 25.45 saw her finish in fourth place — just missing out on her second All-State honors of the weekend.

She also moved into No. 3 all time with her 100 breast time (1:11.28) to also place fourth.

Kik Hayano moved up the rankings to No. 5 on the Wall of Fame in the 100 fly (1:04.33), also finishing in fourth place.

The 200 free relay team of Mitchell (26.25), Thomas (26.72), Hayano (25.95) and Gabby Paterson (26.18) finished in fourth (1:45.10) — just behind the school record of 1:44.27.

Kami Jensen was unable to defend her title in diving, finishing in seventh (294.05) while Tori Black was the other diver to advance to the finals, finishing in 11th (243.85).

Overall Powell had eight swimmers advance to individual championship finals with each relay making championship finals, while eight swimmers made it to consolation finals.

Lander ran away with the team competition for the sixth time in seven years, breaking away from a tie with Green River last year and winning with 276 points to Green River’s 232.

LOOKING FORWARD

Powell will lose a lot of its points to graduation. The Panthers lose the most individual points and graduating relay positions of any 3A team. 

Powell will lose 66 individual points while Lander loses 65, second place Green River loses 25 and fourth place Cody will graduate Tara Joyce, who holds all but one state record while earning 32 points with the Filly senior class.

“The coaching staff issued a challenge to our juniors: In order to be a strong team in 2023 and to rerun to the podium, we need to recruit 10 new athletes to our team,” Smartt said. “New swimmers and divers are the lifeblood and future of our team.”

Smartt said the team will be swimming in TritonWear gear next season, which will help swimmers and coaches review up to 30 important metrics that are essential to dropping times.

Overall the Panthers achieved each of the goals they set before the season, qualifying the most athletes for the state meet, winning the Absaraka Conference meet and placing in the top three at the state championships.

In addition to those goals, Powell finished the regular season unbeaten with a 12-0 record to cap off a strong 2022 campaign.

STATE MEET

* Denotes preliminary time

Team scores: 1. Lander 276, 2. Green River 232, 3. Powell 201, 4. Cody 139, 5. Douglas 135, 6. Kemmerer 98, 7. Rawlins 86, 8. Buffalo 62, 9. Worland 47, 10. Evanston 43, 11. Riverton 24, 12. Lyman 21, 13. Sublette County 7, 14. Newcastle 3

200 medley relay: 2. Grace Sapp, Emma Mitchell, Paige Thomas and Addy Powell 1:57.21

200 free: 6. Gabby Paterson 2:10.27, 7. Kik Hayano 2:09.11, 19. Baylee Brence 2:19.38*, 20. Kaitlin Diver 2:21.93*

200 IM: 7. Grace Sapp 2:27.51, 8. Paige Thomas 2:27.62, 11. Patricia Christensen 2:31.71, 20. Croix Tryon 2:46.51*

50 free: 4. Emma Mitchell 25.45

1-meter diving (11 dives): 7. Kami Jensen 294.05, 11. Tori Black 243.85, 14. Aramonie Brinkerhoff 190.40*, 22. Emma Brence 104.15*

100 fly: 4. Kik Hayano 1:04.44, 12. Addy Powell 1:09.61, 15. Charlee Brence 1:09.73*, 18. Croix Tryon 1:13.05*

500 free: 6. Gabby Paterson 5:59.47, 11. Kaitlin Diver 6:06.47, 13. Baylee Brence 6:11.81*, 18. Charlee Brence 6:18.28*

200 free relay: 4. Emma Mitchell, Paige Thomas, Kik Hayano and Gabby Paterson 1:45.10

100 back: 3. Grace Sapp 1:03.34, 5. Patricia Christensen 1:05.43, 6. Addy Powell 1:06.03, 13. Kate Miller 1:09.75*

100 breast: 4. Emma Mitchell 1:11.28, 8. Aubree Fisher 1:14.86, 9. Kathryn Brence 1:15.71

400 free relay: 5. Kik Hayano, Patricia Christensen, Gabby Paterson and Grace Sapp 3:58.47