Sports Talk

A strong year comes to a close

Be active this summer

Posted 5/30/23

Another year of high school sports came to a close for the Powell Panthers, where droughts came to an end for both state tournament appearances and state championships with the Panthers impressing …

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Sports Talk

A strong year comes to a close

Be active this summer

Posted

Another year of high school sports came to a close for the Powell Panthers, where droughts came to an end for both state tournament appearances and state championships with the Panthers impressing throughout the state.

The year was capped off by a pair of state championships with the track and field team completing the first double in school history just over a week ago.

That capped off a three peat for the girls while the boys got back to the top of the state for the first time since 2014.

It was a year filled with school records being broken left and right all the way back to the fall, with some of those records going as far back as 1992.

Each level continued to show improvement from all the way down at the seventh grade level for track, all the way through the group of seniors who finished on top.

Both soccer teams enjoyed successful seasons, with the Panther girls’ soccer team enjoying their first winning season in history and the Panther boys’ team securing its first conference title in school history.

The Powell girls’ team is expected to continue growing with another strong eighth grade class coming up, and the boys will likely be heading to a rebuild after graduating 20-plus athletes in the last three years who made their mark on the most successful stretch in program history.

Moving forward there continues to be new athletes piling into the programs at Powell High School, and those options for the kids to participate in have continued to grow with the inclusion of girls wrestling alongside indoor track this past year.

Heading into the summer with camps kicking off at the end of the school year the hope is that these athletes will continue to grow, whether that be through camps, individual work or through baseball with the Powell Pioneers.

A difficult schedule early on has had the Pioneers on a roller coaster of games, but the team still holds one of the best records in the state for ‘A’ baseball to date.

I am writing this on Thursday just before Memorial Day, and the Pioneers are heading to one of the most difficult tournaments in the state before returning home to start the conference schedule and the true summer schedule.

Having already played 16 games to date this summer, the Pioneers are just scratching the surface of their potential as a team, which has a high ceiling after returning a majority of the team from a year ago.

If you haven’t been out to see a game yet this year I encourage you to make your way out to the diamond this summer whenever the Pioneers are in town. They are a fun group to watch and I expect they will continue to grow as school is out and the summer heats up.

That development will likely also come at each level, with the program continuing to expand thanks to increased participation in the Powell Little League that has brought even more attention to baseball in the summer.

Games are also expected to kick off for the rec girls’ fast pitch softball league that houses players between grades six and eight to compete in a league with Cody and Lovell over the summer into July.

Fishing, shooting, golf and a wealth of other sports including races such as 5Ks will be abundant throughout the area as we hope to stay in shape this summer.

The turf at the high school will be replaced starting June 1, so the field and track will be off limits, but running on the roads, swimming or just getting out to run on the grass can be a great alternative to the track or turf while that new surface is placed.

Get out, be active, enjoy the heat while it lasts while everybody hopes to grow during the hot summer months from youth all the way up to adults.

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