Following a state championship season the Powell Panther wrestling staff has reaped a number of postseason honors, as head coach Nick Fulton was named the 3A Coach of the Year and Cody Kalberer was named the Assistant Coach of the Year by the Wyoming Coaches Association.

In addition to those honors, the entire Panther coaching staff was honored as the outstanding wrestling coaches for all classes by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

“I think that’s pretty telling of the caliber of staff I have, both (Kalberer and Juston Carter are) tremendous guys. I’m happy for them,” Fulton said. “I got the WCA award, and you know that’s nice. It was nice to go down there and get that. Obviously a lot goes into that.”

Fulton said the award credit goes to his coaching staff as well as the athletes who competed for the Panthers this year, helping buy into a system and bring home a title that has eluded the Panthers for a decade.

“We had good kids that really bought into the system this year,” Fulton said. “They bought in and responded well, performed well. We obviously wouldn’t be here if they wouldn’t have performed well. Thankful for that and it was fun. Quite an honor.”

While the head coaching honor typically goes to the winning coach of each classification, the assistant coaching decision is a much more difficult honor to acquire.

The assistant coach honor for Wyoming is given to an assistant coach regardless of classification, as Kalberer competed against coaches from 2A, 3A and 4A, winning the award among more than 100 assistant coaches.

“That’s a big deal. It’s just nice for him to be recognized for his hard work,” Fulton said. “He does a tremendous job for us. It’s nice to see him get a feather in his cap.”

While Kalberer was recognized for his efforts this season, Fulton said that his coaching staff overall is one that he would put up against anybody else in the state.

“They’re obviously a huge part of our success, both of them, and they deserve any award they’re going to get. I think they’re the best,” Fulton said.

While the state honors come down to voting by classification, state champion coaches automatically get entered into the NWCA competition. Any coach can be nominated for the national award.

Each of those coaches are then voted on by all of the programs in Wyoming, with the Panthers coming out on top in both the Head Coach of the Year and the Coaching Staff of the Year.

Fulton recognized that both Thunder Basin and Moorcroft have strong programs and had great years, but felt humbled by his team getting recognized for those accomplishments.

In addition to Fulton getting recognized for his honor, he recognized his brother Beau Fulton, who was also named the girls’ wrestling Official of the Year.

“That was kind of cool all in the same year. Kind of fun for him to be recognized at the same time we were,” Fulton said.

While Fulton and his team were honored by the awards they received this past year, he said they are going to continue on this same path, developing new athletes to compete this next year after losing a strong senior class.

“Nothing’s going to change. I mean those awards are nice, they’re humbling. But we’re going to keep working hard. A new crop of kids every year, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they develop,” Fulton said.

Along with all of the time the coaching staff and athletes put in this season, Fulton said they couldn’t have done it without their families’ support along the way.

“I’m awful thankful to work with Cody and Juston. They’re top notch, and our administrators support us really well,” Fulton said. “Of course, all of our families, they have to sacrifice quite a bit for us to put in the hours we do. They keep things going at home, so that’s nice.”