High elevation didn’t slow down the Powell Panther swim and dive team at the 3A State Championships in Laramie on Friday and Saturday, as the Panthers improved their score from a year ago and moved up a place in the standings to finish sixth.

STELLAR SENIORS

Powell was paced by three seniors who all made finals in their respective events, led by Kaitlin Diver who earned two top three finishes in her swims.

All-State honors are awarded by two organizations in swimming, as the Wyoming Coaches Association honors the top two swimmers in each event and the Wyoming Swim Coaches Association honors the top three swimmers in each event.

Diver earned All-State honors in the 100 butterfly with a second place finish in a time of 1 minute, 5.01 seconds.

She also earned All-State honors in the 500 freestyle, swimming a time of 5:47.56 to finish third.

“She will graduate as our school’s third fastest swimmer in the 500 free and the fourth fastest 100 butterflyer,” coach Bob Smartt said.

The second senior garnering a number of points for the Panthers was Patricia Christensen, who swam her way to a pair of fourth place finishes.

After a quick turnaround early on in the meet, Christensen used a time of 2:08.04 to take fourth in the 200 freestyle.

“Patricia had a gutsy swim in her 200 freestyle, placing fourth with only one heat of rest after swimming the breaststroke leg of our 200 medley relay,” Smartt said.

Christensen also improved her position in the 100 backstroke, moving up from a sixth place preliminary seed to take fourth with a time of 1:03.93.

“Patricia ends her career as the third fastest backstroker in school history,” Smartt added.

Brooke Brown also ended her Panther career with a finals performance, swimming in the ‘B’ final for the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:14.62.

“Brooke finished her senior season with a nice 11th place finish in the 100 butterfly,” Smartt said.

Leah Sockey was the final Panther who earned a strong individual award, as she claimed first place in the 50 free special race with a time of 41.1 seconds.

UNDERCLASSMEN CONTRIBUTE

Seniors were not the only Panthers contributing in the pool on Friday and Saturday, as freshman Lynea Christensen made a big impact for Powell.

“We had strong leadership from our seniors and freshman Lynea Christensen made a huge statement in her first state meet,” Smartt said.

She made an impact both in the pool and on the board, using a pair of personal bests to move up from her initial seedings.

She used a 1.6 second improvement in the 50 free to take the top spot in the ‘B’ final with a time of 26.53.

On the diving board Christensen also improved from her initial 20th place seed, moving up into the top 10 and finishing with a score of 270.9.

“Lynea had a bang-up state meet as the top swimmer/diver of the competition,” Smartt said. “With strong, consistent scores across each of her 11 dives she was able to place 10th.”

Additional Panther underclassmen were freshman Daisy Carpenter, who placed 18th in the 100 backstroke with a 1:14.89 and sophomore Tempie Day, who took 20th in the 500 free with a time of 6:39.1.

RELAY IMPROVEMENT

One of the big reasons the Panthers made a jump in the standings was because of an improvement in each of the relays, placing higher in all but one relay from a year ago.

The team of Carpenter, Diver and the Christensen sisters showed the biggest improvement in the 200 medley relay, moving from seventh a year ago to fourth this season with a time of 2:02.84.

That quartet finished in sixth in the 400 free relay, placing the same as a year ago but shaving 12 seconds off the team’s overall time to finish in 4:08.79.

The 200 free relay also earned a top 10 finish, as the team of Lilly Pittman, Claire Hultgren, Day and Brown finished in 10th with a time of 2:03.22, moving up a place from a year ago.

Those relay spots contributed significantly to the improvement of the Panthers, who moved up the standings to sixth with 105 points compared to 82 a year ago.

“Relays were one important reason that our Panthers were able to improve from 82 points and seventh place at last year’s state meet, to 105 points and sixth place this year,” Smartt said. “It was a major team accomplishment to score only 40 points behind Cody, who finished fourth on the podium.”

Lander won its second straight state title, running away from the competition with 377 points, well ahead of second place Kemmerer with 200.

The Panthers graduate a number of significant points from this year’s team, and will need to replace those moving forward should they hope to continue moving up the standings back onto the podium. 

3A STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

P denotes preliminary round time, top six make ‘A’ finals, next six make ‘B’ finals

Team scores — 1. Lander 377, 2. Kemmerer 200, 3. Buffalo 196, 4. Cody 145, 5. Douglas 111, 6. Powell 105, 7. Lyman 70, 8. Sublette County 60, 9. Worland 50, 10. Newcastle 29, 11. Rawlins 14

200 medley relay — 4. Daisy Carpenter, Patricia Christensen, Kaitlin Diver and Lynea Christensen 2:02.84

200 free — 4. Patricia Christensen 2:08.04

50 free — 7. Lynea Christensen 26.53

1-meter diving (11 dives) — 10. Lynea Christensen 270.9

100 fly — 2. Kaitlin Diver 1:05.01, 11. Brooke Brown 1:14.62

500 free — 3. Kaitlin Diver 5:47.56, 20. Tempie Day 6:39.1p

200 free relay — 10. Lilly Pittman, Tempie Day, Claire Hultgren and Brooke Brown 2:03.22

100 back — 4. Patricia Christensen 1:03.93, 18. Daisy Carpenter 1:14.89p

400 free relay — 6. Lynea Christensen, Kaitlin Diver, Daisy Carpenter and Patricia Christensen 4:08.79

50 free special race — 1. Leah Sockey 41.1