Powell High School golf hit the fairways one last time on Friday and Saturday in Buffalo, with the Panthers finishing seventh overall as a team and junior Gunnar Erickson finishing with All-State honors.

Erickson led the way for the Panthers at the state tournament with an 81 on Friday, and followed that up with consistent play on Saturday to secure an 82 to finish ninth.

“Gunnar played extremely well this weekend to earn his first All-State honor in golf,” coach Troy Hildebrand said. “He is such a great competitor and his mental toughness was a real key to his high finish.”

Hildebrand said Erickson had difficulties on the penultimate hole that led to a triple bogey, but bounced back with a par on the final hole to secure his top 10 position.

He has continued to improve each year, finishing in the 50s his freshman year, 16th as a sophomore and now breaking into the top 10 his junior year.

Just behind Erickson was Trey Scott, who finished with a 92 on the first day and an 85 on the second day to finish in 22nd.

“Trey had a very strong state tournament and his 85 on Saturday tied his career best tournament round,” Hildebrand said.

He said that Scott has been consistent all year, and he knows that he will put in more work before next season to improve.

Will Jackson was the third golfer for the Panthers, and in his first state tournament ever he finished with rounds of 94 and 95 to take 40th.

“Will hits a lot of really good shots, and as he continues to grow and get more experience on the course he is going to take a nice step forward with his game next year,” Hildebrand said.

Jackson Hill finished fourth for the Panthers in 43rd place with a 99 and a 92 in his first state tournament.

“He has made tremendous strides from last year just by getting out and playing a lot of golf this summer,” Hildebrand said.

He said if Hill continues the work he put in last summer, Hildebrand can see him making the jump to the 80s next year.

Isaiah Woyak was the final competitor for Powell, and was the only one affected by weather after a one hour lightning delay on Friday. Woyak finished with a 108 and a 102 to take 67th overall.

“Overall he just was not able to keep his rounds going when he had good things going because both days he had stretches where he played very well,” Hildebrand said.

Woyak has been on the state team all three years of his career so far, and Hildebrand expects him to be in the mix again next year.

Coy Erickson was the lone competitor for the Panther girls, finishing in 26th place with a 117 and a 108 over both days.

“Coy had a fantastic finish to her first ever golf season,” Hildebrand said. “She came into the year with just a little golf experience but she grew by leaps and bounds in our six weeks.”

Her 108 on Saturday was a personal best, and Hildebrand hopes she will continue to improve rapidly heading into next season.

Parker Paxton of Riverton and Erika Cook of Lovell completed their three-peats as individual champions, and the Riverton boys alongside the Wheatland girls won the team titles.

Powell expects to return all of its state attendees next year, and will be looking for an improvement with three juniors and two sophomores comprising this year’s team.