On Dec. 8, the PHS boys’ swim and dive team competed in their home opening tournament, the Powell Triangular, and swam against the neighboring rivals Cody and Worland. The team placed 2nd with 320 points, falling behind Cody by a narrow margin of 10. 

“We had some great swims in our first [meet] of the season, and we have seven state qualifiers already, several with multiple [qualifying times] times,” boys swim and diving coach Mrs. Stephanie Warren said. 

With the passing of the torch of 18 seniors to 3 seniors in the last season, there have been some changes in the stages of leadership with the boys on the team. But the lack of numbers doesn’t have too much of a difference in the overall mentality of the team. 

“We only have three seniors [Gabe Rose, Adam Williams, and Jon Hawley], but they are all wonderful leaders,” Warren said. “The swimmers will have great leadership all season. They have been doing a wonderful job at encouraging the swimmers and divers to do their best and to always show up and be present at practice.”

Among the individual hopes for the team members, ambitions for the collective body are universally shared and hoped for, especially by the selective group of seniors. 

“This year’s team is smaller and has much less swimming experience, however, they are all very passionate about swimming,” senior Gabe Rose said. “I can tell they try their best and push themselves even though they aren’t the fastest in the pool.”

When looking at the sentiments of the team, it is evident that the attitude of placing well isn’t unique to only one person on the team, and rather the hope of getting faster is something that starts at the coaching level. 

“This year we’ve had a really good work ethic as a team and since I’ve had a full season this year, I’ve already been able to cut lots of time off my events,” senior Adam Williams said. “As the season progresses I look forward to working hard and cutting time off my events… as a senior, this is my last year so my goal is to leave it all in the pool and podium at state this year.”

Coach Warren reflects similar thoughts in her ambitions for the team, adding her comments on what’s to come.

“I am really looking forward to seeing them all get faster as they get in even better shape,” Coach Warren said. “We always look forward to seeing the other teams and what the competition for the year will be.”

In a final note on the tournament, Rose added that a bittersweet factor displayed the true nature of the sportsmanship of the Powell team. 

“Worland recently lost a promising swimmer to suicide,” Rose said. “Their team is very small this year and we weren’t sure if they were going to make it to the meet. We were glad to see them there and I was impressed with the reaction of the Powell team. They didn’t have enough swimmers for a relay so some of Powell stepped in. The relay wasn’t official but it was a blast. I loved seeing the friendly competition and sportsmanship shown at this meet and I hope Worland loved seeing it too.”