At Powell High School, wrestling is more than just a winter sport – it’s a mindset.
It takes early mornings and late nights. It takes mental and physical strength. It takes grit. Perseverance. Sacrifice. All the things that embody being a Panther Wrestler.
So far this season, the Powell boys have competed at the Powell Invite, Bozeman, Missoula, Pat Weede, and, most recently, Lander, where the team was ranked 17th. On January 24, the Panthers took home many individual medals. On the varsity side, Russell Goolsbey ranked 3rd, Jonathan Hine placed 6th, and Tyler Wenzel went 3rd. On the JV side, Forest Kleinfeldt, 3rd, Isaiah Torres, 3rd, Jacob Christofalos, 1st, Justin Marquez, 1st, Trevin Morton, 2nd, and Tristan Snell, 2nd.
“At the midpoint of the season, we are showing growth in our competitions,” head wrestling coach Nick Fulton said. “I thought that my team took a significant step forward in a dual win over Worland. In that dual, we wrestled 12 of the 14 weights with underclassmen, so I was pleased with the way they approached their matches against a more experienced team. We won 51-27, and I thought that even guys that were in losing efforts competed very well.”
Fulton and many other wrestlers agreed that having such a young team has been both challenging and promising.
“We have a very young team that will be super seasoned in the coming years,” junior Broc Frank said. “The biggest thing I feel the underclassmen can work on improving is staying calm during their matches. None of them have (wrestled) in a high-stakes high school dual under the lights before, and I’ve noticed that the nerves overtake some of them before and during their matches.”
Nerves and anxiety are quite prevalent for any freshman doing a sport in high school; the pressure amplifies for the boys’ wrestling team, as the majority of them are underclassmen. Yet, there are ways of improving and growing both as an individual wrestler and as a team.
“Currently, I believe the biggest area my team needs to improve on, and that my staff and I need to address, is for my athletes to gain confidence in their matches,” Fulton said. “I see some great things, and I have some very talented guys, and I am working to have that translate into successes under the lights. We are showing growth in this area, and I believe this will be a team that continues to improve week by week until the end of the season.”
Despite the nerves that wrestling tends to show, gaining confidence and practicing have proven beneficial. Many upperclassmen are optimistic about the team’s prospects this year.
“They are taking smart shots, which leads them to be able to win and be great,” senior David Yates said. “I’m optimistic about how good they will be in the years to come…. I have high hopes for the underclassmen.”
Furthermore, all eyes are on Powell, as they won State wrestling last year. To say this has played a factor in the team’s morale is an understatement.
“I say that we’ve been doing great with being so young,” Yates said. “There’s so much young talent on this team at this moment that I think it won’t be long before Powell gets another state title.”
Despite the high hopes for another state title, coach Fulton is more focused on individual growth and success.
“As far as goals, I always focus on having kids perform to their potential,” Fulton said. “I have several very talented upper classmen that have a great opportunity to be in the running for individual titles, and I want my younger guys to continue to improve and be vying for state medals. Overall, as always, I am excited to see the growth of my team and how they compete down the stretch.”
“I am enjoying this team,” Fulton added. “They are hard workers and accountable. This will bode well for them in the future.”
