On Feb. 19-21, the Powell High School boys swim team participated in the Wyoming State Boys Swimming and Diving Championships. Lander took first place in the 3A championships with Powell High School moderately behind in fifth place. Despite rankings, Powell swimmers are optimistic about their results at state, and reflected fondly on their performance both in and out of competition.
Swimming is not for the faint of heart and demands unwavering dedication, requiring hours a day, every day, every week. Powell swimmers proved this dedication during the season.
“I’ve gone to practice at least once a day, six days a week, for three years straight, and I’ve only missed about 10 days,“ sophomore Tyler Kruger said. “But high school season, we do morning practices for an hour and a half three times a week, and after school practice two hours per practice, five times a week.”
And how does this practice pan out in competition? It seems that practice can give talent a run for its money.
“I would honestly say it’s up to practice,” junior Dayton Lawrence said. “I mean, I’ve seen people well over 200 pounds swim way faster than me, and I’m [a] lighter weight. But I think it’s all just up to practice and technique and basically just the amount of hours you really put into swimming or diving.”
Diversity plays a large role in success, and Powell showed this as freshmen and sophomores qualified for state, setting records alongside juniors and seniors.
“I think we did better as a whole, like upperclassmen and lower classmen,” Lawrence said. “We had freshmen and sophomores qualify. I myself placed better in diving, but we had a really good relay team this year, and unfortunately, [we] had to let some seniors go, but that’s just room for more to come in. And yeah, I think even though our numbers were a little bit lower this year, that we did pretty decent in general.”
Swimming isn’t only for the sport, it’s also for the experience. It can be effective at building a sense of routine and dependability that stretches far beyond the sport alone and into jobs and careers.
“I do sports to, like, prepare for what I’m going to do after high school,” freshman Arends Kooper said. “But also my dad did it when he was in high school, so it helped me to kind of do it, and I just picked up on it and really like it now.”
Not every competition will be won, but there is never a loss for Powell. The team’s primary goal was to beat their previous best, which many achieved.
“We didn’t go in with any expectations other than we just wanted them to have their fastest swims of the season,” Coach Stephanie Warren said. “In a sport like swimming, the clock determines who gets what place, so the faster time is always what we hope for. That is always the goal, to have your best time at State.”
