Marty Wrage will be the new head football coach in Greybull.

Wrage, who has also been Greybull’s girls basketball coach, teaches physical education in Greybull. He was previously a head football coach in Ogallala, Nebraska.

He takes over for Justin Bernhardt, who finished 7-11 in two years as the Buffaloes’ head coach. The hiring was verified via email by Greybull AD Nolan Tracy.

To see the list of all coaching changes statewide, click here.

–patrick

Big Piney’s Garrett Formo will replace Laramie’s Kyle Russell on the South Shrine Bowl roster, executive director John Cundall said via email.

Russell had been Laramie’s lone Shrine Bowl selection this year; Formo is the only player from Big Piney on the South roster.

The annual all-star football game will be at 7 p.m. June 14 in Casper.

–patrick

Dusty Petz will replace Steve Richter as the head football coach at Moorcroft.

Petz, a South Dakota native who is Moorcroft’s boys basketball coach and school counselor, takes over the program as the Wolves transition from Class 2A to Class 1A 11-man this fall.

Richter resigned after being the head coach for 11 years, going 30-62. Moorcroft’s best season in his tenure came in 2008, when the Wolves went 7-3 and reached the playoff semifinals. Moorcroft went 0-8 last season.

Petz and Richter confirmed the changes via email to wyoming-football.com.

To see the list of all coaching changes statewide, click here.

–patrick

The track and field takeover of the wyoming-football.com blog continues today by looking at what schools have dominated one particular event…

Certain track and field events just seem to fit certain schools.

But no team fits one single track event better than the Burlington boys and the pole vault.

Since 1974, the Huskies have won the boys pole vault at the Wyoming state track and field meet 18 times. No other school has had so much success in one event as Burlington’s boys have had in that event.

Eleven athletes from Burlington have won those 18 titles, and it’s no surprise that some of them share last names: Shawn and Branden Christiansen; Coulter, Courtney and Whitney Neves; Mark and Lynn Wiles; Terry Cauffman; Jeff McNiven; Larry Michaels; and Dale Cook. To top it off, Shawn Christiansen has the Class 1A state meet record at 14 feet, 2.5 inches.

No girls event has been dominated like Cheyenne Central’s girls have dominated the 4 x 100 relay. The Indians have won the sprint relay 16 times since 1973, including three years in a row entering this year’s state meet.

The most combined championships in one event belongs to Gillette in the 3200/two-mile run. Between their boys and girls, Camels have won the 3200/two mile 28 times, with the girls and boys winning 14 times apiece.

Here are the events where schools have had double-digit individual champs, since 1974 (boys) and 1973 (girls):

Boys
Burlington boys, pole vault, 18
Torrington boys, shot put, 16
Cheyenne Central boys, 110 hurdles, 15
Cheyenne East boys, triple jump, 15
Burlington boys, high jump, 14
Gillette boys, 3200, 14
Torrington boys, discus, 14
Gillette boys, 1600, 13
Kelly Walsh boys, high jump, 13
Torrington boys, triple jump, 13
Cheyenne Central boys, long jump, 12
Torrington boys, pole vault, 12
Cheyenne Central boys, 4×800 relay, 11
Powell boys, 4×400 relay, 11
Southeast boys, 110 hurdles, 11
Upton boys, pole vault, 11
Wyoming Indian boys, 3200, 11
Cheyenne East boys, 200, 10
Torrington boys, 4×400 relay, 10
Worland boys, pole vault, 10
Wyoming Indian boys, 1600, 10

Girls
Cheyenne Central girls, 4×100 relay, 16
Burlington girls, 400, 14
Gillette girls, 3200, 14
Torrington girls, 4×100 relay, 14
Torrington girls, 100 hurdles, 13
Worland girls, 800, 13
Sheridan girls, shot put, 12
Worland girls, 1600, 12
Kelly Walsh girls, 100, 11
Cheyenne Central girls, 100, 10
Cheyenne Central girls, 200, 10
Douglas girls, 4×800 relay, 10
Lingle girls, discus, 10
Torrington girls, discus, 10

For a full listing of state track and field champions since 1974 (boys) and 1973 (girls), go here.

–patrick

Travis Jinks of Southeast will be a part of the Shrine Bowl’s South roster when the game is played June 14 in Casper.

Jinks replaces Cokeville’s Brock Teichert, Shrine Bowl Executive Director John Cundall said via email.

The annual all-star football game will kick off at 7 p.m.

–patrick

Five schools will add artificial turf to their football fields this summer, bringing the state’s total number of fields with artificial surfaces to 21.

Glenrock, Big Piney and Southeast will add artificial surfaces to their existing stadiums in time for this fall. Glenrock and Southeast gained approval for their turf fields in the past week from their respective school boards.

Kemmerer, meanwhile, built a new football stadium that will have a turf field.

One of the biggest overhauls, of course, comes at Cheyenne East, where Okie Blanchard Stadium will be rebuilt and receive an artificial surface.

In all, 21 schools have exchanged grass fields for artificial surfaces. See which ones here.

–patrick

With the regional track and field meets this week, and the state meet next week, now seems like the appropriate time to look into Wyoming’s track and field history.

The Wyoming High School Activities Association already has a fantastic listing of state track and field results. The WHSAA’s listings are thorough, but they’re missing one key piece: first names.

So I took it on myself to put first names to those last names of Wyoming’s track champions. I had help from roughly 100 people to compile this list of individual state track and field champions dating back to 1974 (boys) and 1973 (girls). The listings are still a bit incomplete — a few times and marks are still missing, and I’m still missing first names for three champions and the winners of three relay races (1995 3A boys 4×8, 1979 B girls 4×1, 1991 4A girls 4×8).

From the listings, though, I’ve been able to dive a little deeper into Wyoming’s track and field champions. Specifically, one statistic I’ve compiled is the total number of individual and relay champions.

In these past 40 years, one school has been Wyoming’s most successful, and it’s probably not a coincidence that the same school leads both the boys and girls championship tallies.

Cheyenne Central has won 121 boys events at state and 110 girls events. Central barely topped Torrington (118) for the boys’ top spot; however, Central is the only girls’ track program in the state to have more than 100 individual and relay championships.

Combined, Cheyenne Central (231 champs), Torrington (198) and Gillette (180) have been Wyoming’s most successful in terms of total championships.

Full listings for boys, girls and combined state championships, since 1974 (boys) and 1973 (girls), with exclusions as noted above (defunct programs in italics):

Top 10 boys
1. Cheyenne Central, 121
2. Torrington, 118
3. Gillette, 100
4. Burlington, 86
5. Natrona, 79
6/7. Cheyenne East and Southeast, 78
8. Powell, 73
9. Kelly Walsh, 71
10. Cokeville, 69

Others in descending order:
Douglas, 68
Lander, 63
Lingle, 58
Upton, 57
Big Piney, 56
Jackson, Laramie, 54
Star Valley, Worland, 52
Dubois, 51
Glenrock, Lovell, 50
Guernsey-Sunrise, 49
Big Horn, 48
Lusk, 46
Cody, 41
Pine Bluffs, Rock Springs, 37
Wyoming Indian, 35
Kemmerer, Wind River, 34
Buffalo, Meeteetse, 33
Greybull, Snake River, Wright, 32
Ten Sleep, Tongue River, 31
Green River, Sheridan, 30
Evanston, Hanna, Riverton, Albin, Byron, 27
Saratoga, Sundance, 25
Pinedale, Thermopolis, 21
Burns, Encampment, 19
Lyman, 18
Shoshoni, Goshen Hole, 17
Midwest, 16
Newcastle, Riverside, 14
Basin, 11
Farson, Rocky Mountain, 10
Chugwater, Kaycee, 9
Hulett, Rawlins, 8
Moorcroft, Mountain View, St. Stephens, Medicine Bow, 7
Arvada-Clearmont, Wheatland, 6
Manderson, 5
Glendo, 4
Normative Services, Jeffrey City, 3
Deaver, LaGrange, 2
Rock River, 1

++++++++++++++++

Top 10 girls
1. Cheyenne Central, 110
2. Worland, 98
3. Kelly Walsh, 83
4/5. Gillette, Torrington, 80
6. Burns, 74
7. Lingle, 72
8. Pine Bluffs, 70
9. Douglas, 66
10/11. Natrona, Ten Sleep, 64

Others in descending order:
Cokeville, 60
Powell, 58
Cody, 57
Mountain View, 56
Lovell, 55
Dubois, Sheridan, 53
Burlington, Tongue River, 49
Riverton 48
Lander, 47
Greybull, 43
Meeteetse, 42
Green River, Wheatland, 41
Southeast, 40
Jackson, 39
Hulett, Laramie, 38
Cheyenne East, 37
Snake River, Upton, 36
Star Valley, 34
Shoshoni, 33
Buffalo, 32
Evanston, Guernsey-Sunrise, 31
Sundance, 29
Big Horn, Encampment, Kemmerer, 28
Chugwater, Hanna, Albin, 26
Riverside, 25
Rawlins, 24
Newcastle, Thermopolis, 23
Saratoga, 22
Rocky Mountain, 21
Pinedale, 19
Lusk, Rock Springs, 17
Big Piney, 16
Kaycee, Wright, 15
Midwest, 14
Glenrock, Lyman, Wind River, 12
Glendo, Manderson, 11
Basin, 10
Arvada-Clearmont, Medicine Bow, 9
Moorcroft, 7
Huntley, 5
Farson, LaGrange, 4
Byron, Deaver, Jeffrey City, 3
Normative Services, Rock River, Wyoming Indian, Goshen Hole, Seton, 2
Cheyenne South, 1

+++++

Top 10 combined
1. Cheyenne Central, 231
2. Torrington, 198
3. Gillette, 180
4. Kelly Walsh, 154
5. Worland, 150
6. Natrona, 143
7. Burlington, 135
8. Douglas, 134
9. Powell, 131
10. Lingle, 130

Others in descending order:
Cokeville, 129
Southeast, 118
Cheyenne East, 115
Lander, 110
Pine Bluffs, 107
Lovell, 105
Dubois, 104
Cody, 98
Ten Sleep, 95
Burns, Jackson, Upton, 93
Laramie, 92
Star Valley, 86
Sheridan, 83
Guernsey-Sunrise, Tongue River, 80
Big Horn, 76
Greybull, Meeteetse, Riverton, 75
Big Piney, 72
Green River, 71
Snake River, 68
Buffalo, 65
Lusk, Mountain View, 63
Glenrock, Kemmerer, 62
Evanston, 58
Rock Springs, Sundance, 54
Hanna, Albin, 53
Shoshoni, 50
Encampment, Saratoga, Wheatland, Wright, 47
Hulett, Wind River, 46
Thermopolis, 44
Pinedale, 40
Riverside, 39
Newcastle, Wyoming Indian, 37
Chugwater, 35
Rawlins, 32
Rocky Mountain, 31
Lyman, Midwest, Byron, 30
Kaycee, 24
Basin, 21
Goshen Hole, 19
Manderson, Medicine Bow, 16
Arvada-Clearmont, Glendo, 15
Farson, Moorcroft, 14
St. Stephens, 7
Jeffrey City, LaGrange, 6
Normative Services, Deaver, Huntley, 5
Rock River, 3
Seton, 2
Cheyenne South, 1

The next week or so on this blog will be dedicated to track and field. Keep checking back. And don’t forget to check out the champions listing for yourself!

–patrick

David Hastings, who coached in both Idaho and Utah, will be the new head coach at Rock Springs.

The school announced the hiring on its Facebook page late Monday.

Hastings coached at Lehi (Utah) High School the past three seasons. He took over a program on a 26-game losing streak and began the program’s turnaround, going 9-21 in three years.

In January, Hastings was named the head coach at Utah’s Hillcrest High, but left that position for Rock Springs.

Prior to coaching at Lehi, Hastings spent five seasons as the head coach at Sugar-Salem (Idaho) High School, leading the Diggers to the playoffs three times in that span.

Hastings takes over for Tom Jassman, who resigned after going 6-24 in three seasons as the Tigers’ head coach.

To see the list of all coaching changes statewide, click here.

–patrick

Recently, I stumbled across cowleywyoming.com, a site dedicated to Cowley community history. Thanks to the help graciously provided by Gilbert Fisher, I have these updates for Cowley:

Added Cowley’s 18-13 victory over Deaver-Frannie on Oct. 27, 1950.

Added Cowley’s 72-41 victory over Worland Institute on Sept. 19, 1952 (added to missing games list because the location was not available).

Noted that the Oct. 31, 1959, game against the Cody JV was canceled.

Noted that Cowley’s coach in 1947 was Robert Yorgason and in 1963 was Newell Sorenson.

I also found Burlington’s coach for 1954: Jacques Maggard.

All the updates have been made on all the relevant pages.

–patrick

Three Class 2A schools — Kemmerer, Burns and Big Horn — and Class 1A 11-man school Moorcroft will undergo major changes to their football facilities this year.

The most dramatic changes will occur in Kemmerer and Burns.

Kemmerer will christen its new football facility this fall with something the school has never had before: night games. The new field is near the Kemmerer Middle School and west of the high school on the southern edge of the city.

Kemmerer’s new facility will include lights and an artificial surface. The Rangers’ old field, occasionally referred to as “The Pit” due to its location at the bottom of a set of steep hills, will likely continue to stay open for school and community use.

Kemmerer will be the 17th school in Wyoming to switch to an artificial surface.

Burns, meanwhile, is rebuilding its football field and may not have any true “home” games this year, as the field might remain under construction through the fall. Burns’ new facility is being built at the site of the school’s current field. Unlike Kemmerer, Burns will keep its natural grass surface. Burns’ new facility will also include an eight-lane track.

Big Horn and Moorcroft, meanwhile, will add lights to their fields for the first time this year.

Moorcroft is the first of Crook County’s three high schools to add lights.

Oddly enough, Lyman will be the opponent for the first game under the lights for both Big Horn and Kemmerer — at Big Horn on Sept. 12 and at Kemmerer on Sept. 19. Moorcroft will host Wyoming Indian on Sept. 5 in its first home night game.

With the addition of lighted facilities in Big Horn, Kemmerer and Moorcroft, only seven Wyoming 11-man schools (Big Piney, Burlington, Cokeville, Lyman, Mountain View, Sundance and Tongue River) remain without lights. However, of Wyoming’s 13 six-man schools, nine (Dubois, Farson, Hanna, Hulett, Kaycee, Rock River, St. Stephens, Snake River, Ten Sleep) don’t have lights.

If you know of any other field renovations taking place this summer, let me know: Leave a comment below, hit me up on Twitter @wyomingfootball or email me at pschmiedt@yahoo.com.

–patrick

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