The spring sports season has come to a close, and with it the 2021-22 Wyoming high school sports season.
Information from the track and field, soccer and softball championships has been put onto sister site Champlists. Check it out. Soccer and softball all-state teams are still to come, but everything else is there. If anything looks weird, wonky or wrong, let me know.
One thing that jumped out at me as I was putting together the track and field champions was just how many athletes had won their first state championship in a particular event for their school. In all, this happened 24 times this weekend, including with 12 relay teams, a number that seemed much higher than usual. They included:
BOYS
Jaycee Herbert, Wind River, 100
Isaiah Haliburton, Thunder Basin, 400
Rodee Brow, Wheatland, 400 (This is the first Wheatland champ in the 400/440 since the start of the state meet in 1922.)
Wheatland, 4×100 relay
Thunder Basin and Tongue River, 4×400 relay
Lander, Tongue River and Lingle, 1600 medley relay
Mountain View, 4×800 relay
GIRLS
Vaidyn Vanderploeg, Riverside, 100 and 200
Karcee Maya, Kaycee, 400
Emma Gonzalez, Burns, 3200
Gabby Mendoza, Thunder Basin, 300 hurdles
Glenrock, 4×100 relay
Star Valley, 4×400 relay
Jackson and Saratoga, 1600 medley relay
Mountain View, 4×800 relay
Katy Dexter, Pinedale, discus
Carly Moore, Wright, pole vault
Angie Logsdon, Southeast, pole vault
Whitney Bennett, Saratoga, triple jump
Snowy and cold weather on the first two days of the meet prevented this from being a huge record-breaking weekend, as only one overall state meet record and only six other classification records were broken, including four in Class 1A boys.
The overall record broken, though, was a big one — Kelly Walsh’s Cameron Burkett in the shot put. His mark of 65-10.25 on the throw below is both a state meet and an all-time state record.
Last throw of ?@CameronBurkett9? high school career he breaks his own record … 65-10.25 pic.twitter.com/CQT7QbKvir
— WyoVarsity (@WyoVarsity) May 21, 2022
The other classification records were:
Colby Jenks, Big Piney, 2A boys 800, 1:55.59
Southeast, 1A boys 4×100 relay, 43.35
Lingle, 1A boys 4×400 relay, 3:27.43
Ryan Clapper, Southeast, 1A boys 200, 21.79
Kyland Fuller, Lingle, 1A boys 400, 50.02
Shelby Ekwall, Southeast, 1A girls shot put, 41-8.75
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On the soccer side of things, Worland’s fourth consecutive Class 3A boys championship (2018-19 and 2021-22, with no tournament in 2020) is a new state record for consecutive championships. Previously, Jackson (2014-16) and Cheyenne East (1987-89) had won three in a row, and Jackson (2019, 2021-22) won its third straight this year.
Additionally, Worland’s 7-0 victory against Torrington in the 3A championship game represented both the most goals scored by a winning team in a state championship game and the biggest blowout in a championship game.
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Softball, meanwhile, is still in its infancy in Wyoming. Thunder Basin won the championship, giving the city of Gillette its second title in two years, following up on Campbell County’s title last season in the sport’s inaugural year.
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As noted, the records for this year’s performances are all up on Champlists. I hope to continue to add to and grow the site to incorporate more of Wyoming’s high school sports history. I’ve already heard from one of you just this week about trying to add year-by-year soccer standings, something I’m excited to get into but would also love some help on… But what else would YOU like to see researched about Wyoming’s high school sports history that isn’t already up on Champlists? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
–patrick