LHS athletics begin winter slate at home, on the road
Dec. 11—LARAMIE — The high school winter sports season started this weekend with several Laramie teams beginning at home and away from the Gem City.
The basketball squads played four games in three days at the Bill Strannigan Memorial Classic in Riverton and Lander. The Plainsmen and Lady Plainsmen wrestlers began at the Charlie Lake Duals on Friday and for an invitational on Saturday at Cheyenne East.
At home, the Plainsmen swimmers and divers hosted two traditional meets to open the season at the LHS Natatorium. The Plainsmen and Lady Plainsmen Nordic skiers were on their home trails at Happy Jack Recreation Area to usher in the cross-country skiing season.
LADY PLAINSMEN BASKETBALL
The Lady Plainsmen are off to a 4-0 start to begin the season with Addison Forry and Kylin Shipman leading the team offensively, and Ruby Dorrell gathering rebounds in the paint.
The LHS girls began with a 43-27 win on Thursday against Star Valley. Forry scored 22 points by going 10 of 12 from the field. Dorrell had eight rebounds and Shipman added six boards.
The Lady Plainsmen had a similar result Friday morning with a 41-26 win against Powell. Forry scored 24 points and Shipman added 12. Dorrell secured 10 rebounds. Later on Friday, the LHS girls beat host Riverton 57-29. Defensively, Bella Yates had five steals. Forry again scored 20+ with 25 points and Shipman chipping in 16. Dorrell had seven rebounds.
LHS closed out the classic on Saturday with a dominating 57-13 win against Jackson Hole. More information from this game was not available at press time.
PLAINSMEN BASKETBALL
The LHS boys went 2-2 also at the Bill Strannigan Memorial Classic. They started on Thursday with a 64-56 win against Star Valley. Plainsman Neil Summers led LHS with 15 points, followed by 12 from Karson Busch and 10 from Levi Brown.
Extra time was needed Friday morning as LHS prevailed 61-57 in overtime against Powell. The Plainsmen had five players scoring in double figures, including Busch. He cashed in two 3-pointers in the extra quarter to add to his 10 points and help LHS pull away late. Brown had 14 points, followed by Summers (12), Brayden McKinney (11) and Max Alexander (10).
Host Riverton handed the Plainsmen their first loss later Friday with a 75-50 contest. Alexander had 13 points and Busch added 12. Riverton's Darrick DeVries led the Wolverines with 22 points and nine rebounds.
On Saturday against Jackson Hole, LHS came up just short in a 64-60 loss. Additional information from this game was not available.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
The Plainsmen swimmers and divers — five-time defending state champions — started their season by sweeping the team scores while hosting the Laramie Relays on Friday and Laramie Pentathlon on Saturday.
LHS tallied 440 points for the relays. Cheyenne Central was second at 428 and Sheridan third with 410. All swimming events featured four swimmers in a relay with only the leadoff times going toward state qualifying standards.
The Plainsmen won six of 10 swimming events. They were: 200-yard medley (1 minute, 44.50 seconds), 500 freestyle (4:37.12), 200 free (1:34.01), 200 butterfly (1:44.19), 100 free (45.53) and 200 backstroke (1:49.10).
The divers competed in tandems, hence scores did not go toward state qualification.
Laramie's lone diver for Saturday's pentathlon — Ronan Robinson — made the most of the competition from the 1-meter springboard when he won with 245.85 points. Central's Avery Dalton was runner-up with 238.15.
The meet featured combined times after the swimmers competed in the 100 free, 100 back, 100 breaststroke, 100 fly and 50 free.
The Plainsmen placed five in the top 17, led by Kyle Morton's fourth-place combined time of 4:26.16. Other LHS top results were: Aiden Stakes (seventh, 4:28.81), Kody Mathill (ninth, 4:30.83), Kelan Stakes (11th, 4:33.43) and Dallin Taff (17th, 4:39.24).
LHS won the team standings with 178 points. Central was second at 126 and Green River third at 88. Central's Ethan Merrill won the meet at 4:12.80. He was followed by Cheyenne South's Caleb Brewer (4:17.42) and Rock Springs' John Spicer (4:22.79).
WRESTLING
The Plainsmen and Lady Plainsmen began their seasons on the mat with trips to Cheyenne East for two days of wrestling at Cheyenne East.
It also marked the inaugural season for girls wrestling as separate teams and individuals for Wyoming High School Activities Association competition in the state.
The first day was the Charlie Lake Duals, featuring boys teams going head-to-head. The Plainsmen finished fourth in the Black Pool.
The Plainsmen opened with a 54-20 loss to Fossil Ridge from Colorado, then bounced back for three wins against Wheatland (57-24), Torrington (45-33) and Sidney from Nebraska (66-15). In the third-place dual, LHS lost to Fort Collins from Colorado by the closest of margins at 41-40.
On Saturday the format switched to a tournament format with weight brackets for boys and girls. More results from both days will be published in Tuesday's e-edition of the Laramie Boomerang and be available on the website WyoSports.net.
LHS will also begin the home slate for duals Tuesday evening hosting Natrona County at the LHS main gym.
NORDIC SKIING
The Plainsmen and Lady Plainsmen hosted the first weekend of competition of the season on the snowy Tie City trails just east of Laramie.
Friday's races were a non-scored casual 3x3-kilometer freestyle relay race. Saturday featured boys and girls 5K freestyle races with results not available before press time Saturday night.
Other teams competing were from Kelly Walsh and Natrona County from Casper, Cody, Jackson Hole, Lander Valley, Pinedale and Sheridan.
