Before most people move their thoughts to basketball, Ithought I’d give some of my highlights from last weekend’s Wyoming State High School Wrestling Championships last weekend at the Casper Events Center.

Here they are in no particular order:

• There was never a dull moment. I was overwhelmed the first half hour or so I was covering the meet because I hadn’t been to anything like it before. I covered every class, so I couldn’t just focus on two or three mats. It took me a while figure out I had to focus on one match at a time with so many things going on at once. Luckily though, with nine mats of action during most of the tournament there was always a good match to watch. You just have to follow the cheers.

• The Class 4A race: Star Valley, Natrona County and Gillette all led the meet at one point. The team title came down to the last match where Gillette’s R.J. Boylan beat NC’s Nick Elliott at 285 to give the Camels the title. Had Boylan lost, the Camels and Braves would have shared the title. Gillette won its sixth title in a row, while Star Valley showed it could compete and challenge Class 4A schools after winning four of the past five Class 3A titles.

• Cokeville winning its third title in a row.

• Powell establishing itself as the team to beat in Class 3A with Star Valley moving up.

• Greybull-Riverside’s Kasey Garnhart and Torrington’s Jared Hatley becoming the 10^th and 11^th wrestlers in Wyoming history to win their four individual titles. Leading up to the Championships, I talked to Garnhart, Hatley and many of the previous four-time champions. Accomplishing that feat seems like one of the toughest things to do in high school sports. Congrats to both of them.

• The fans: The fans at the Events Center were smart and knew their wrestling. Garnhart and Hatley both received standing ovations from the crown, and most fans were aware of the team races. Gillette fans were cheering and chanting Jesse Hillhouse’s name when the Kelly Walsh wrestler was going against Star Valley’s Ricky Fairbanks. Star Valley fans, likewise, were cheering for Gillette’s opponents.

• Three get third titles: Gillette’s Tyler Cox, Greybull-Riverside’s Colten Zier and Cokeville’s Rodney Teichert each earned their third titles. Cox will go for his fourth next year.

• Three go undefeated: Cox, Lander’s Brett Klopp and Southeast’s Stephen Easton each had perfect seasons.

• Getting to know Star Valley’s Dakota Dana and coach Eddie Clark: Dana had a family tragedy this year and still managed to get fifth place at 4A’s 130-pound weight class. He’s overcome more than most people could handle and still managed to compete. He’s a guy that people want to cheer for. Clark is also a quality individual. He helped Dana deal with the loss of both parents and was emotional each time I talked to him about Dana and his losses. Clark has gone beyond his call as coach to help Dana.

• Finally, I hope the Gillette fan that collapsed during the first match of the finals is having a healthy recovery.

What were some of your highlights from the championships?Now that wrestling is over, are you following your school’s basketball teams,are you looking forward to any spring sports, or are you already lookingforward to next year’s Wrestling Championships?

My focus is switching to girls basketball. I’m coveringClass 1A and 2A girls basketball this weekend and the 3A / 4A tournaments nextweek. Let the games begin…luckily there is just one at a time this weekend.

Dave