GOSHEN COUNTY – Athlets across Goshen County took 2024 by storm. A look back at the top sports stories from June to September.

June 7

Honoring a great coach – Coach Cotant inducted into WCA Coaches Hall of Fame

TORRINGTON – Cotant’s storied and successful career as a coach was recently recognized by the Wyoming Coaches Association with the announcement this spring of Cotant’s posthumous induction in the WCA Coaches Hall of Fame.

Cotant’s induction is “extremely well deserved,” said Marv Haiman, retired principal at TMS who worked with Cotant for nearly 30 years.

In addition to his role as an educator, Cotant coached cross-country and track at THS for 21 years. Following a brief retirement, Cotant returned to Goshen County School District No. 1 as an interim administrator and signed on as an assistant track coach at LFL for five seasons.

June 12

Goshen County represents at 51st Shrine Bowl

CASPER – Goshen County folks played a significant role in the 51st Annual Wyoming Shrine Bowl all-star high school football game at Natrona County High School’s Cheney Alumni Field on Saturday, June 8.

Athletes, coaches and support staff represented the communities of Torrington, Lingle-Fort Laramie and Southeast Schools with class, sportsmanship, grit and excellence throughout Saturday’s game.

Goshen County players included Tyler Bennick, Brayden Frazier, Bryce Hager, Trey Parriott and Tiegan Thompson. THS head football coach Russell Stienmetz led the South Team, assisted by Robb Nicolay, Ryan Workman and Brandon Gifford (LFL). Emily Yorges served as athletic trainer and Lingle-Fort Laramie graduate Izzy Spears was a team manager.

June 14

Shaping future athletes ñ Coach Bates named to WCA Coaches Hall of Fame

GOSHEN COUNTY – Shaping young people into capable track athletes and watching them conquer the sport’s steep learning curve is the greatest reward of coaching middle school track and field, an activity that can seem like “herding cats” on a particularly challenging day with 40 preteens and teens, Southeast coach Trisha Bates said.

In May, Bates completed her 20th season coaching middle school track at Southeast schools. Bates’ career also spanned 12 years as a middle school volleyball coach and six years coaching high school volleyball for Southeast.

June 26

Marlins snag Little League city title

TORRINGTON – An undefeated Little League season for the Torrington Marlins culminated in one more win for the team at Abe Correa Field on Thursday, June 20, when the Marlins scored a 6-0 victory against the Cubs to capture the city championship and trophy.

The Marlins concluded their regular season with a perfect 12-0 record to clinch the No. 1 seed going into the Torrington city championships this week.

July 3

Goshen County snags sixth at state trap shoot

TORRINGTON – Local youth represented Goshen County at the Wyoming Trap Shooting State Tournament with flying colors, placing sixth out of 15 schools in the competition on Saturday, June 29.

Goshen County’s Remington Mathson tied for third place in the varsity male division with a combined score of 96 out of 100. Mathson opened the tournament with a perfect score of 50 in the morning session (25 ouf of 25 in each round) to join both the 50- and 25-Straight Club for hitting 50 clay pigeons in a row.

Timberlee Easton made the podium in the novice female category, placing third with a total score of 58.

July 5

SE graduate named to all-star  volleyball team

GOSHEN COUNTY – Southeast High School graduate Sasha Haines will represent Goshen County at the annual all-star games hosted by the Wyoming Coaches Association in Casper this summer. Haines garnered a spot on the South Team.

Only the best athletes from across Wyoming make the highly selective all-star list.

July 10

Locals punch tickets to compete at NHSFR

GOSHEN COUNTY – A year’s worth of blood, sweat and tears by young rodeo cowboys and cowgirls culminates at the 2024 National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs from July 14-20.

Five athlete from Goshen County and western Nebraska qualified to compete.

Qualifiers included Hadley Thompson of Yoder, Sidwell Petersen of Torrington, Baliegh Lane of Huntley, Josie Waite of Morrill and Braxton Burford of Mitchell.

July 12

Sharks rule medal meet

HEMINGFORD – The Sharks’ victory in the 200-freestyle relay (Teryn Stokes, McKay Gurney, Tiffany Krueger and Griffin Wolfe) topped off an epic day for Torrington at the medal meet it hosted on Saturday (the event took place in Hemingford due to technical issues at the Torrington pool).

The victorious Sharks returned with their bag overflowing with hardware. In individual events, Torrington snagged 24 gold medals, 16 silvers and 15 bronzes. Torrington athletes set nine meet records and 41 Sharks posted at least one personal record. Relays collected one gold, five silvers and four bronzes.

July 17

Thunder 12U Jones snag state  softball title

GILLETTE – Torrington’s ability to rally from an early deficit against the Casper Oil City Stars and battle back to win represented the team’s grit and determination at the season-culminating tournament in Gillette on July 14.

A solid defense by Torrington fielders shut out the Oil City Stars in the fifth and sixth innings of the championship game while the Thunder added another run in the bottom of the fifth to clinch the victory against Casper, 13-9, and garner the 12U state title in the ‘R’ division.

July 24

Tigers 'A' snag state berth

TORRINGTON – The Torrington Tigers ‘A’ Legion team punched their ticket to the state tournament in Powell after defeating the Wheatland Lobos in both games of a home double header in the eastern district playoffs on July 20.

The first game between Torrington and Wheatland came down to the wire … An additional run by the Tigers in the bottom of the fifth inning clinched Torrington’s victory, 5-3.

The Tigers roared onto the field in the second game to overwhelm Wheatland by a 12-2 margin.

July 26

All-around excellence – Local  cowgirl NHSFR reserve champion in all-around, goat tying and  breakaway roping

GOSHEN COUNTY – Hadley Thompson’s performances in the goat tying and breakaway roping short-go at the NHSFR propelled her back to the top of the leaderboard in both events. When the dust settled on Saturday, Thompson was the new NHSFR reserve champion in goat tying, with an aggregate time of 22.05 seconds, and breakaway roping, at 8.25 seconds.

Thompson also captured the all-around cowgirl reserve championship for all the points she accumulated in four events. In other words, Thompson, who only recently completed her sophomore year in high school, is now among the best cowgirls in the world.

July 31

Little League majors snag second state title

DOUGLAS – The Torrington majors all-stars team punched its ticket to the Little League Mountain Regional Tournament in California for a second consecutive year when the team captured its second consecutive state title in Douglas on Saturday, July 27.

Both the Torrington offense and defense brought their A-game to the showdown for the championship against Rock Springs on Saturday morning. A tenacious Torrington offense established a 6-0 lead by the end of the third inning. 

Rock Springs attempted to close the gap in the fourth inning, though its effort was too little, too late. A solid Torrington defense shut out Rock Springs in the fifth and sixth innings while one more run clinched the 7-4 title victory for Torrington.

July 31

Little League minors battle back as state runners-up

DOUGLAS – The Torrington Little League minors all-stars demonstrated the ability to fight back from setbacks during the state tournament in Douglas from July 24-27.

Torrington found redemption against Rock Springs with a 9-3 victory on Friday to earn a spot in the championship game against Douglas.

July 31

Tigers step up at state tournament

TORRINGTON – Torrington’s young Legion ‘C’ baseball team rose to the occasion to field a squad for the ‘B’ state tournament hosted by Torrington at the Dean Bullock Field from July 25-28.

A majority of the athletes who stepped up for the weekend are still in middle school and played teams with primarily high-school aged rosters. The Tigers played with grit against considerably older, more experienced and far larger opponents.

August 7

Local youth first at Drive, Chip and Putt qualifier

TORRINGTON – Torrington second-grader Denali Yonkee took the first big step in the Drive, Chip and Putt nationals when she snagged first place in the 7- to 9-year-old division at a local qualifier hosted by Three Crowns Golf Course in Casper on June 16. Yonkee also punched her ticket to compete at the DCP subregional tournament in Aurora, Colorado, on August 10.

August 9

Finding perspective – local barber snags hardware at Wyoming  Senior Olympics

TORRINGTON – Rusty Winget’s personal record in the 1500-freestyle swim stands at right around 25 minutes.

The dedication paid off this summer when Winget snagged gold medals in the 1500- and 500-freestyles at the Wyoming Senior Olympics in Cheyenne, along with silver in three sprinting events – the 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyles.

September 18

Five THS golfers snag all-conference honors

BUFFALO – The Torrington High School golf team entered the postseason with solid performances at the 3A East Regional Tournament hosted by Buffalo on Thursday and Friday, September 12-13.

Four athletes from Goshen County broke into the top 10 following two days of competition at the Buffalo Golf Club, capturing 3A all-conference honors in the process.

In boys’ varsity, senior Mason Wilkes snagged sixth place at 172 strokes. Junior Conner Correll also earned all-conference accolades, placing ninth at 180.

Fellow senior Madyson Banister led the Goshen County pack in girls’ varsity, advancing to eighth place at 211. Sarah Birdsall, also a senior, came in ninth place, shooting 223 strokes. Senior Kaleigh Waymire rounded out all-conference performances with a 10th-place finish at 223.

September 25

Lady Blazers fourth at state, Blazers seventh

RAWLINS – The Torrington High School golf team battled a challenging course, unrelenting winds and tough opponents at the 3A state tolf championships hosted by Rochelle Ranch in Rawlins from September 20-21.

The Lady Blazers placed fourth as a team, tallying 648 strokes following two rounds. The Torrington girls shot 317 on Friday and 331 on Saturday.

The Blazers finished seventh overall on the boys’ varsity leaderboard with 717 strokes. The boys improved from 364 in the first round to 353 in the second.

September 25

Tennis trio breaks into top four at regional tournament

GREEN RIVER – The Torrington High School tennis team returned from the South regional tennis tournament in Green River with a bag full of hardware and three athletes snagging top-four placings and all-conference accolades on September 21.

THS head tennis coach Lauren Shields was named the South Conference coach of the year at regionals.

Top-four placings included senior Elijah Hatch capturing second place in boys’ No. 2 singles. Fellow senior Skyler Thomas garnered fourth place in boys’ No. 2 singles. Senior Madix McIntosh clinched fourth place in girls’ No. 1 singles.