Morning Sports: August 5, 2024

Wyoming High School Sports Reclassification Cycle: Practice for Wyoming High School Tennis, Golf and 4A Football starts 1 week from today and as the new sports year gets started, there are a few changes in terms of which schools are in which class.

Every other year the Wyoming High School Activities Association starts a new classification cycle, and this school year will be the start of a new 2-year cycle.

In the past depending on where a school ranked in terms of its 2-year enrollment numbers, would depend on which class that school was in.

For example, in volleyball, basketball and outdoor track and field, the top 16 schools in terms of enrollment numbers were in Class 4A, the next 16 in 3A, and so forth.

This time around, where a school ranks in terms of enrollment no longer matters, rather a school’s actual enrollment numbers will determine what class that school will compete in.

In this new example, for volleyball, basketball and outdoor track and field, schools with an enrollment of 700 or more is Class 4A, those between 210-699 are Class 3A, between 110-209 is Class 2A and all others are Class 1A.

There are some minor changes in the sports not mentioned.

The exception is football which will stay on the old system.

The top 10 enrolled schools are 4A, the next 12 are 3A, the next 14 are 2A, the next 14 are 9-man, and the remaining are 6-man.

Schools always have the option to move up or down a class for the 2-year cycle, but if the school moves down, it is automatically disqualified from regional and state tournaments.

As far as the Sheridan and Johnson County schools go, they will all remain in the classes they’ve been in for the past few years in their various sports.

University of Wyoming Football: Although the first games of the 2024 season have yet to be played, a pair of Wyoming Cowboys have been labeled as those to keep an eye on for possible post-season recognition, and one of them is a former Sheridan County High School football player.

The Wuerffel Foundation has named Big Horn High School grad and current UW wide receiver Will Pelissier as a nominee for the Wuerffel Trophy, which honors college football’s most impactful leaders in the community, who best combines exemplary community service with leadership achievement both on and off the field.

He is also a nominee for the American Football College Association’s Good Works Team.

Pelissier has worked with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Wyoming, and serves as a board member for Tele-Hope, which is an organization that aids in mentoring youth in Albany County.

The other Cowboy is kicker John Hoyland, who has been named to the Lou Groza Award Pre-Season watch list, which is awarded to the nation’s top collegiate place kicker.

Hoyland was the one who kicked the game winning field goal to help the Cowboys win the Arizona Bowl back in December and was named MVP of the game.

Entering this season, he has connected on 58 field goals for 79.5%.

Hoyland is currently 5th in career scoring at UW with 296 points, and is 1 field goal away from tying Cooper Rothe for the school record in made field goals.

This is the 3rd straight year that he has been on the pre-season watch list, which only consists of 30 players.

Wyoming Legion Baseball: The Wyoming AA State Tournament concluded this past Friday in Casper.

On the final day, Gillette beat Cheyenne Post 6 3-2, to force a second game for the state championship, but in that second game, it was all Cheyenne 14-zip.

The Sixers would 5-peat as state champs and make it 21 of the last 24.

The team will move on to play at the AA Northwest Regional Tournament, beginning this Thursday at Billings.

Colorado Rockies Baseball: The Colorado Rockies ended up losing 2 out of 3 this past weekend at San Diego.

On Friday, Brendan Rodgers hit a solo home run, to help the Rocks win 5-2.

On Saturday, Hunter Goodman and Jacob Stallings each went yard, but Colorado was 1-run short, and ended up losing 3-2.

Yesterday, Breton Doyle and Stallings each left the park on their own, however that was it, as the Rockies lost 10-2.

The team is now 41-72 on the season.

Today is an off-day, and tomorrow, the Rocks start a 6-game homestand with 3-games against the New York Mets, followed by 3 games against Atlanta.