As 2024 comes to a close, here’s a look at how the sports teams fared over the calendar year.
Girls Wrestling: The Lady Braves claimed their second team title in as many seasons behind an individual championship from Cara Andrews at 145 pounds. The girls scored 163.0 team points as they repeated in the all-class format.
Boys Wrestling: Kimball Parry, Tel Parry and Kooper Burk won individual championships at 106, 132 and 157 respectively as the Braves placed fifth as a team with 175.5 team points.
Indoor Track & Field: Valerie Jirak put up a performance for the ages as she won four event championships in Gillette in the 55-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and the Long Jump. She tallied 40 of the Lady Braves 59 points. The boys team finished as the state runner-up behind Habtamu Wetzel’s championships in the 1600 and 3200 events as he also combined with Jase Burton, Matt Heywood and Peter Lorch to win the 4×800 relay. Khale Clinger won the High Jump title as well.
Boys Basketball: After picking up a quarterfinal win over Cheyenne East, the Braves fell to Laramie in a hard-fought semifinals before being eliminated by Natrona on the final day of the season to finish their campaign at 20-7.
Girls Basketball: The Lady Braves dropped two games at the State tournament to Cheyenne East and Kelly Walsh. The girls finished their season at 13-13.
Cokeville Track & Field: The Lady Panthers scored 147 points to easily win the 1A team title over Southeast. The Cokeville boys placed second.
SVHS Track & Field: The Lady Braves finished with 57 team points behind performances from Valerie Jirak who was all-state in three events and Kami Merritt who earned all-state in the 300 hurdles. The boys scored 39 points with all-state finishes from Habtamu Wetzel in the 1600 and Jase Burton in the 3200.
SVHS Soccer: The Lady Braves did not qualify for the State tournament as they fell to Riverton to finish their season at 2-11-2. The Braves lost a heart-breaker of a shootout against Natrona to suffer elimination 4-3 and finished their year at 5-9-1.
SVHS Golf: Jordyn Horsley became Star Valley’s first individual golf champion since 2008 as she carded the lowest score of any class on her home course. The Lady Braves placed fifth as a team. The Braves did not qualify as a team to compete at state but had three individuals qualify.
Cross-Country: Jase Burton claimed the Wyoming 4A championship as he and teammates Habtamu Wetzel and Colton Cranney took the top three spots to power the Braves to their third straight Wyoming state title. Burton went on to place second at the NikeCross Regionals and qualified for the NikeCross Nationals where he placed 17th and earned All-American status. The Lady Braves placed sixth as a team.
Volleyball: The Lady Braves earned a trip to State but fell 0-2 in their run to Cheyenne East and Thunder Basin.
Football: The Braves ended their 2024 campaign riding a 21-game winning streak and claimed their third Wyoming state title with a 20-7 win over Cody. Bryson Nield set multiple school records and one state record at wide receiver as the Braves had 11 all-state players. Cooper Lawson committed to play on the offensive line for the University of Wyoming next fall.
