• Here’s what to expect from this season.
The Winter sports season for the 2023-24 school year began practice on Monday, November 20 with wrestling and basketball. Those two sports with boys and girls teams are able to compete in their first contests starting on December 7. The SVHS wrestling teams will be hosting the Braves Brawl that weekend while the basketball teams will be headed to the Strannigan Invite in Riverton. Here’s a recap of how the teams wrapped up last season and some of the potential at the beginning of this season.
Boys Wrestling: The Braves scored 235.0 team points as they transitioned back to the 4A classification for the first time since 2011. It was not an easy season with injuries, illness and a huge departing graduating class the year before. It would not be a stretch to say it was one of the more impressive coaching efforts in a program full of impressive coaching efforts.
The Braves had three state champions and two of them will potentially be back this season as Levi Byrd won the 106 title last season as a sophomore and Tel Parry became the first freshman to win a state title for Star Valley in over 40 years as he claimed 126. Grant Weiss also won but departed due to graduation, as did runner-up Joseph Naef.
In all, Star Valley has the potential to return eight placers from last years team and 16 qualifiers. Not surprisingly, expect another great season for the Braves who have finished top three in 22 of the last 24 seasons under Coach Eddie Clark. Coach Clark will be nabbing his 600th career dual victory most likely at the Braves Brawl next month. He is assisted by Winston Patterson, Casey Parry and Adam Baker.
Girls Wrestling: It was a historic season not just for the Lady Braves who had their first sanctioned team campaign, but it was also the case for the state of Wyoming. It was fitting that the Lady Braves topped the all-class format for the team title. Veil Foreman went undefeated at 135 pounds with a (38-0) record.
Cara Andrews also advanced to the title match with both girls expected to return. Depth was the biggest strength of the team in the inaugural season and it appears that will continue to be a key for success this season. A total of 18 qualifiers from last season would be eligible to return including ten placers. Kendall Foreman will return as head coach and assisted by Jason Ivie and Zeke Mendenhall.
Boys Basketball: The Braves had a very memorable season full of high-flying dunks and a regular season finish of (17-10). The team won the 4A Regionals on the Star Valley court before being upset in the opening round of the 4A State tournament and going (1-2) in Casper.
The team ranked third in points scored per game at 60.8 and were second in 4A in shooting percentage and rebounding. The program will lose a ton of height with the graduation of Jacob Hodges, Croix Jenkins, Taft McClure and Luke Linford. Potential returning players with significant varsity experience include Taeson Johnson, PJ Horsley, Cooper Lancaster, Zane Hedges and Max Jensen. The underclassmen team won more than 20 games and will feed the varsity under a new coaching staff with the departure of Mitch Schwab. New head coach Matt Shumway comes to Star Valley after a lifetime of success at Preston High School. He will be assisted by David Moore, Aaron Lancaster and Ben Hale.
Girls Basketball: It was a very successful season for the Lady Braves who compiled a (16-11) record and qualified for State before going 0-2 in Casper. The program improved their team stats from the season before as they averaged 43.4 points per game after scoring 29 the season before. Star Valley was one of the elite defensive units again last season, officially ranking second in the 4A class; allowing just 35.7 points per game. Only eventual champion Cody had a lower average. The team will miss Cameron Erickson who led the team in scoring and rebounding. Potentially the team returns quite a bit of experience with Kenlee Engelhardt who just earned all-state honors in volleyball. In addition, Sheridan Coles, Delancy Brog and Kambree Johnson are slated to return. Kade Erickson returns as the head coach but Kade Wilkes has retired as the assistant coach. Susan Darlington joins the staff along with mainstays Jason Cazier and Shaylyn Hathaway.
