Lady Braves Wrestling has a news head coach. On Wednesday, April 10, the Board of Lincoln County School District No. 2 approved the hire of Kevin Waldron to take over the program. Waldron along with Hayden and Grace Walker, Hayden Heap and Carbon Kennington, helped the program finish off the season under the helm of boys coach Eddie Clark after a change in staff.
The Lady Braves went on to repeat as Wyoming state champs and have won both of the titles since Wyoming sanctioned the sport. Kendell Foreman, Jason Ivie and Zeke Mendenhall were previously on the staff as the program started as an officially sanctioned sport starting in 2022-23. The Lady Braves won Wyoming’s inaugural championship.
“When I was asked to help finish the season, I was excited about that,” he said. “But once I got into the wrestling room and saw their excitement it made it even better for me. I appreciated how the girls bought into how we were helping them finish and committing to what we wanted them to do. It had been a long time since I’d been in a state tournament, 18 years, and that all came back to me and seeing them all using their talent [motivated me]. Its’ the fastest growing sport in the country and I just decided that this is something that I wanted to help grow here in our valley. There’s a huge tradition here and these girls want to help make it that way with their own program as well.”
Waldron has extensive coaching experience and multiple state titles with Juab High in Utah.
“I first started as a wrestling coach in a little school by Preston called West Side,” Waldron continued. “I was the coach there while I was finishing up my schooling at Utah state. I wrestled at Ricks college and had a great coach and I had pretty much decided that I wanted to be a coach. After West Side, I went down to Juab and was the coach there for 11 years and the wrestling culture and community there was very successful. We had championships and runners up [finishes] pretty m much every year. What I like about my time there is some of the tings that are happening now. Not a week goes by that I don’t get a tex or a call or an e-mail from someone that I met. I appreciate those relationship.”
Waldron has spent the last 18 years as a coach at Star Valley Middle School. He credited the girls and their efforts this past winter.
“I appreciate this next chapter in may life but it’s not about me,” he said. “The sole reason I did this was the last few weeks I had with the young ladies. It made me realize I wanted to get back in at the high school level. They are so eager to learn and put in the hard work. I know there were great candidates and [the school board] couldn’t have gone wrong with any of them. I’m looking forward to growing the program here at the school and working with the coaches as well. I’d also compliment the coaches and parents in the community. I know a lot of these girls were wrestling with their dads and brothers on the carpet growing up and that’s how you build a wrestling culture.”
The Lady Braves had 18 state qualifiers this past season and nine state placers. Of those nine, four, Paisley Smith, Remington Aullman, Cara Andrews and Shaely Kunz earned All-State honors. Andrews is a two-time All-State honoree and is eligible to return next season to defend her state championship. The Lady Braves scored 163.0 team points in the all-class girls tournament, finishing 62 points in front of runner-up Pinedale.
