An overwhelming 63-46 home victory by the Pinedale High School Wranglers against the Mountain View Buffaloes secured the Wrangler’s position as the No. 1 team in the 3A Southwest Quadrant as the regular season passed into the rearview mirror.

The Pinedale High School girls’ varsity team snagged second place following two days of competition featuring a 4-kilometer skate race on Friday followed by an 8-kilometer classic course on Saturday. Pinedale tallied 131 points overall to beat Lander, Kelly Walsh, Sheridan and Jackson.

The victory against Thermopolis cemented Pinedale’s position as the No. 1 seed in the 3A Southwest Quadrant with a 4-1 record.

Pinedale rounded the regular season out with two games against Rock Springs earlier this month. The Glaciers fell to Rock Springs, 6-4, in a close game on Feb. 9. Rebounding the following day, the Glaciers achieved an 8-2 victory against Rock Springs.

The Lady Punchers will enter the 2A West Regional Tournament this weekend in Riverton as the No. 2 seed and will play Rocky Mountain on Feb. 22 at 3:30 p.m.

A fast and furious Puncher offense netted 20 points in the opening quarter while a tenacious Big Piney defense held Kemmerer to 12 points, laying the foundation for the Punchers’ success at the end of regulation.

The Lady Wranglers left it all on the court at an away game against the Thermopolis Lady Bobcats on Feb. 17, scoring their seventh consecutive win and fourth conference victory by an overwhelming 71-38 margin. Pinedale remains in the No. 1 spot in the 3A Southwest Quadrant with a 4-1 record as the final week in the regular season approaches.

Shaving more than 2 seconds off its preliminary time, the 200-freestyle relay team garnered ninth place in the finals. Freshman Jared Hacklin, sophomore Kaden Day, senior John Ruby and senior Andy DeClue clocked the race in at 1 minute, 40.42 seconds.

Junior Madison Antonino qualified for the finals in the girls’ 3200-meter relay and captured seventh place with a time of 11 minutes, 07.57. Antonino not only set a new personal record but shattered the Pinedale High School indoor track record she set the previous year in the event at 11:25.08. Junior Emma York placed 97th in the 1600-meter preliminaries, clocking in at 6:00.19. In the 200-meter girls’ prelims, senior Anna Lehr came in 76th place at 30.15 seconds with junior Addison Losik placing 81st at 30.29 seconds.

The Lady Wranglers defeated 24 teams to achieve second place with 112 points.

The boys in Shoshoni placed third as a team, just missing out on second place by 20 points. We just needed a couple of matches to go the other way for us and we would have been right there with them.

The Glaciers competed in the “A” Division and kicked off the tournament with victories against both Cody and Jackson. The back-to-back wins secured the No. 1 seed for Pinedale in the “A” Division championship game on Sunday, Feb. 11.

Big Piney pulled ahead of St. Stephens by 10 points, 56-46, in the fourth quarter following a 3-pointer by junior Cole Walton.

The Lady Punchers battled back following a tough first quarter that saw WIHS outscore Big Piney, 16-4, to close WIHS’ lead to a single possession, 26-24, at the end of the third quarter.

Eighteen teams gathered in Casper for the event, with a mixture of programs ranging from big 4A schools like Cheyenne Central to smaller squads from Pinedale, Glenrock and Burns-Pine Bluffs.

All-around solid performances by the boys at Green River set positive momentum for the team as athletes prepare for the 2024 3A State Swimming and Diving Championships in Laramie on Feb. 16-17.

Kicking the action off with a home game against Lyman, the Wranglers left it all on the court in the second half against the Eagles to significantly increase a 29-24 halftime advantage into a 61-42 victory at the end of regulation.

A tenacious Lady Wrangler offense, combined with a determined Pinedale defense, nearly doubled the Lyman Lady Eagles in scoring over the first half of the February 9 home game.

Pulling out all the stops, both the Pinedale High School (PHS) girls’ and boys’ wrestling teams roared into the final week of the regular season, winning two duals and crushing the competition at the Pinedale Invite on Saturday.

We have been on such a strong roll in wrestling very well for over a month.