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Triumphs from the NHS season

By
Sonja Karp, NLJ Sports Editor

The past year of Dogie sports was filled with the thrill of victory, but also the agony of defeat. Newcastle High School history was made as Kyah Miller brought home the first ever state championship in women’s wrestling, the Lady Dogies hoops team earned the highest finish at the 3A State Basketball Tournament since 1981 (but fell short of the state title), the boys swim team slapped Douglas with back-to-back defeats in the pool, and tracksters brought home hardware at both the regional and state meets. 
 
Let’s take a look back at how these Newcastle High School students achieved their success. 
 
Miller wins first ever girls wrestling state championship
 
Wyoming sanctioned a girls division in wrestling in the spring of 2023, so Kyah Miller, who had fought through three years of wrestling boys, finally had her chance for a run at a state title. She took it seriously, and she made it happen in February when she wrestled her way into the history books by winning the 120-pound weight class title.
 
“It’s just so cool and I’m so happy,” Miller said at the time. “It definitely was a challenge and a journey to get here.” 
 
Miller went into the state tournament ranked second in the state behind a sophomore from Jackson, and with a record of 27-2. As such, the first couple of matches were relatively easy for her, given her top seeding going into the tournament.
 
“Kyah rolled through her first two matches against the Rocky Mountain and Riverton girls, pinning the first in 22 seconds and the second in 1:38,” head coach Lee McCoy said.
 
She ran into trouble in her semi-final match-up against a senior from Green River, Zella Maez. As the seconds waned during the third and final period, Miller was down by one point. With about six seconds to go, Maez had her down and Miller needed an escape to push the match into overtime. 
 
Somehow, with one second remaining in the match, she found a way to get up and get away to tie things up at 7-7, so on to overtime they went where it is a sudden death situation, meaning that the first person to score wins the match. 
 
“The semi-finals match took about 10 years off of my life,” McCoy said following the meet. “Kyah was down one point with six seconds left in the match and she was on the bottom. I turned around because I just couldn’t watch, but at the very last second, she got an escape and scored the one point to tie it up.” 
 
Miller scored with a takedown in the sudden death overtime to move on to the finals for her shot at the state title. 
 
“I don’t even remember half of what happened,” Kyah said. “I didn’t really know what was going on, but I just knew I needed to take her down. She was just about to head-and-arm me, but I was able to put her in a bear hug and take her down. When the ref blew the whistle, I didn’t even realize that I had won!”
 
“I cried when it was over, and he raised my hand,” Kyah laughed. “When I talked to Lee afterward, he reminded me that we still had one more match to go so I needed to stop crying.”
 
Miller was up against Aspen Henry, a junior from Thunder Basin High School, in the championship match. Miller was familiar with Henry having wrestled her a few times throughout the season.

“I was nervous because I knew that it wouldn’t be easy since it was her last match of the year and a big one for her as well as for me,” Miller said. “She was pretty aggressive at first, but that didn’t last for too long, and I was able to get the pin.”
 
Miller had Henry by points as they ended the first period, and then 45 seconds into the second, she got the pin for a decisive win and earned her state champion title.
 
Miller was emotional and a little overwhelmed after her clinching her state championship. Coach McCoy also admitted to being emotional right along with Miller after she won the title.
 
“Her character speaks volumes to stick with something after experiencing so much failure and still really buying into what coaches are saying,” McCoy said. “You don’t see that much commitment and resilience anymore so it was awesome.”
 
“Another thing that was really unique that I didn’t see with any other team, was that Kyah was our captain and our leader throughout the season,” he continued. “She is awesome and it couldn’t happen to a better kid. It’s kind of one of those fairy tale things that I will remember always.”
 
“I’ve lost a lot of matches, but now I’m state champion,” Miller said. “I have always looked up at the wall of state champions and wanted to see my name there. It is so cool that now it will be there, and I am the first girl to get her name on that wall.”
 
Lady Dogies finish third at state competition
 
The Lady Dogies set a goal of bringing home a state basketball title when the class of 2023 first suited up as freshmen. In three consecutive trips to the big dance, the prize was denied the team when in 2020 the tournament was canceled after the first game due to COVID-19, in 2021 the team finished sixth when they fell to Wheatland in double overtime, and in 2022 they took home the fifth place consolation trophy after losing to Lander in the quarter-finals, then besting Mt. View and Torrington. 
 
As seniors, 2023 was the last chance to hang a banner on the wall for four of the team’s starters. Head coach Chad Ostenson’s crew gave it everything they had, however, a six-point loss to the Lady Bison of Buffalo in the semi-final match-up stripped away their chance to play in the championship game.
 
Despite their disappointment, the Lady Dogies rallied to pull out the narrowest of victories over the Lyman Lady Eagles to bring home the third-place trophy — which is the first third place earned in the girls program, and it is the highest finish an NHS girls team has had since 1981. Though it wasn’t the title, the team definitely made their mark on Lady Dogie history.
 
“It was a pretty darned good year,” Ostenson said. “I thought we played pretty good basketball at the end of the season when it really mattered, and we finished on a good note with a win and a third place trophy.”
 
The road to third place began in the Ford Wyoming Center as the East conference, third-seeded Lady Dogies tipped off against the No. 2 seed from the West, the Pinedale Lady Wranglers in the quarter-final round. Pinedale came into the contest with a better overall record than Newcastle, however, it didn’t take long for fans to see that the Lady Dogies were the better team.
 
On both sides of the ball, Ostenson’s crew executed their game plan, nearly to perfection, which made the road rough for the Lady Wranglers.
 
“Our defense looked very good,” Ostenson said at the time. “We rebounded well, taking away second chances, we took on the state’s leading scorer and held her to zero points at the half, and only allowed her 11 points overall when she averages almost 22 points per game, and we shot really well, especially for playing in the Ford Center.” 
 
Though Pinedale took a two-point lead early in the game, it didn’t take long for the Lady Dogies to warm up as they finished the first quarter leading the Lady Wranglers, 12-4. They extended that lead to 28-8 by the time the teams headed to the locker rooms at the end of the half.
 
When play resumed, Pinedale went on a 7-0 run against Newcastle, but then back-to-back threes hit by MacKenzie Conzelman and Hunter McFarland crushed their momentum, and the Lady Dogies continued to dominate to come away with the 54-33 win.
 
“That was great to get a win in that venue since we had yet to do that,” Ostenson said. “It was one of the best all-around games the girls have played all season. It was a good showing and a great way to start the tournament.”
 
Jaylen Ostenson led her team with 17 points, Shelby Tidyman was next with 12, Jayde Harrington had 9 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, McFarland and Conzelman each ended with 6 points, while Oakley Checketts and Syd Pederson added 2 points each.
 
The semi-final game was deja vu from the regional tournament where Newcastle had to get past the No. 1-ranked team in the state to make it to the championship. This time, they were tasked with defeating the No. 2-ranked Buffalo Lady Bison in the semis to get to the title game. 
 
The two squads are essentially the same team and had split wins on the season, but Ostenson and his crew were fully aware that the Lady Bison were playing very good post season basketball so they would have their work cut out for them. 
 
The game was frankly a little ugly throughout. Both teams were determined to win their way into the championship game, so it was a defensive battle with neither squad having a lot of success on the offensive end of the court, as evidenced by the score at halftime, which was 12-11 in Newcastle’s favor. 
 
In the third quarter, in what would ultimately be the turning point of the game, Buffalo hit three threes in a row from which Newcastle could not recover. By the time the fourth quarter began, the Lady Dogies found themselves behind 21-25.
 
“I went back and looked at those shots, and truly we defended those pretty well,” Ostenson said. “Both of Karly’s [Davis] were at least NBA depth. Some kids are going to have their day and she did that day.”
 
The Lady Dogies pulled within three points with 51 seconds to play, but had to foul so the Lady Bison were able to pull away to take the 36-30 victory, which meant that Newcastle would be denied their chance at a state title.
 
“I don’t know what else we could have done differently other than hope a couple of their shots didn’t fall,” Ostenson said. “And, I guess there were other little things along the way that added up. We missed some rebounds and a lot of free-throws down the stretch. We are so evenly matched, but they hit a couple more timely shots than we did and we missed some free throws.” 
 
Tidyman led the team with 13 points, Ostenson was close behind with 11, while McFarland and Harrington each added three points each. Harrington had another good night on the boards, pulling down 12 rebounds.
 
“The atmosphere in that game was so awesome,” Ostenson said. “It was so loud, the girls couldn’t hear me from the bench, but the great thing about these guys is that they knew what they needed to do and were calling out plays even if they couldn’t hear me.” 
 
The Lady Dogies had just a few hours to mourn the loss of the championship game before they needed to set their sights on bringing home some meaningful hardware from the tournament.
 
“It was a tough loss because it meant no run for the title. I was a little bit worried about how we would bounce back for the third place game. Historically, that is the toughest game to come back from, and we haven’t done well in the past,” Ostenson said. “It wasn’t the game they wanted to play in, but they got themselves up and ready and did what it took. I’m as proud of them for that as anything.”
 
The game for third and fourth place on Saturday morning had the Lady Dogies pitted against the Lyman Lady Eagles. Ostenson described the contest as a grind in which his kids had to battle hard every minute.
 
“They worked their butts off,” he said. “It may not have been as good defensively as our other two, but I didn’t have as much scouting info from them as the other teams. However, the girls figured things out as the game went on and adjusted to their strengths.”
 
A battle is the only way to describe what took place on the court in those 32 minutes. Throughout the contest, there were four ties and three lead changes, and the biggest lead that was established was a mere five points by either team.
 
The two were tied 11-11 at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Dogies took a 25-21 lead into the locker room at the half, Lyman pulled ahead 34-32 at the end of the third, and then Newcastle out-scored them 9-6 in the fourth to take the 41-40 victory.
 
With short time remaining, the Lady Dogies were down two, but then McFarland hit a huge three to put her team up one. From 42.3 seconds to the end of the game, the score remained at 41-40 in Newcastle’s favor. A couple of missed free-throws on the Lady Dogies’ end, and missed shots by the Eagles kept the score stagnant. 
 
The game ended in dramatic fashion. With 8.3 seconds remaining, Lyman had possession, but Tidyman stole the ball with just a couple seconds on the clock and that was enough to clinch the win and the third place trophy for the Lady Dogies.
 
“I’m pretty proud of what these girls did, and the toughness of our kids was impressive,” Ostenson said. “Between Shelby’s injured foot, Hunter just getting over being sick, and Jayde being banged up and bruised,  they still gave everything they had so they should have no regrets.”
 
Ostenson finished the game leading her team with 15 points, Tidyman had 12 which came from hitting four of eight three-point attempts, McFarland ended with 5 points, Checketts had 3 while Harrington, Pederson and Conzelman each added 2 to their team’s tally. Conzelman also had a good game on the glass, pulling down 10 rebounds.
 
The ladies ended their season with a 19-7 record, five of those losses coming from the number one and number two teams in the state, Douglas and Buffalo.
 
Dogies dunk Bearcats
 
After being dry-docked from competition for five weeks over Christmas break last year, the Dogie swim team made a splash as they got back into action by defeating the Douglas Bearcats in back-to-back events as January got under way. First, head coach Doug Scribner’s squad bested the Converse County team 51-31 at the Buffalo Triangular, then they won the Douglas Invitational, edging out the Bearcats by two and Natrona by 49 points.
 
“We won a dual against Campbell County last year or the year before, but this is the first time we’ve won an invitational,” said Scribner in January. “And it was also great to beat Douglas two times in one week, and it was the first time we’ve beat Natrona.”
 

 
Not only was it the first time the boys won the Douglas Invitational, they did so against bigger teams. The Dogies were down a man so only had seven members competing, but they were still able to get the better of teams with 9 and 10 members each.
 
The squad won five of the seven individual events and two of the three relays on their way to scoring their 113 points. 
 
“It was also encouraging that both Douglas and Natrona were bigger teams, but we still were able to beat them,” Scribner said. “I was actually kind of worried, because we hadn’t had a meet in five weeks and practice over the Christmas break was kind of sporadic. We had to cancel five meets and I knew that would impact where we were at, I just didn’t know how.”
 
Five weeks of no competition in a season that only lasts 11 weeks seems like a lot, however, as Scribner looked at how his team swam in Buffalo, there were a couple of improvements, but some were a little slower. Then, in Douglas, there were a couple more improvements and his swimmers were back on their times, so that was a relief for everyone.
 
Harrison Gross had a standout meet at Douglas by posting personal best times in the 50 Freestyle and also in the 400 Freestyle where he finished just two seconds shy of a qualifying time.
 
“His swim in the 400 was amazing. About halfway through it, I asked Ramsey [Gross] if he thought he could hold the pace and he admitted that he didn’t know,” Scribner laughed. “The kid he swam against was seeded ahead of him but he stayed right with him for the first 150, and after 200 meters were done, he just kept going and beat him by half a pool’s length.”
 
Logan Olson also posted a personal best in the 200 IM where he finished first with a meter time of 3:10.14, which translates to 2:51.30 in yards. 
 
In addition to Olson’s win in the

200 IM, Ramsey Gross took first in the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Breaststroke, Nate Strickland was first to the wall in the 100 Freestyle, while Harrison Gross was the champion in the 400 Freestyle. 
 
The team of Olson, Samuel Scribner, Ramsey Gross and Strickland also won the 200 Medley Relay and the 200 Freestyle team consisting of Ramsey Gross, Strickland, Olson and Harrison Gross won that event.
 
Two days prior, the Dogies split at the Buffalo Triangular, defeating Douglas by 20 points and losing to Buffalo 34-63.  
 
“Buffalo is fast and they have some of the best sprinters in the state,” Scribner said at the time. “They did beat us, but we stayed with them pretty well. They didn’t crush us and there were some good races against them.”
 
Ramsey Gross added another event to his rapidly filling state slate when he finished third in the 100 Butterfly in 1:07.39 which is two seconds under the 3A qualifying time. 
 
Tracksters perform well in postseason meets
 
Two Lady Dogies and six Dogies secured a chance to continue their season at the 3A East Regional Track Meet in Rawlins last spring. While a few had prequalified for the state meet during the season, a few more punched their ticket by finishing in the top eight in their events at regionals.
 
“It was cold and windy, but weather really wasn’t a big factor for us,” said head coach Chad Ostenson after the meet. “Our kids did really well and I was just really pleased.”
 
Aspen Bloom was one of the two ladies who needed a qualifying finish at the regional meet to advance, and the sophomore got it done in both the 1600 Meter and 3200 Meter races. In her first season as a varsity trackster, Bloom finished fifth in both races, and set a new personal record in the two-mile, crossing the finish line in 13:04.25.
 
“Aspen had a nice day, and qualified in the two-mile on her birthday,” Ostenson said then. “She told me that she remembered the first lap or two and the last lap and kind of blanked out the rest. But she ran a smart race, staying right where she needed to be to get qualified.”
 
Jaylen Ostenson had prequalified for the 100 meter hurdle race, however she added the discus to her slate by also finishing fifth in that event. Unfortunately, the senior suffered a potential re-injury to her foot which she fractured in the 2022 basketball season, so Coach Ostenson opted to have her sit out any running events over the weekend. 
 
“We decided that we didn’t want to risk causing more damage, so Jaylen didn’t run,” Ostenson said. “She also had to power throw the disc because we didn’t want her spinning.”
Despite being at a bit of a disadvantage, Ostenson was able to launch the discus over 91 feet, earning her a ticket to state. 
 
On the men’s side, sprinters had a banner regional track meet with Holden McConkey and Colton Vanderpool Mobley qualifying in the 100 and 200 meter races and Vanderpool Mobley also secured a place in the 400 meter race.
 
In the preliminaries of the 100 meter, McConkey finished fourth and Vanderpool Mobley was sixth, then in the finals the two switched places with Vanderpool Mobley coming in sixth and McConkey seventh.
 
In the 200 meter, the two traded top finishes again. This time Vanderpool Mobley was first across the line in the prelims with his sixth-place finish, while McConkey was eighth. Then in the finals, McConkey moved up to fourth and Vanderpool Mobley fell to eighth.
 
Finally, Vanderpool Mobley made his way to the finals in the 400 with his eighth-place finish in the prelims. In the finals, he moved up one place to seventh.
 
“Colton and Holden had one heck of a weekend, and I was really tickled with both of them,” Ostenson said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had two sprinters competing at state.”
 
Elijah Morrill punched his ticket to state in the 110 meter hurdles with a fourth-place finish in the prelims and a fifth-place finish in the finals of that event. 
 
The 4x100 relay team of Vanderpool Mobley, Collin McConkey, Casey Matthews and Holden McConkey finished fourth. Though the team had prequalified, their fourth-place finish sealed the deal for them.
 
“The 4x1 team looked really great,” Ostenson said. “We had one handoff that needed a little work, but they were right in it even fumbling a handoff. I think they’ll do fine at state.”
 
In the field events, CJ Hardy finished second in the high jump, Matthews was third with a personal best finish of 11 feet in the pole vault, Morrill added the triple jump to his state slate with his seventh-place finish and Jacob Prell placed sixth in the shot put, giving each the chance to extend their season in those events.
 
“Eli had a great weekend in both the hurdles and the triple jump,” Ostenson said. “Both of those are really strength events and he has worked really hard to get where he is.” 
 
The following weekend at the 3A State Track meet, Dogie sprinters Holden McConkey and Colton Vanderpool Mobley were right with the top finishers in the 100 and 200 Meter races, and McConkey earned a place on the podium in the 200.
 
McConkey was seventh in the 200 Meter preliminaries, and improved his place to fifth in the finals.
 
“The sprinters did really well,” Ostenson stated. “Holden moved up two places in the finals of the 200, so it was a great way to end his track career.”
 
Vanderpool Mobley and Holden McConkey joined with Collin McConkey and Matthews for the 4x100 meter relay where the team finished seventh, so brought home some hardware from that event.
 
Finally, Jacob Prell matched his sixth-place regional finish with a sixth-place state finish in the shot put with his toss of 44-9.25.

 

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