Caster nabs state swag

The Lady Dogie wrestlers sent six athletes to the All-Class State Wrestling tournament last weekend in Casper, where freshman Brylee Caster was the lone Newcastle grappler to bring home hardware, finishing sixth place in the 140-pound weight class and ending her debut season with a 32-25 winning record.

Head coach Shaide Bowthorpe admitted that she had hoped to get a couple more girls on the podium, but was still pleased with how her team performed, given the circumstances.

“I’m pretty happy with how we did this weekend,” Bowthorpe said. “I think we could have gotten Netanya Prell and Sage Lichtenberger into
the placing rounds, but we ran into a couple of really tough girls along the way.”

Caster was an unlucky recipient of a tough draw when she ended up being seeded last in her weight class. As such, she ran up against the No. 1-seeded Hallie Fuller of Lingle-Ft. Laramie/Southeast in round one. Fuller boasted a 19-2 record by the end of the tournament, with one of those wins being this match against Caster.

“Coming into the season, I had a goal of being a four-time state champion,” Caster said. “The girls on my side of the bracket were all older and I had the No. 1 seed, so I ended up losing that match.”

Though the goal of becoming a four-time state champion was now out of reach, Caster shifted her focus to getting to the placing rounds, and did so by defeating a Thunder Basin opponent by major decision in consolation round one, pinning Ryley Knight of Wright in round two, and also pinning Kloey Walker of Rawlins in round three.

“It kicked in that it was do-or-die on the second day, so I wrestled probably the best tournament I’ve wrestled so far that day,” Caster said. “The Thunder Basin girl I wrestled in the first round had beaten me before in this season, so it was kind of a revenge match for me and I wrestle pretty good in revenge matches. It was kind of the same situation against Ryley, too.”

In the consolation semis, she found herself up against Fuller again where she once again fell, but made it into the second period before being pinned. Then, in the fifth-place match, Caster was pinned in the first period by a Natrona wrestler.

“It was kind of scary to be a freshman and the only one to advance to the placing rounds at state,” Caster said. “I did better against Hallie the second time I wrestled her, though, and the girl I wrestled from Natrona was pretty good, aggressive and strong.”

Netanya Prell (130) went home empty handed from the state tournament, but the sophomore was the only Lady Dogie to win a match in the preliminary round. Unfortunately, her quarter-final round had her pitted against Lily Harris from Green River, who ended the state tournament with a perfect 19-0 record and a state championship title.

Prell’s loss sent her into the consolation bracket where she defeated Shyla Shoun of Sundance by pin shortly into the third period. From there she fell to Star Valley (who won the state tournament as a team) in the blood round.

“Netanya didn’t get as far as we’d hoped, but she still finished her season with a winning record, 34-22,” Bowthorpe said. “I think that if we hadn’t run into Star Valley in the blood round, she would also have ended up placing.”

Sage Lichtenberger had a good run in the 100-pound weight class before losing in the blood round to end her season. After being tech-falled in round one, she rallied to pin her Cheyenne Central and Powell opponents in consolation rounds one and two, but was defeated by Worland in round three, so just missed out on the placing rounds.

“Sage lost to the Powell girl two times over the season, so to get the win at state was great for her,” Bowthorpe said. “She went out there and pinned her early in the match, and she was just really happy to get that win.”

Harmony Sullivan (100) and Courtney Matthews (120) were the other two ladies to claim a win at the state tournament when each of them defeated their opponents in round one of the consolation bracket.

“Year to year, our improvement has been huge. Last year we ended the tournament second to last, and this year we were right in the middle,” Bowthorpe said. “We had three girls make it to state last year, and this year we doubled that with six. Courtney was the only person to win a match, and this year five did, and in total we won eight matches, so that is great for our program moving forward.”

The team will only graduate two seniors in Ruth Rose and Heather Conley, so all state qualifiers will be back on the mat next season.

“I’m hoping to get a state championship title next year,” Caster said. “But I’ve learned that you need to break down your long-term goals into smaller steps, so my first goal is to get through regionals with a top placing so I’ll have a better seed going into state. Then, I hope to be state champ, or at least finish better than I did this year.”

Lady Dogies @ All-Class State Meet in Casper 2/27-3/1/25

Team Results:

1. Star Valley 207.5

2. Sheridan 119

3. Kemmerer 97

4. Cheyenne East 93.5

5. Pinedale 76.5

6. Thermopolis 68.5

7. Cheyenne Central 68

8. Natrona 66

9. Powell 63

10. Lander 60.5

11. Cody 56

12. Shoshoni 53.5

13. Campbell Co. 53

13. Rawlins 53

15. Wind River 51

16. Green River 46

17. Lyman 45

18. Thunder Basin 39

19. Torrington 37

20. Glenrock 36.5

21. Evanston 35

22. Riverton 34

23. Laramie 31

23. Lingle-Ft. Laramie/Southeast 31

25. Greybull/Riverside 30

25. Jackson 30

25. Rock Springs 30

28. Lovell 25

28. Newcastle 25

30. Wheatland 24

31. Big Piney 22

32. Burns/Pine Bluffs 21

33. Worland 19

34. Moorcroft 18

35. Wright 17

36. H.E.M. 15

36. Hulett 15

38. Kelly Walsh 11

39. Douglas 8

39. Mt. View 8

41. Sundance 5

42. Cheyenne South 4

43. Rocky Mt. 3

44. Tongue River 0

44. Upton 0

Individual Results:

100: Harmony Sullivan DNP 1-2

100: Sage Lichtenberger DNP 2-2

120: Courtney Matthews DNP 1-2

130: Netanya Prell DNP 2-2

140: Brylee Caster 6th Place 3-3

145: Adelyn Bergstrom DNP 0-2