Sports: Year in Review
Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
In the past year, Dogie sports have seen their share of disappointment, however though the ups and downs, there were certainly some shining moments in the last 12 months.
Cade Ostenson, Kale Corley and Hannah Gross achieved some major milestones in their athletic careers and left their mark on NHS, and on 3A Wyoming athletics history.
Ostenson claims two school records
Ostenson etched his name into NHS track history by breaking a 29-year-old long jump record set by Ben Morris in 1990. While this achievement was impressive on its own, it was made even more so due to the fact that it happened in only the second meet of the season and after very little practice.
The week before his record breaking leap, Ostenson literally made his first jump of the season where he qualified easily for the state meet, and landed just 2 ½ inches short of the record. Knowing he was close, Ostenson was determined to pick up that short distance.
“I actually set my sights on the record at state in 2018,” he began. “I’d been looking at the board with the record for a while, and when I was close, I knew I had a chance to beat it.”
Ostenson began working to increase his vertical leap for basketball. Using a program he found on YouTube, he spent three days per week improving his vert and his speed - both of which are needed for long jumping as well as for basketball.
“I was lifting pretty hard in the summer and was seeing some improvements in my vert,” he explained. “During the fall and winter, I was in the weight room four days a week, three of which I was doing the speed and jumping workout. Even though I was doing it for basketball, it translated really well for track as well, and I got excited to see what I could do with the long jump.”
The results speak for themselves. Ostenson was able to increase his vertical leap by four inches, going from 31-32 inches to 35-36 inches. It also enabled him to improve his previous best long jump by seven inches.
In addition to setting the school record, Ostenson situated himself at the top of 3A in the long jump, and was second only to a Natrona High School athlete overall in the state.
Unfortunately, Ostenson suffered an injury to his hamstring late in the season and was unable to compete at either the Regional or State meet, so it will remain unknown if he could have established the state record.
“I don’t know if my record will hold on as long as Ben’s did,” he smiled. “Hopefully, there will be someone coming up who can beat it or at least come close to it to keep the NHS program growing stronger.”
Ostenson left a legacy behind him in NHS basketball as well. Last spring, he helped lead his team to a state tournament berth. Though the Dogies fell a little short at the Big Dance, Ostenson became the Dogies’ all-time leading scorer with 1,384 points, surpassing former record holder Cade Ferguson by 29 points. He was also named to the 3A East All-Conference and 3A All-State teams.
Corley is Regional Champion and All-American
Last spring, Kale Corley began his bid for a repeat as state champion being the lone Dogie to bring home a regional championship at 132 pounds. In addition, Corley won the Outstanding Wrestler Award for the tournament.
“Kale was hitting his peak at just the right time,” smiled head coach Lee McCoy. “The kid he wrestled in finals was a rematch from Ron Thon, and when they wrestled there, it was a one-point match, but that kid didn’t stand a chance on Championship Saturday. Kale pinned him pretty early, but he had given him a pretty severe butt kicking before that and it was awesome.”
Corley proved deserving of the number one seeding he enjoyed going into the tournament, making quick work of his first two opponents in under two minutes. The semi-final match was won by an 8-2 decision, and then Corley finished strong in the championship match pinning his opponent in 2:18.
Having earned his first state title as a freshman at 120 pounds, Corley began the 2019 state tournament strong, winning his way into the semi-final matchup in the 132 weight class. There he made one mistake early in the first period which allowed his opponent to take a 5-0 lead going into the second. From there, the Star Valley freshman strategically stayed out of reach of Corley, essentially stalling for the remainder of the match to take the win.
“Kale got put on his back in the first period after he shot on the kid and got turned over,” McCoy described. “That’s a tough situation to come back from and after that, the kid was running from him, he was stalling and wrestling the edges of the mat, and anytime he got into trouble, he got out of bounds. Unfortunately, that was enough to beat Kale.”
From there, Corley won out to take third place, and according to McCoy, he was on a mission after the loss to get the best outcome possible.
“It was a disappointment for Kale to have his goal of being a four-time state champ die, but he was stoic in the loss,” McCoy stated. “He took some time to gather himself and focus on his new goal, and that’s the kind of resiliency you want to see in kids, and what will take them far in life.”
Though the high school wrestling season ended in February, Corley was far from done wrestling for the year.
“At the Ron Thon Tournament, if you placed high enough, you had the opportunity to sign up to be a member of a team for the Wyoming Amateur Wrestling Association (WAWA),” Corley explained. “Though I didn’t realize it at the time, they had open spots afterward. Luckily, the 145 pound class was available so I signed up, raised some money and earned a spot on the team.”
The team Corley made travelled to Des Moines, IA the last weekend in March where they competed in the AAU National Duals - a multi-state tournament which included teams from Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, and Tennessee to name a few.
“The competition was really good,” Corley exclaimed. “It was a lot of fun, because throughout the day we went from one dual to the next and got to go up against some really talented kids.”
Corley was among those who ranked as tough competition in Des Moines, as he went 6-2 on the weekend, earning himself All-American status when all was said and done.
“I guess it doesn’t feel any different to be an All-American,” Corley shrugged. “I feel like I could have done better at the tournament, to be honest. In one of the matches that I lost, I definitely shouldn’t have. I was a little tired and I let that get to me.”
That Corley is humble regarding his achievement, may very well be one of the reasons he was able to earn it. Despite his many successes, he has many more goals set for himself and recognizes that he has to put in a great deal of hard work in order to make those a reality.
“I just need to keep plugging away to get where I want to be. I want to win a couple more state championships to be a three-timer, and we have a little family bet whether or not I will beat some of Wyatt’s [Corley] standings,” he grinned. “I’m hoping to beat his career record which is pretty good. But, I’m within reach of doing it, so I’m shooting to make that happen.”
For now, Corley has a few trophies to display and odds look good that he will add a few more.
Gross set records,
earned Regional and State
titles, and named
Athlete of the Year
Hannah Gross took 3A swimming by storm this fall as she was among the top swimmers in the state in nearly all of the swimming events, and she decisively proved she deserves her accolades as she walked away from the 2019 3A Conference meet holding a new pool record in the 50 Free, a new conference record in the 100 Backstroke, All-Conference honors in the 50 Free and 100 Back, and the title of Athlete of the Year for 3A East.
“Hannah had a fantastic meet,” head coach Doug Scribner grinned. “The cool thing about the 100 Back record is that it has been held by Newcastle for a long time. Hannah broke Rachel Henkle’s record and Rachel got hers when she broke Natasha Schlup’s record. Hannah is just .4 of a second off the pool record in this event as well which is currently held by a 4A swimmer from Rock Springs.”
Gross initially broke the 100 Back conference record by about a second in the prelims, and then she turned it up a notch and was another second faster in finals. She now has the goods in the Rawlins pool in both the 50 Free and the 200 Free, which she set the record for in her freshman year.
There are still goals for the junior, however, as she is about .3 of a second off the conference record in the 50 Free.
“In the 50 Free in prelims, Hannah was very fast but had a short finish when she took an extra stroke at the end,” Scribner began. “We talked about that and in finals she finished just right. She was faster in finals, but she could have been even faster still. She led the whole way and was about a half-body length ahead on the turn and finished super strong.”
At the 3A State meet in Gillette, Gross nabbed the first state title of her career in the 200 Free, was runner-up in the 100 Backstroke, earned All-State honors in both events, and was also named the 3A State Athlete of the Year.
“Hannah had an amazing weekend, and having her win Athlete of the Year for 3A was exciting from the standpoint that she is not a senior and there was a senior from Lyman who broke the state record in the breaststroke,” head coach Doug Scribner began. “Typically, coaches vote for seniors or for someone who did something impactful at the meet. Breaking a record is definitely that, so everyone was surprised, even Hannah.”
The coaches vote on these awards, and according to Scribner, they factor in several things for athlete of the year.
“I think that coaches have noticed the relationships that Hannah has built and the impact she has had on younger swimmers across the state,” he nodded. “She had a very successful season, and she is not a one-trick pony for sure.”
Gross was seeded first going in to the 200 Free and was still seeded first after prelims by a small margin. According to Scribner, her goal for that race has been to go under two minutes and she finished the prelims just off that mark in 2:00.49.
Gross was strategic when she swam against Olivia Fowler from Lander in the finals. Fowler is a three time state champion in the 200 Free, winning it her freshman, sophomore and junior years. Gross didn’t let her opponent’s success undermine her determination, however, and she dropped four and a half seconds off her best time, two seconds in the prelims and another two seconds in finals.
“That was a really fun race to watch because in the first 100 yards, they were pretty close,” Scribner admitted. “But when Hannah pushed off the wall for the second half, and started kicking she just took off and ended up beating Olivia by a little over a body length. She looked up at the clock and saw her time and you could see on her face how surprised and happy she was to see that she had done it in 1:57.79 and achieved her goal.”
The win gave Gross her very first state title, and hers is one of the fastest 200 Free times in the state dating back to 1985. She is now the 11th swimmer in 3A since 1985 to go under 2:00 and is only one of three to go 1:57. In addition, she is only three seconds shy of the state record of 1:54.
Ostenson graduated in 2019 and signed on to play hoops and potentially jump at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, However, as juniors this year, Corley and Gross still have time to earn more titles and set more records at NHS.