Earlier this fall, the five Green River High School sports team wrapped up the season. During the course of the season, there were plenty of positives that showed the future would be bright for the Wolves.
While it may not have always shown in the record books, there were plenty of positives for the Green River High School football during the 2014 season.
After their 42-20 win against Worland in their season finale, head coach Don Maggi said the biggest positive he took from the season was that the kids came to practice everyday with a positive attitude and they had a lot of good work ethic.
“Attitude and effort were the things I have been talking about the four years I’ve been here,” Maggi said. “Those are the only things you have control over and I think our kids controlled those really well.”
Despite starting the season with seven straight losses including a heartbreaking 35-28 loss to Rawlins in week two, Maggi said they never put their heads down, they instead came to practice and worked hard.
Looking towards next season, Maggi said a thing that will really help the team next season is that they are returning so many kids. He added a lot of those kids developed varsity experience.
Maggi is hoping they can get a few more kids out for football, but they will have nine returners on defense.
After a smaller senior class with just seven players in 2014, Maggi said the the numbers in future classes are solid with 27 freshman, 17 sophomores, and 12 juniors.
Among those returning will be, quarterback Tyler Vendetti who, as a junior, was fourth in the state in all-purpose yards per game. He led the team is both passing and rushing yards.
“He has really developed into a solid leader. I’ve been coaching football for a lot of years, but I’ve never had a kid that was a three-year starter on the varsity level,” Maggi said. “The game was a lot slower for him this year. Next year he is going to be ahead of a lot of the kids on Friday nights.”
Green River will also return their second leading rusher James Bunderman, who had 269 rushing yards as a sophomore. Their third and fourth leading rushers Drew Wilson and Gage Hunt also return, as well as their second and third leading receivers Jacob Olsen and Riley Yeager.
Hunt also led the team in defensive points.
Maggi said the team will also return a lot of skill players to go along with Vendetti and a majority of them touched the ball on the varsity level.
“That is certainly going to help,” he said.
Maggi said they have some talented kids coming back for the 2014 season and a lot of them are good workers.
“If your most talented kids are your hardest workers, you have a really good chance of being successful.”
GRHS VOLLEYBALL
Near the end of the 2014 season, things started to click for the Green River High School volleyball team.
Going into the 4A West Regional tournament at Wolves Gymnasium, head coach Rikki Shantz said her team was practicing the best they had all season and also it was the most enthusiasm the team has shown all season.
After two thrilling wins over Rock Springs and Evanston, the Lady Wolves were able to qualify for the state tournament for the first time in five years.
While they were unable to pick up a victory at the state tournament in Casper, Shantz said the way they played at the end of the year said a lot about the teams character and the future of Green River volleyball.
She said the Lady Wolves will be losing some integral players and leaders, they have some good returning players and girls waiting waiting to fill in and get to work.
During the offseason, Shantz encourages her players to participate in multiple sport and stresses the importance of staying competitive throughout the year.
“Year after year, it shows that the kids that make an effort to come to those always end up on the court. Just putting the work in is so important,” Shantz said.
GIRLS SWIMMING
The Lady Wolves had an impressive performance at the 4A West Regional meet in Evanston, nearly walking away with a first-place finish.
Green River finished in second place with 304 points, just 22 points behind first-place Kelly Walsh. Rock Springs finished in third with 246 points. Riverton finished fourth, Evanston was fifth and Casper Natrona finished in sixth place.
Lady Wolves head coach Colleen Seiloff said she was absolutely pleased with the performance of her squad.
“We swam very well, had some first place finishers and some of our best times,” she said.
As a team, Green River had three relays earn all conference honors by finishing in the top three.
The 200-yard medley relay finished in first-place. The four swimmers on the team were Shyana Hunt, Jesse Lauze, Emily Allen and Kaylee Plott.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Hunt, Plott, Taylor Orr and Dakota Neumann finished in second place.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team also finished in second place. Members of the team were Elizabeth Barker, Orr, Neumann and Avery Otto-Horn.
Individually, the Lady Wolves had some strong performances and came away from the meet with two first-place finishers.
Freshman Otto-Horn won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.72 and fellow ninth grader finished in first place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:16.82.
The two also earned all-conference honors in their other individual events. Otto-Horn also finished second in the 100-yard butterfly. Lauze finished third in the 200-yard IM.
Other all-conference swims included Hunt finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 yard backstroke, Brianna Rath finishing third in 1 meter diving, Barker finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle, Neumann finishing second in the 100-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard backstroke and Orr finishing third in the 100-yard freestyle.
At the state tournament two weeks later in Casper, Otto-Horn ended a great freshman season with two top six finishes. She finished second in the 100-yard butterfly and sixth in the 50-yard freestyle.
Seiloff said Otto-Horn broke the school record with her second place swim in the butterfly.
“It was nice to see her set the record and to to take second as a freshman is a great way to start,” she said.
Seiloff credited Allen, Barker, Hunt, and Neumann for swimming well and dropping time at the meet. She also said sophomore Brianna Rath did a good job diving at her first state tournament.
As a team, Green River finished eighth out of 12 teams.
Seiloff said she hopes the tough competition will get the returning swimmers motivated for what they can do next year.
“It was a good state for some of those younger girls to see what kind of competition is out there and what you need to do to be succesful,” she said.
Looking back at the season as a whole, Seiloff said it’s been a great year and the girls have improved from the beginning of the season to the end.
“We had a great conference and a pretty succesful state,” she said.
CROSS COUNTRY
Looking back at the 2014 season, Green River High School cross country coach Steve Boyd was pleased with his teams’ performance.
The Wolves wrapped up the year in October at the Wyoming 4A State Meet in Sheridan.
“It was a good year, with a nice and hard working group of kids,” Boyd said.
Green River junior runner Josie Givens once again showed she is one of the better runners in Wyoming and finished the 4A meet in third place with a time of 19:02. She finished behind first-place runner Karli Piaia of Rock Springs who ran a 18:35 and Campbell County’s Sydney Wendt who ran a 18:36.
“She (Givens) was impressive. She ran an excellent race and ran smart,” Boyd said.
Nicole Davis was the next Lady Wolf to finish. She was 23rd with a time of 20:36. Cassie Newcomb finished in 31st with a run of 20:58. Sarah Joyner ended the race in 36th with a time of 21:03. Cheyenne McMichael finished 48th at 21:49 and Kaleigh Allison was 65th with a time of 22:52.
As a team, Green River finished seventh out of 12 teams, just three points behind sixth-placed Kelly Walsh.
Boyd said the girl’s had a good meet and Newcomb was able to drop 30 seconds off her time from the 4A West Regional meet, and that Davis had another solid race.
Senior Austin Waters finished his career with the top time for the boy’s team. He ended the race in 31st with a time of 17:29.
Boyd said Waters had another solid meet for Green River and he was pleased with the whole boy’s team.
Braden Reichl finished just behind Waters in 35th with a time of 17:33.
Curtis Westenskow was 47th with a time of 17:55, Shawn McGuire was 55th with a time of 18:09, Jaryn Johnson was 63rd at 18:37 and Brayden Kovick was 67th at 18:53.
As a team, Green River finished in ninth place. The state meet was the last for seniors Waters, Johnson, Davis and McMichael.
“We appreciate everything they’ve done,” he said.
TENNIS
The Green River High School tennis team wrapped up their 2014 season at the state tournament in October.
The Green River High School boy’s finished in the middle of the pack at the 2014 Wyoming State Tournament in Gillette.
The squad finished ninth out of 16 teams.
Number one singles player Taten Knight ended the season with a 1-2 record at the state tournament.
After losing a close three-set match to Campbell County’s Aaron Swan, number two singles player Alexander Marchal rebounded with two victories, but was eliminated from placing after a loss to Mark Menghini of Cheyenne Central. He finished the tournament with a 2-2 record.
After finishing third at the regional tournament, the number one doubles team of Jacob Lock and McCaden Mikesell started strong with a win over Natrona. After losing in the quarterfinals, they picked up one more win before elimination and finished with a 2-2 record.
At number two doubles, Adrun James and Brandon Lee went 1-2 to after finishing third at the regional tournament.
The number three doubles team Andrew Halverson and Ian Ebert bounced back after an opening loss to Powell and went 2-2 at the tourney.
Number one girls player Anna Ujvary started the season strong with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win over Fallyn Richardson of Riverton, but was eliminated from the tournament after two consecutive losses.
Playing at number two singles, Alex Palmer went 0-2. The number one doubles team of McKenzie Lucas and Isabel Leininger were also eliminated after losing their first two matches.
Bailey Deverick and Holly Huber started strong at the number two doubles position with a win over Sheridan.
After falling in the quarterfinals, they alternated wins and losses before being eliminated with a 2-2 record.
The number three doubles team of Savannah Hook and Jessica Scott went 0-2 at the tournament.
The girls finished 14th out of 16 teams.
GOLF
Green River High School golf coach Nathan Loe believes the team standings State Tournament in Laramie may not be a true representation of just how his team did.
“Our kids played well. It was the best two rounds they put together all year. I’m proud of these kids,” Loe said about the tournament in September.
Despite finishing last in the team standings, Loe said they worked their butts off the last couple of weeks in practice and they learned a lot.
Leading the way for Green River was senior Brock Ortega who finished with only 16 golfers ahead of him and a two day total of 160. He had rounds of 80 both days. Green River’s Kyle Goglio finished with a 170, J.D. Richardson has a 193, Patrick Harvey had a 216 and Kamden Carroll had a two-day total of 234.
Sidney Mandros was the top finisher for the girls with a total of 212. Lady Wolf Kelsee Barton had a two day total of 219 and Lauren Hoyt added a 232.
“The girls played extremely well,” he said.
Looking back at the season, Loe stressed the importance of golf being a lifelong game, learning every day from it as well as learning life lessons from the game.
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