Cheyenne isn’t really known as a “wrestling town.” Gillette – which won its 10th consecutive Class 4A state title Saturday – is a wrestling town. Green River and Rock Springs are wrestling towns.

Cheyenne is not. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at the medal stand this weekend.

Cheyenne East, which was second in 4A, had 10 athletes place in the top six. Cheyenne Central had seven and Cheyenne South put two on the medal stand in its first foray the 4A ranks. That means 19 of the 84 athletes who placed in the top six at state call the Capital City home.


Even better than that, East put four into the finals and Central had two. Five of those six finalist took home titles.

“We’ve got a lot of good kids that really want to be good at wrestling and we’re starting to put something together,” said Central senior 220-pounder Rafer Cooley, who pinned Casper Natrona County’s Greg Lensert to win his title. “The best thing about what we did this weekend is that, aside from me, everyone is going to be coming back. I think Cheyenne could do even better next year.”

East sophomore Brody Cress (106 pounds), junior Blaze Cress (132) and freshman Tevis Bartlett (182) all won titles. Central sophomore Bryce Meredith won his second state title with a 16-0 technical fall over East junior 113-pounder Tanner Wickham.

Loftier goals
Meredith achieved his goals of winning his second state title and ending all of his postseason matches prematurely.

Even while basking in the glow of his win over Wickham, Meredith made it clear he was already turning the page.

“I want to have an undefeated record,” said Meredith, who lost just two matches this season.

Meredith’s first loss came at at tournament in Windsor, Colo., on the season’s opening weekend. His second came to Rock Springs’ Cody Vichi — a three-time state champ — at the prestigious Ron Thon Memorial in Riverton. Meredith moved up to 120 pounds at Ron Thon so that he could try his hand against Vichi.

“At the beginning of the season, I had told (coach Bryce Leonhardt) that I really wanted to do that,” Meredith said. “He kept telling me, ‘We’ll see. Maybe I’ll let you do that.’ I really wanted the challenge of seeing what I could do at 120. I pinned everyone else that weekend, so I was still pretty proud of what I did.

“I think it’s OK to lose matches like that every once in a while because it makes you better.”

Lesson learned
Bartlett held a 4-0 lead over Gillette’s Burke Burgess after the first period of their 182-pound title tilt. He was never not in control of the match, but an earlier loss taught Bartlett that there are serious consequences for trying to coast to the finish.

He was leading Lovell’s Dino Collins at the Ron Thon Memorial before letting up and getting beaten 8-4. Collins — who won the Class 2A title Saturday — tied the score early in the third period. Bartlett thought he still had time to grab the win, but he got caught in a cradle and lost. Collins won the tournament with a 5-2 decision over Burgess.

“My dad and I had a little heart-to-heart about 10 minutes after that match,” Bartlett said. “From all my losses and all my matches, we try to find my mistakes right away. And he told me, ‘You’ve just got to keep your foot on the gas.’

“I think that’s one of the reasons I won (Saturday).”

Of to a good start
Wyoming has only seen 13 wrestlers win four state championships. Meredith is following the most common path of winning at lower weights and working his way up. Bartlett, though, is taking the pass less traveled by winning in the upperclass-dominated higher weights.

“My goal is to be a four-timer, so this is the first step of it,” Bartlett said. “If you’re really a true champion you can beat anybody on any given day.”