Archive for the 'Cheyenne East' Category
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
State hoops: Too patient?
The Cheyenne East girls used a stalling offense with four minutes to play in the fourth quarter of their 54-40 semifinal win over Sheridan. The Thunderbirds led by just five and Sheridan was more than content to sit back and let them whittle time off the clock.
That surprised East.
“We really thought they were going to start fouling after we ran that offense the first time,” T-Birds junior Meghan Sipe said.
Considering how poorly East has been shooting from the free throw line recently, it probably wouldn’t have been a bad idea to turn the final minutes into a free-throw shooting contest.
However, East knocked down its last eight free throws Friday. That included six in a row in the final 50 seconds to put the game away.
“We’ve really been struggling with free throws and it’s good to finally step up, especially in a situation where the pressure was really on,” Sipe added.
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
State hoops: Lucero injury
Cheyenne East may be without senior point guard Seneca Lucero when it takes on Laramie in the Class 4A girls state championship game. She badly injured her left ankle in Friday’s 54-40 semifinal win over Sheridan. She returned briefly in the second quarter, but sat out the remainder of the game.
“It’s pretty tender, but you have to hand it to (Lucero) for trying to come back into the game,” first-year East coash Rusty Horsley said.
Sophomore Savannah Minder filled in quite well for her in the brief time she played Friday. Minder played more than seven minutes, but Horsley made no substitutions in the second half.
“She’s a tough kid too,” Horsley said of Minder. “She came in and hit a nice little jump shot and did some good things. She played as hard as she could defensively.”
Friday, March 12th, 2010
State hoops: Beasts from the East
I’ve blogged before about how dominant the Class 4A East Conference was in girls basketball and there was no better evidence to back my point than what happened today in the first round of the state tournament.
The East (Cheyenne East, Laramie, Sheridan and Gillette) went 4-0 against the West (Star Valley, Rock Springs, Evanston and Casper Natrona County). The East outscored the West 233-156 and the average margin of victory was 19.25 points.
Case closed.
Conversely, the West boys held a 3-1 edge on the East. Gillette was the only East Conference entry to move to the semifinals. However, the West boys only outscored the East boys by an average of four points per game. The only game that got out of hand was Rock Springs’ 61-42 win over East No. 2 seed Sheridan.
Friday, February 26th, 2010
More unpublished material: The wrestling edition
Much of the following state wrestling capsules made it into the print edition of today’s Wyoming Tribune Eagle. However, the “About …” section of each team capsule had to be cut so we could fit the remainder of our prep sports coverage into today’s paper. So here are the full state wrestling capsules for Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South, Burns-Pine Bluffs and Wheatland.
Class 4A
Cheyenne Central
Last season: Fourth place
Returning state placers: Six
Regional champs: 130 Leandro Arias, jr.; 145 Austin Breckenridge, jr.; 152 Bob Helmerick, sr.; 171 Hayden Jones, sr.
Other regional placers: Second, 125 Joe Baca, sr.; 160 Matt Spoon, sr.; Third, 103 Austin Vye, so.; 119 Bailey McHenry, fr.; 189 Taelor Prado, sr.; Fourth, 103 Mike Nelson, so.; 130 Logan Guidry, so.; 135 Chris Nelson, sr.; 140 Tucker Collins, sr.; 215 Russ Bowlin, sr.; 285 Ryan Kuster, sr.
Other qualifiers: 112 Alex Brown, fr.; 119 Tim Scherdon, so.; 125 Brayden Sosa, so.; 135 Dillon Karajanis, sr.; 140 Kendall Nuss, jr.; 145 Mike Hughes, jr.; 152 Ethan Birt, sr.; 160 John Beedle, sr.; 189 James Fossett, fr.; 215 Leon Romero, jr.; 285 Ken Rushing, jr.
About the Indians: Arias, Breckenridge and Jones all wrestled for state titles last year. Only Breckenridge walked away a winner, becoming Central’s first state champ since 2001. … Karajanis is wrestling with a broken left hand. He clinched his state berth by winning his first match at the East Regional in Casper. He defaulted the rest of his bouts but will wrestle at state. … Arias has lost just one match this season.
Cheyenne East
Last season: Sixth
Returning state placers: One
Regional champs: 215 Cheyton Vermillion, sr.; 285 Jacob Edwards, jr.
Other regional placers: Second, 103 Blaze Cress, fr.; 119 Jordan Puente, sr.; 189 Taran Triplett, sr.; Third, 112 Lance Kailey, so.; Fourth, 119 Hayes Stone, fr.; 160 Tanner Hinds, jr.
Other qualifiers: 103 Tanner Wickham, fr.; 112 Darien Briggs, fr.; 125 Kyle Rose, jr.; 125 Luis Reyes, fr.; 130 Blake Hanzlik, so.; 130 Trevor Brower, so.; 135 Isaac Gonzalez, fr.; 152 Nick Haller, jr.; 152 Corey Nelson, so.; 160 Christian Robinson, fr.; 171 Blaine Backman, sr.; 171 Brian Schaefer, so.; 189 Gared Krakow, fr.; 285 D.J. Doolin, jr.
About the Thunderbirds: East does not have an entrant in the 140- and 145-pound classes. … Edwards and junior Dalton Nelson are the only Thunderbirds to place at last year’s state. Nelson spent the winter dealing with a shoulder injury that eventually ended his season. … East coach Dan Ley considers senior 119-pounder Jordan Puente one of the most dangerous wrestlers in the tournament. He also thinks sophomore Lance Kailey (112 pounds) could make some noise.
Class 3A
Cheyenne South
Last season: First-ever state tourney
State qualifiers: 119 Erik Fair, fr.; 152 Tyler Colley, fr.; 171 Che Roberts, fr.; 189 R.J. Nelson, fr.
About the Bison: Fair was 2-2 at the Class 3A East Regional while Colley was 1-2. … Fair’s first round opponent is Wheatland’s Shawn Zavala, who was second at the East Regional. … Colley drew top-seeded Jimmy Seckman of Powell in the fist round. … South is the third-smallest team in the tourney. Class 2A Kaycee and Wind River only have three entrants each.
Wheatland
Last season: Fourth
Returning state placers: Four
Regional champs: 145 Tyler Smart, sr.; 160 Dustin Finnerty, sr.
Other regional placers: Second, 119 Shawn Zavala, jr.; Third, 189 Tyler Tillman, sr.; 215 Travis Jenkins, sr.; Fourth, 103 Jhett Eike, fr.; 125 Joel Dappen, jr.; 135 Dillon Cotterman, jr.; 140 Ceasar Zavala, fr.
Other qualifiers: 112 Chaz McAuley, so.; 119 R.J. Schmidl, jr.; 125 Layne Eike, jr.; 130 Andrew Blumer, jr.; 135 Ben Sanderson, jr.; 145 David Chesser, so.; 171 Quinn Zimmerman, jr.; 189 Chase Irvine, fr.; 285 Chuck Maike, sr.
About the Bulldogs: Dappen, Finnerty, Smart and Tillman all medaled last year. Dappen and Tillman were fourth; Finnerty and Smart were sixth.Class 2A
Burns-Pine Bluffs
Last season: 19th
Returning state placers: None
Regional placers: Second, 215 Todd Baker, sr.; Fourth, 160 Frank Vossler, sr.
Other qualifiers: 112 Grady Mikesell, so.; 119 Trenton Culp, so.; Jacob Miller, fr.; 152 Travis Herrington, fr.; 189 Shawn Cole, jr.; 189 Adan Gandara, jr.
About the Broncs: Baker, Cole and Gandara have qualified for the past three state tourneys. … Baker and Gandara won two matches each at last year’s state to account for four of the Broncs’ six wins.
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Coach’s corner: Dan Ley
Occasionally I ask coaches questions that I’m interested to learn the answers to, but have no intention of ever publishing their answer. Sometimes it’s to gain some insight into their thinking so I can ask better questions and write better stories down the road, sometimes it’s because I’m a gigantic sports nerd and am just interested in the answer.
Cheyenne East wrestling coach Dan Ley and I got to talking about the concept of “wrestling within one’s self.” Coaches don’t want guys to try things they’re not capable of, but they don’t want guys who are too passive and constantly lose matches because they’re too timid to try and take control.
So I asked Ley, what’s worse, a guy who is too passive or a guy that doesn’t know his own limitations? I felt pretty proud of the question when he doubled back and changed his answer mid-stream because I felt I’d forced him to examine something he hadn’t in a while.
A lot of it is learning to wrestle within your abilities and not outdo yourself. A lot of kids beat themselves rather than their opponents beatnig them.
I don’t know that I could rank one worse or better than the other. They’re both a detriment to an athlete. Probably being overly cautious will cost you more matches.
Then again, hanging back and being afraid isn’t good. We use a baseball analogy, ‘You can’t steal second with your foot on first’ with our kids all the time. If you don’t attempt, it’s pretty hard to score.
Maybe I’ll reverse my thinking and say being underconfident and afraid to attempt something is worse than actually trying. If we’re drilling and working on something, even if they’re a little bit under-confident to even attempt it or overconfident with it and attempt it, something good will come out of it.
You have to have a game-plan going in, know what your capabilities are, try not to do more than you’re capable of and go from there.
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Talking tie-breakers
Here’s part of an e-mail I got from Cheyenne East boys basketball coach Damon Artery about the tie-breaking procedures for the Class 4A East Conference. This is important because if East falls to Gillette tonight and rebounds by beating Sheridan on Saturday, both teams will have 7-3 league records.
1. Head-to-head conference competition between and among the tied teams.
As stated above, if East beats Sheridan, but loses to Gillette, both teams will be 7-3 in the conference. However, Sheridan won at its place and East would have won at home as well. That forces us to go to the next tie-breaker scenario.
2. If a tie still exists, compare the records of the tied teams against the record of the highest-ranking non-tied team. Continue through the Conference standings until the tie is broken.
The teams would automatically go to the next tie-breaker because both teams would have lost to Gillette twice and each other once and would have the exact same record against the other teams in the league.
3. If a tie still exists, head-to-head conference competition between the tied teams at neutral sites. (Season Tournaments)
This tie-breaker is null and void because Sheridan and East never played a neutral site game against each other.
4. If a tie still exists, compare the records of the tied teams against the record of the highest ranking 4A non-conference opponent at a common site. Continue through the 4A non-conference standings until the tie is broken.
This is where Sheridan wins the tie-breaker, the East Conference’s No. 2 seed and an automatic berth to the 4A state tourney. The Broncs won in Rock Springs, while East lost there.
Here are the remainder of the tie-breaking scenarios in case you’re interested.
5. If a tie still exists, compare the records of the tied teams against the record of the highest ranking 4A non-conference opponent. Continue through the 4A non-conference standings until the tie is broken.
6. If a tie still exists, the tie shall be broken with the flip of a coin.
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Unpublished prep preview
Every now and then the WTE sports staff is a little too prolific for its own good and we produce way more copy than we have space in our section. Such was the case yesterday. As a result, the following “prep preview” had to be left out of Friday’s WTE because we didn’t have room for it.
Its ticket to state already is punched, but that doesn’t mean the Cheyenne East girl basketball team is content to rest on its laurels.
In fact, the No. 1-ranked Lady Thunderbirds want nothing less than to end their season by extending their current 16-game winning streak to 23 – two more regular season wins and then the five necessary to win a state title.
East (19-2 overall, 8-0 Class 4A East Conference) puts that streak on the line when it plays at fourth-ranked Gillette (15-6, 4-4) at 7:30 tonight. It closes out the regular season at Sheridan (12-8, 3-5) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
“Now that we’ve won our conference, we, as coaches, hope the kids will relax a little bit and we’ll see a little more out of them,” first-year coach Rusty Horsley said. “We’ve been a little bit tight offensively and not executing as well as we need to early in the past six or seven games.
“We’ve been getting off to slow starts, but they usually work it out. The kids are still working their tails off; we just hope they’ll relax a little more.”
Cheyenne Central (15-6, 4-4) can lock up third place with a sweep this weekend. It travels to Sheridan for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off tonight and to Gillette at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Boys basketball
The first scenario for Cheyenne East (14-6, 6-2) is simple: beat Gillette and Sheridan and lock up sole possession of the No. 2 seed at next weekend’s Class 4A East Regional and a berth at state.
But should the fourth-ranked T-Birds fall to No. 1 and unbeaten Gillette and beat second-ranked Sheridan, they would have the same league mark as Sheridan, forcing a series of tiebreakers.
The Broncs might own the edge in that scenario based on the highest ranking opponent from the other 4A conference at a common site.
Sheridan downed Rock Springs in Rock Springs; East lost there.
The task of pulling the sweep was made a little tougher this week when sophomore guard Nikko Johnson was suspended for what coach Damon Artery calls an internal disciplinary issue.
Johnson – who leads the T-Birds in points (12.6), assists (3.2) and steals (2.6) per game – should be back for next weekend’s regional, Artery said.
East hosts Gillette (20-0, 8-0) at 7:30 tonight and Sheridan (14-6, 6-2) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Cheyenne Central (8-12, 1-7) plays the opposite schedule.
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
Prep profile: Jeremy Ware
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Saturday, February 13th, 2010
Cheyenne East boys 65, Cheyenne Central 59
When his team needed it most, Trevon Hinker delivered.
The Cheyenne East sophomore wing had two steals that turned into two layups in the final minute of his game against crosstown rival Cheyenne Central on Saturday afternoon.
It was those two big plays from Hinker that sealed the 65-59 win for the Thunderbirds at Storey Gym. For the game, Hinker finished with 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting.
Sophomore wing Nikko Johnson and senior guard Jeremy Ware led East with their 15 points a piece.
What makes this loss so tough for the Indians to stomach is the fact they held a 57-56 lead with 1 minute, 28 seconds left. It was the first time Central led in the game, and it appeared as if it had taken control of the momentum. That is until Hinker’s two steals buried the Indians.
Senior forward Josh Reynolds finished with a game-high 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting for the Indians.
The win gives the T-Birds the season sweep over Central, and the win improves their record to 12-6 overall and 4-2 in the Class 4A East Conference. The Indians are now 8-10 and 1-5.
Saturday, February 13th, 2010
Cheyenne East girls 58, Cheyenne Central 38
The Thunderbirds improved to 17-2 overall and 6-0 in the Class 4A East Conference with its second consecutive 20-point victory over its crosstown rivals.
Central held two separate six-point leads in the first half, but East was able to turn the tables and took a 24-22 lead into the locker room at halftime. The T-Birds opened the second half with an 11-2 run and never looked back.
Senior Breanna Johnson fronted East with 15 points and four steals, while junior post Meghan Sipe chipped in with 12 points. Senior Jazmyn Webster added eight points and nine rebounds for East.
The Indians (14-5, 3-2) were led by senior post Katelyn Means’ 15 points. Nine of those came in the first half.