Eight Share the WyoPreps Athlete of the Week Honor [VIDEOS]

Six swimmers and two basketball players received The Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Wyoming WyoPreps Athlete of the Week honors for Feb. 21, 2024. Caleb Brewer from Cheyenne South, Ben Forsythe of Sheridan, Lander’s Benn Kulow and Finn Richards, Malachi Villarreal from Kemmer, and Buffalo’s Tommy Wonka had big performances at the boys’ state swim championships. Upton’s Sophie Louderback and Buffalo’s Karly Davis split the girls’ award. These are based on performances from Feb. 12 through Feb. 17, 2024.

WYOMING HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES OF THE WEEK CHOSEN BY WYOPREPS: FEB 21, 2024

SIX BOYS SWIMMERS

Brewer was named the 4A Athlete of the Meet and 4A Athlete of the Year at the state swim championships. He won his two individual events, the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. He was the subject of one of our spotlight features for his state championship performance.

Forsythe was the only other 4A boys’ swimmer with two victories. He captured the 50 free and 100 breaststroke races. Forsythe was also featured in our WyoPreps Spotlight.

For Lander, their dominance continued with a 28th straight 3A boys state championship in swimming and diving. Two key pieces were senior Benny Kulow and junior Finn Richards. Both won two events. Kulow was named 3A Athlete of the Year, and Richards shared the 3A Athlete of the Meet honor with two others. We spoke to the duo earlier this week.

Our last two Athlete of the Week winners for the boys were Kemmerer sophomore Malachi Villarreal and Buffalo junior Tommy Wonka. Villarreal won the 500-freestyle race at 4:55.00 for his first state title. It marked the first state champion at KHS in seven years. He added a second-place finish behind Kulow in the 200 freestyle, only a half-second back. Villarreal also set school records in both events. Wonka defended his title in the 100-breaststroke at 56.79 seconds and was runner-up to Richards in the 50-free. He was also a member of the state champion 200-freestyle relay. Wonka helped Buffalo to a second-place team finish. Both Villarreal and Wonka shared the 3A Athlete of the Meet honor with Richards from Lander.

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TWO GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYERS

Louderback helped Upton to a 2-0 record last week with victories over Hulett and 2A Wright to wrap up the regular season. Louderback had a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds against Hulett. She had six assists in both wins. Louderback also passed 1,000 points in her high school career. Upton was 19-2 in the regular season and undefeated at 8-0 in the 1A Northeast Conference Quadrant.

Davis was instrumental in the Bison going 2-1 last week. She scored 27 points and knocked down six 3-pointers in a close 77-73 road loss at top-ranked Douglas. Davis followed that with 22 points against Moorcroft and a career-high 31 points versus Glenrock. Both were Buffalo wins. That’s 80 points over the three games. The Bison improved to 16-2 on the season and 5-0 in conference games.

WyoPreps caught up with both standout basketball players to discuss their weekend play. That video is at the top of this story.

Congrats to all eight of our deserving student-athletes!

The WyoPreps Athlete of the Week nominations are open from Fridays at 5 p.m. until Mondays at 9 a.m. Coaches, family, friends, and student-athletes can nominate deserving student-athletes. Early and late nominations are not accepted.