Changes to Wyoming High School Winter Sports for 2024-25

The new enrollment structure for Wyoming High School sports means adjustments for fans. Schools have changed classes based on the new enrollment cut-offs approved last year by the Wyoming High School Activities Association. It also means a few winter sports look different. WyoPreps tries to break these down by sport to get you ready for the next few months.

THE NEW LOOK FOR WYOMING HIGH SCHOOL WINTER SPORTS 2024

Let’s start with the most basic changes. Those are in boys swimming and diving, indoor track, Nordic skiing, and alpine skiing.

For boys’ swimming and diving, Evanston, Green River, and Riverton are above the 700-student cut-off and move to Class 4A just like they did in the girls’ season. It means 14 schools will compete in 4A and 11 in Class 3A. The conference championships are in Cody and Kemmerer for 3A and Evanston and Laramie for 4A.

Indoor track will still have two classifications, but five teams will move into Class 4A, which puts 15 teams in that division. Those five are Evanston, Green River, Jackson, Riverton, and Star Valley. All of them are above the 700-student cut-off. The rest of the teams who compete in indoor track and field will be in Class 3A. The indoor track season begins after the first of the year.

Both skiing disciplines have zero changes. The WHSAA recognizes only one class, so Nordic skiing and alpine skiing remain the same as they have been. Eight schools compete in Nordic skiing, and six compete in Alpine skiing.

Boys Wrestling Changes

WyoPreps did highlight these in our wrestling preview, but we feel it’s good to break it down further for fans. Five schools are now in a class with the restructuring. Evanston, Green River, and Riverton are now 4A in wrestling. Glenrock and Lovell are in 3A. The breakdown features 20 schools in Class 2A, ten in each region. Class 3A has 16 teams, eight in each region. 4A has 15 teams. Seven are in the East region, and eight are in the West region.

2A East = H.E.M., Hulett, Lingle-Ft. Laramie/Southeast, Lusk, Moorcroft, Saratoga, Sundance, Tongue River, Upton, Wright.

2A West = Big Piney, Cokeville, Dubois, Greybull/Riverside, Kemmerer, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni, Thermopolis, Wind River, Wyoming Indian.

3A East = Buffalo, Burns/Pine Bluffs, Douglas, Glenrock, Newcastle, Rawlins, Torrington, Wheatland.

3A West = Cody, Lander, Lovell, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale, Powell, Worland.

4A East = Campbell County, Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South, Laramie, Sheridan, Thunder Basin.

4A West = Evanston, Green River, Jackson, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County, Riverton, Rock Springs, Star Valley.

Girls Wrestling Changes

Girls’ wrestling is still one classification, but it is broken into two regions, east and west. Twenty-six schools are in each region.

East = Big Horn, Buffalo, Burns/Pine Bluffs, Campbell County, Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South, Douglas, Glenrock, H.E.M., Hulett, Laramie, Lingle-Ft. Laramie/Southeast, Lusk, Moorcroft, Newcastle, Rawlins, Saratoga, Sheridan, Sundance, Thunder Basin, Tongue River, Torrington, Upton, Wheatland, Wright.

West = Big Piney, Cody, Cokeville, Dubois, Evanston, Green River, Greybull/Riverside, Jackson, Kelly Walsh, Kemmerer, Lander, Lovell, Lyman, Mountain View, Natrona County, Pinedale, Powell, Riverton, Rock Springs, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni, Star Valley, Thermopolis, Wind River, Worland, Wyoming Indian.

Basketball Has the Most Changes

The one winter sport with the most differences compared to a year ago is basketball. There are changes to which classification teams are in and how some conference standings will be listed.

Class 4A is now 15 schools. Cody is now in Class 3A, and Burns moves back to Class 3A. Moorcroft and Thermopolis are now in Class 2A. Lingle-Ft. Laramie, Lusk, and St. Stephens are now in Class 1A based on their enrollment. Casper Christian and Ft. Washakie are now playing varsity basketball. Both are in Class 1A. The smallest division of high school basketball features 25 schools. Ten Sleep will only field a boys’ basketball team in the 2024-25 season, which means only 24 girls’ teams are in 1A.

With all these changes, the conferences look different for 2024-25, as well.

In 4A, the East Conference is Campbell County, Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South, Laramie, Sheridan, and Thunder Basin. With seven schools, they will all play each other in home and away conference matches (12 total). The regional tournament will feature a bye and an automatic bid to the state tournament for the No. 1 seed or regular season conference champ. The other six schools will play a one-game loser-out scenario on Thursday of the regional tournament. The rest of that weekend will have four games for seeding at the state tournament.

The 4A West Conference is split into two four-team quadrants. Green River, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County, and Rock Springs are in one quadrant. Evanston, Jackson, Riverton, and Star Valley are in the other quadrant. The conference games will be against the other three teams inside your quadrant. Schools will play cross-quad games, but those do not count in the conference standings. They will count in tiebreaker scenarios for seeding at the eight-team, double-elimination regional tournament. The regional seeding features No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3 cross seeding from the two quadrants in the first round.

Class 3A is divided into two regions and will seed one through eight. Those look a little different with the two new schools in 3A. Cody joins Lander, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale, Powell, and Worland in the 3A West Region. The 3A East Region has Buffalo, Burns, Douglas, Glenrock, Newcastle, Rawlins, Torrington, and Wheatland. Schools will play home and home within your four-team quadrant, but crossover games will count in the conference standings. If a team in the East Region plays another from the opposite quadrant (NE-SE) twice, only the second game counts as a conference game. As a hypothetical example, Burns and Newcastle play each other twice in a non-tournament format. Only their second matchup will factor into the league standings. The regional tournaments remain eight-team, double-elimination brackets.

In Class 2A, the west side of the state looks vastly different compared to the east side. Thermopolis joins Greybull, Rocky Mountain, and Shoshoni in the 2A Northwest quadrant conference. The 2A Southwest quadrant conference will be Big Piney, Kemmerer, Wyoming Indian, and Wind River switches to this quad. Conference games are inside your quadrant. All eight teams go to regionals for a double-elimination tournament to determine the four teams who will qualify for the state tournament.

The big change is in the six-team 2A East. Just like in volleyball, the league is Big Horn, Moorcroft, Sundance, Tongue River, Wright, and Pine Bluffs. That conference will use a points rating system to determine its weekly conference standings and the seeding at the 2A East Regional tournament. That will be a six-team, double-elimination bracket. Teams will earn points based on wins over opponents at various levels. It is one point for a victory over a 1A opponent, two points against 2A teams, three points for a win over a 3A school, and four points if you beat a 4A opponent. You can also get one point for a win over a sub-varsity 3A opponent and two for a win over a sub-varsity 4A opponent. Teams will also get a bonus point for wins over Class 2A schools in the state of Wyoming. Your rating is determined by the total number of points from wins divided by your total number of matches. As an example, Team A has 29 points over 11 games. Team A’s rating would be 2.636. Team B has 37 points over 14 games. Team B’s rating would be 2.642. Team B would be above Team A in the standings due to a higher points rating. The top two teams in the 2A East Conference will receive a first-round bye at the regional basketball tournament.

Class 1A is divided into quadrants. The 1A Northwest Quadrant will be Burlington, Dubois, Meeteetse, Riverside, St. Stephens, and Ten Sleep (boys only). The 1A Southwest Quadrant features Cokeville, Encampment, Farson-Eden, Ft. Washakie, Little Snake River, and Saratoga. The 1A Northeast is comprised of Arvada-Clearmont, Casper Christian, Hulett, Kaycee, Midwest, and Upton. These three quads will feature home and home conference games between the schools within the quadrant.

The 1A Southeast is Guernsey-Sunrise, H.E.M., Lingle-Ft. Laramie, Lusk, Rock River, and Southeast. The 1A Southeast is using a points system for seeding at the regional tournaments. Teams will earn points based on wins over opponents at various levels. It is two points for a victory over a 1A opponent and three points for wins over 2A, 3A, or 4A opponents. You can also get one point for a win over sub-varsity schools from 2A, 3A, or 4A. The schools with the top three points in the 1A Southeast will get a corresponding seed at the regional tournament. The fourth and fifth-place teams will have a play-in game on the Monday after the regular season is done, which will be on Feb. 24. The sixth-place team does not qualify for the regional tournament.

The various regional basketball tournaments will be at Upton (1A East), Lander (1A West), Moorcroft (2A East), Riverton (2A West), Glenrock (3A East), Lander (3A West), Cheyenne Central (4A East), and Rock Springs (4A West).