Changes to Wyoming High School Fall Sports in 2024

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 fall sports look different. WyoPreps highlighted the football changes last week, but this is about the other five fall sports.

THE NEW LOOK FOR WYOMING HIGH SCHOOL FALL SPORTS 2024

Let’s start with the most basic changes. Those are in golf, cross country, and girls swimming and diving.

In golf, Evanston and Riverton are now in Class 4A this year. Both schools are above the 700-student enrollment cut-off to be in the largest classification in Wyoming. Glenrock is now in Class 3A. The Herders are above the enrollment cut-off of 210. Also, Newcastle joins the 3A golf ranks. The Dogies program is new this year. The 4A Qualifiers are in Casper and Cheyenne. The conference championships for 3A are in Buffalo and Cody.

Cross-country has some similar changes. Evanston and Riverton are now 4A. Glenrock is now in 3A. The conference championships are in Dayton (2A East), Riverton (2A West), Lander (3A West), Rawlins (3A East), Cheyenne (4A East), and Rock Springs (4A West).

For girls’ swimming and diving, Evanston, Green River, and Riverton are above the 700-student cut-off and move to Class 4A. It puts 14 schools in 4A and leaves 11 schools in Class 3A. The conference championships are in Newcastle and Lander for 3A and Evanston and Gillette for 4A.

Tennis is the only sport in the fall season with no changes. The WHSAA recognizes only one class so that sport remains the same as it has been. Sixteen schools play tennis. Eight are in each region.

If you missed the changes in football, click the button below to read that story from WyoPreps.

VOLLEYBALL HAS THE BIGGEST CHANGES

The one fall sport that saw the most differences compared to a year ago is volleyball. There are changes to which classification teams are in and how some of the conference standings will be compiled.

Class 4A is now 15 schools. Both high schools in Casper are now together in the 4A West Region. 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 enrollments. Ft. Washakie is now playing varsity volleyball, and the Eagles are playing in Class 1A. The smallest division of high school volleyball features 23 schools.

With all these changes, the conferences look different for 2024, 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 seven-team, double-elimination bracket.

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 matches, 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 still divided into four quadrants. Those look a little different with the two new schools in 3A. Cody is with Lovell, Powell, and Worland in the 3A Northwest. The 3A Southwest remains Lander, Lyman, Mountain View, and Pinedale. The 3A Northeast is Buffalo, Douglas, Glenrock, and Newcastle. The 3A Southeast will be Burns, Rawlins, Torrington, and Wheatland. The matches inside your quadrant will be the conference matches. The regional tournament is still an eight-team, double-elimination bracket.

In Class 2A, the western side of the state looks vastly different compared to the eastern 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 matches are inside your quadrant. All eight teams go to regionals for a double-elimination tournament to determine the four teams that will qualify for the state tournament.

The big change is in the six-team 2A East. The league is Big Horn, Moorcroft, Sundance, Tongue River, Wright, and Pine Bluffs. That conference is using 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 for 2A, three points for 3A, and four points for 4A. You can also get one point for a win over a sub-varsity 3A opponent and two points 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. An example is Team A has 29 points over 11 matches. Team A’s rating would be 2.636. Team B has 37 points over 14 matches. 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 volleyball tournament.

Class 1A is broken down in this regard. The 1A Northwest Quadrant will be Burlington, Dubois, Meeteetse, Riverside, St. Stephens, and Ten Sleep. The 1A Southwest Quadrant features Cokeville, Encampment, Farson-Eden, Ft. Washakie, Little Snake River, and Saratoga. The 1A Northeast is comprised of Arvada-Clearmont, Hulett, Kaycee, Midwest, and Upton. The 1A Southeast is Guernsey-Sunrise, H.E.M., Lingle-Ft. Laramie, Lusk, Rock River, and Southeast. Only the top four teams from each quadrant will qualify for the regional tournaments.

The various regional volleyball tournaments will be at Guernsey-Sunrise (1A East), Lander (1A West), Pine Bluffs (2A East), Riverton (2A West), Douglas (3A East), Powell (3A West), Cheyenne South (4A East), and Evanston (4A West).