The SVHS winter sports teams all shared a mixed measure of success over their opening weekend.

The Braves wrestlers placed second at the huge Evanston Invitational with a total of 175.5 team points.  4A West conference foe, Green River, pulled away with a strong day two to finish with the event title and 211 team points.  Defending champion South Summit had to settle for third place and 174.5 team points.

The Braves had eight semi-finalists but ended up with no individual champions.  Many of Star Valley’s wrestlers were in a mix and match type of weight qualification in the opening weekend of the 2009-2010 campaign but Coach Clark was pleased with their fighting spirit over the weekend.

Wrestling fans will want to clear part of their weekend schedule as Star Valley hosts their annual “Braves Brawl” over this next weekend December 11-12.  16 teams will be participating from Wyoming, Utah and Idaho in the round robin style tournament.  Junior varsity will wrestle in the Auxiliary Gym while the varsity wrestlers will be in the main gym.

Other familiar schools at the tournament included Rock Springs placing fourth, Cheyenne East placing seventh and Cokeville just one point behind the Thunderbirds in eighth place.

On the court, the Braves collected their first win of the season with a 62-56 victory over the Kelly Walsh Trojans on Saturday.  Seniors Brandon Taylor and David Cranford led the way with 18 and 17 points respectively while junior Josh Hunsaker notched his second straight double-digit game by scoring ten points.  Hunsaker also collected a game-high six blocked shots.  Overall, eight different Braves scored in the victory. Lucan Nolan led the Trojans with 16 points while Taylor  Robbins scored 13 in the contest.

The team went 1-2 at the tournament, losing 61-54 at Cheyenne East and 92-71 against Laramie.

The Lady Braves were unable to find their first victory of the season as they fell in their third game on the floor of Cheyenne Central, 48-36.  Both the Braves and Lady Braves will play traditional rival, Bear Lake this week as the girls play Thursday evening in Montpelier.  The boys will play Friday night also at Bear Lake High School.