Day One Kicks Off WHSAA State Wrestling Championships in Casper

Opening rounds and quarterfinals at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper turned Thursday into a steady parade of pins and falls as the 2025-26 WHSAA State Wrestling Championships began its three-day run. Matches that day produced clear winners across classifications, including Campbell County’s Lllyana Juarez pinning Lingle-Fort Laramie/Southeast’s Hallie Fuller and Cody’s Kannon Grant, the 190-pounder, pinning Wheatland’s Hayden Steinslek.

Several other first-round finishes highlighted Day 1. Kemmerer’s Bronson Hubbard pinned Wright’s Tel LaDuke; Cody’s 215-pounder Cinch Dalton pinned Buffalo’s Carter Caturia; Cody’s 113-pounder Kayson Grant pinned Glenrock’s Maximus Kellogg; Green River’s Timothy Robinson pinned Natrona County’s Ian Backman; Pinedale’s McKinzie Mortensen pinned Wheatland’s Kaylee Weber. Star Valley posted two opening-round falls as Kimball Parry defeated Cheyenne South’s Jonathan Serrano by fall and Owen Parry beat Campbell County’s Carter Braband by fall. Each of these matches took place Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at the Ford Wyoming Center (also referenced as Casper’s Wyoming Center).

Laramie’s girls team found mixed results on Day 1. Laramie wrestler Aiyana Atkinson, competing at 135 pounds, opened with a 2-1 victory over Worland’s Leona Vickers before reaching the quarterfinals and losing 13-2 to Mountain View’s McKayla Lym. Wyoming Tribune Eagle coverage noted Atkinson “reached the quarterfinals but dropped to the consolation bracket to lead Laramie girls wrestling after day one,” and listed Laramie girls in 39th place after Thursday’s action.

The field in Casper was set by regional qualifiers held Feb. 20–21; WHSAA’s schedule lists those regional tournaments by classification and location. The state tournament continues through Saturday, Feb. 28, with the Day 2 schedule published by Oil City News showing first-round wrestle-backs starting at 10:30 a.m. Friday, second and third rounds at 1:30 p.m. Friday, and semifinals at 5:40 p.m. Finals are scheduled for 2:20 p.m. Saturday.

Broadcast and awards details are set for the remainder of the event. Flowrestling urged viewers that “After a quick turnaround, it’s state title time in Wyoming. Don’t miss the WHSAA State Wrestling Championships on Feb. 26-28,” and offers live coverage on the FloSports/FloWrestling platform and archived regional matches. WHSAA directs fans who cannot attend that “For those of you that are not able to make it to State Wrestling, the NFHS Network will be streaming matches live, for a minimal cost. … For customer support, please email customerservice@nfhsnetwork.com.”

Flowrestling’s event page also lays out post-finals presentations: “Individual awards will be presented to each weight’s top six finishers in each classification immediately following the championship matches, beginning at 105 for girls and 113 for boys. Team trophies will be presented at the conclusion to the top four places in each classification. The order of the team awards presentation will be as follows: Girls (fourth to first), 2A (fourth to first), 3A (fourth to first), 4A (fourth to first).”

Photo galleries and captioned match photos from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and Oil City News (Dan Cepeda) documented Thursday’s action; full brackets and updated results are available on the WHSAA state wrestling page and through FloWrestling archives as the tournament moves into wrestle-backs and semifinal rounds Friday evening.