Karla's Kolumn: Championship memories

Congratulations to the Worland Warriors on their 3A State Boys Basketball title. It is well-deserved.

Congratulations also to speech champions Kim Sumida and Chase Johnson and state champion wrestlers Luke Goncalves and Lane McBee.

It is a pleasure to be able to cover the achievements of our youth this year and every year.

When a team wins a state title I find myself reminiscing about state championships I have covered, specifically when I covered sports for the Lovell Chronicle and the Basin Republican Rustler.

The first state championship I covered was the Rocky Mountain Lady Grizzlies, who won the 2A State Girls Basketball Championship in 1993. They defeated Wind River that year in a hard-fought contest and I was as nervous as most parents. I found myself, as many young photographers do, watching the game and not covering the game. You see, I had one of the best seats in the house being under the basket at the Casper Events Center.

When covering sports in a small community it is hard for a reporter not to get involved, to find themselves rooting for the team, to get to know the players and coaches and to share in their joy. (One small note, I have told all of my reporters when covering sports and taking photos under the basket not to cheer, groan or yell and to be respectful of the officials and their spots on the court. If you need to cheer go up in the stands.)

That championship in 1993 was one of the first in school history, a monumental achievement I am still excited to have been a part.

Another great championship moment came in the first state volleyball title for Lovell High School. The Lady Bulldogs were fortunate to make their historic run when the state tournament was rotating around the state and the 2A tournament happened to be in Cody, just 54 miles away.

Lovell went up against Lusk that year. They were the underdogs but there was something in the air, perhaps being in the Big Horn Basin and having a large contingent of fans there, you could feel something magical was about to happen … and it did.

And, right before I left Lovell, the Lovell Lady Bulldogs basketball team won a state title and the team honored me with a basketball signed by the team as my going away gift.

At the Basin Republican Rustler I was fortunate enough to be a part of covering basketball titles for the Huskies and Lady Huskies.

However, just as you feel the excitement with the team in celebration, you also feel the heartbreak in the loss as well. I remember when the Huskies lost in the title game to Little Snake River in 2012 and in the semifinals in 2013. Then they had a great season in 2013-2014 and I was looking forward for another run at a possible state title.

But, when you make plans, life happens. My husband wanted to go to a conference in Colorado and wanted to plan a vacation around it. The conference happened to be the same week as 1A state basketball.

I was torn but I chose the vacation and let a fellow reporter cover the state title they won that year – the start of their four-peat run. While it was tough following the team all season and not being a part of the final chapter, I did have a great vacation.

The following year was going to be my swan song as I had accepted the job to come here, but again life happened and we planned another vacation – to Las Vegas to the Mountain West Conference tournament. Although the Wyoming Cowboys didn’t necessarily have a chance at the title (so we thought), it was an opportunity to see that team with Larry Nash play again and to experience the MWC tournament.

So I said goodbye to Basin and the Huskies and rooted those Cowboys on to victory in Vegas in 2015.

Then in Worland, the first titles for me to experience were the dual championships in 2016 of the Warriors and Lady Warriors as I was fortunate enough to meet the teams as they came into town and cover the parade to the gym for the cutting down of the nets.

While I had been there to watch the Cowboys cut down the nets, as well as the Wyoming Cowgirls after winning the Women’s National Invitational Tournament in Laramie, this was my first time to cover such an event for a newspaper and the atmosphere in the gym, despite it being about 1 a.m., was electric. I’m sure it was the same this past Saturday.

So kudos to this year’s champions (with the possibility of more to come) and thank you for letting us be a part of a great season.