The CWC Campus will start to come back alive August 1st as student-athletes will arrive. Volleyball, Golf, Cross Country, and Men’s and Women’s Soccer and Rodeo begin preparations for the Fall 2022 seasons.
Nearly 100 athletes from all around the region, country, and the world will compete for the Rustlers this fall. 61 will report on Monday, August 1st to get the year going.
Volleyball:
Darshaya Gallard enters her 6th season as the head coach. Her team is coming off the school’s first ever appearance at the National Tournament where they finished 9th in the country. Several of the players from last year’s team have moved on to the next level and reloading will be key for coach Gallard. She has 19 players on the roster starting the season including players from Poland and Japan. She looks for leadership on the court from Alicja Jaryszek, an outside hitter from Poland along with returning player Marin Freeland, a 6’2 Middle from Herriman, Utah.
The schedule is daunting for the Rustlers to say the least. Gallard’s team faces five NCAA Division 2 schools in pre-season play. Then have a tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, and will also face National Tournament competition at an event at the College of Southern Idaho.
The first home date for CWC Volleyball is September 23rd.
Soccer:
Steven Harrison begins year two at the helm of both soccer teams at Central. He welcomes 22 men and 20 women this year. The men’s team features international players from France, Spain, Colombia and the UK. The women’s team hails from the U.S. as well as Spain, Serbia, and Brazil. Former Riverton Wolverine Taliana Shaw will be on the women’s team as well.
Coach Harrison looks for leadership on the field from their goalkeeper, Alejandro Echegoyen as well as Andres Garcia. Names you’ll be hearing a lot from the women’s team include Bojana Njagul and Kim Tessmer.
As for returning players making impacts, Josh Clarke returns from injury for the men and Christian Cruz will be looked on for experience. On the women’s side, Kate Phippen will play for the third year and add leadership to the team, and will lead by example. Caitlyn Pehringer returns to help anchor the back line for the Rustler Women.
Your first chance to see the Rustler soccer teams at home will be September 1st when they host a very tough pair of Casper squads. Games will be played at the CWC Soccer fields on the north side of campus.
Golf:
Rustler golf will be coached by Collin Hopkins this year. It’s the first college coaching assignment for the current golf pro at the Riverton Country Club. Golfers report to campus August 15th. Hopkins currently has seven golfers on the roster and hopes to add more in the near future. Riverton grad Daxton Fisher will golf for the Rustlers this fall. CWC’s home event in the fall will be the 26th and 27th of August.
Cross Country:
CWC racers will see just their second coach in the 8-year history of Cross Country at Central. Ricky Faure takes over the Rustlers after a brief stint coaching the outdoor track team at Central last spring. Three returners highlight the men’s team including Luke Crossley who qualified for the NJCAA outdoor nationals last spring. Runners report to CWC on August 8th with a dozen athletes coming in. Several local athletes from Lander and Wyoming Indian on the roster.
Rodeo:
Rodeo athletes will arrive on campus later in August. Drew Schrock is in his 11th year overall with CWC rodeo and 10th year as the head coach. He will bring in 18 cowboys and cowgirls to compete in the Rustler vest. He is very excited about each of them and the home rodeo this year comes September 23rd through the 25th.
Central Wyoming College will also compete in E-Sports, Stock Horse, and Meat Judging.
More information about CWC Athletics can be found at www.rustlerathletics.com.