Home Care In Wyo, NC

They called it “The Battle in the Barn.”

University of Wyoming hosted the Fighting Camels of Campbell University from North Carolina last week in a one-of-a-kind wrestling dual that featured a couple of firsts.

First, Barstool Sports dubbed the event “The most American thing you’ll see today,” and rightly so. Pokes wrestlers traded their familiar campus confines at the UniWyo Sports Complex for a grappling session in a rustic barn at the Deerwood Ranch in Centennial, Wyoming.

"This is going to be something the wrestling world hasn't experienced yet, and it's undoubtedly exciting," Wyoming head wrestling coach Mark Branch said heading into the contest.

And if the change of venue doesn’t peg the weirdly Western meter, the match was covered by UFC Fight Pass, the worldwide mixed-martial arts media giant.

“We [had] the opportunity to showcase the Wyoming wrestling brand to hundreds of thousands of martial arts fans,” Branch said. “Campbell actually opened the door for us to host this event, and I am thankful for the relationship we have formed to promote college wrestling.

“UFC Fight Pass is breaking into collegiate wrestling, and to be able to partner with them for this event is special.”

Roll In The Hay

A wrestling mat doesn’t always lend itself to many Kodak moments, but The Battle in the Barn on Nov. 17 was everything picturesque. NCAA’s coverage on X was simply: “Last night was a movie.”

“Take it all in, folks. You won't see another one like this anywhere,” UFC Fight Pass proclaimed when it went live with the stream.

Deerwood played host for the event at its 4,700-acre wild horse sanctuary tucked in the valley between Sheep Mountain and Medicine Bow Peak at the base of the Snowy Range Mountains. The family owned ranch runs cattle and about 350 head of wild horses.

Wyoming brought the decidedly “cowboy” venue, the Campbell had inroads to UFC and paved the way for the contest to be streamed. The event brought additional exposure to both programs even if the live attendance was limited due to space in the barn.

Tickets were not available to the general public. Only family members of the student athletes were allowed to attend.

Camels Better In A Barn

The young Cowboys wrestling team suffered its first loss this season in the barn 23-12. Wyoming (3-1) did get four victories and every match was close.

“On paper, I think with our youth, we weren’t favored in a ton of matches. But at the same time, we felt good about our guys,” Branch said. “I told the guys, ‘Losing sucks.’ There’s no doubt about that. There was definitely some good and some bad. But there are definitely some positive things to build off of.”

The Fighting Camels improved to 2-1 on the young season. The promising team from Buies Creek, North Carolina, managed to overcome both the environment and elevation of more than 8,000 feet above sea level.

"It was a little bit of a hostile environment. It felt like the crowd was against you the whole time,” said Caleb Hopkins, who won a 4-3 decision over Wyoming’s Ethan Ducca at 185 pounds. “Some of the guys were affected by the elevation, I think.

“In the venue it said it was 8,300 feet elevation, so that was tough to combat. You'd go into the match and you were wrestling hard, and all of a sudden it would just hit you because you're not getting quite enough oxygen.”

Campbell’s true freshman Chris Earnest was named the match’s outstanding wrestler. He agreed about grappling in the mountains where the air is thin.

“The elevation really was a big factor. In the beginning of the match, I kind of felt like I was on the moon, to be honest. It was really hard to breathe. But I came back down to earth and was able to tech him,” Earnest said about his win over the Pokes’ Paolo Salminen at 157 pounds. “The crowd was going purely for Wyoming, but that didn't make much of a difference.”

Wyoming winners included Cole Brooks (141), who rallied for a 9-8 decision over Chris Rivera, and Gabe Willochell (149), who edged the Camels’ Justin Rivera in a 5-4 decision. Both UW wrestlers are undefeated through three matches.

Brett McIntosh (165) and one of the nation’s top wrestlers, sophomore Jore Volk (125) also won for the Cowboys.

Wyoming takes this weekend off before traveling to its first invitational of the season. The Cowboys will participate in the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Dec. 1-2.

Just last week, Wild Horse No. 2392 stood in a holding facility somewhere in the vast dry plains of Wyoming.

Born in the wild and captured as a 3-month-old foal from Salt Wells Creek, she was most likely still suckling when she got rounded up and microchipped as part of the federal Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro adoption incentive program.

There began the mustang’s journey to find a new home, eventually landing her in Raleigh this week.

Now two years old, Wild Horse No. 2392 ended up in Pen 10 at her first adoption event, in the Governor James B. Hunt Jr. Horse Complex on the State Fairgrounds west of downtown Raleigh. A chestnut mare with a star-and-stripe marking ending just before her snip, she was among 100 horses and burros transported from Wyoming earlier in the week for the three-day event.

The bureau is in charge of caring for the nation’s wild horses and burros across 30 million acres of public rangeland in the western United States. As resources grow increasingly scarce, re-homing events, like this one, have become essential to managing the region’s surging numbers.

In the last few years, BLM has even ramped up its efforts to make wild mustang adoptions more attractive, paying $1,000 to those who take the animals. The incentive is available with an adoption fee of $125 to those who qualify.

Saturday morning, the event’s last day, roughly 70% of the animals had been adopted with applications approved on site.

Wild Horse No. 2392, however, was among the 30 or so remaining.

“We’d like to find homes for all of them,” said Shayne Banks, the bureau’s deputy district manager, standing inside the complex’s main show arena, directly across from a line of makeshift stalls. Nearby, a cluster of burros brayed loudly.

“The catch is, they come as diamonds in the rough. They’re going to need to be trained. Whether you’re looking for a trail-riding horse or show horse, they have the potential. People just need to be willing to work with them.”

With only a few hours left on Saturday morning, Wild Horse No. 2392 got a little break.

Emily Harris, a horse trainer who’d been working the event, randomly picked the mare from the pen to spotlight in a live demo. Apart from being handled during processing, it was most likely her first time ever being touched by a human.

At first, the mare was defiant, running around, trying to escape the pen. But within 40 minutes, she was rubbing up alongside Harris, asking for more attention.

“Good girl, good girl,” coaxed the 25-year-old handler. She gently guided the young mustang, with a firm push from behind, into the center of the ring.

Harris bought her first mustang in 2021. Now she runs an equestrian-guide business with her family, Sisters Horsing Around, in Virginia and owns 12 horses tamed from the wild. She also travels around the Southeast, helping others train wild horses.

“For some, it comes fairly easily. Other horses take more time,” she said. “It’s just a matter of the horse understanding that people are not a bad thing.”

Rachel Weeks, from Graham, and her 8-year-old daughter, Charlie, were among the onlookers. Having grown up with horses, they were looking to buy their family’s first horse. They were torn between this one and a mare in another pen.

“She stayed with me the whole time,” said the young girl, sizing up the two mares.

By mid-afternoon, Wild Horse No. 2392 still had not been claimed. However, it’s not the end for her.

If she doesn’t get adopted, she will go back to a nearby holding facility and on to another adoption event. People can also adopt her through the bureau’s Wild Horses Online, an online corral showcasing available animals.

“We keep them with us until we find them home,” the bureau’s deputy district manager said.

This story was originally published August 19, 2023, 6:23 PM.

'Since the beginning, one of our goals, academically, has been to rediscover Catholic education,' the college's dean, Kyle Washut said.

Martin Barillas/CNA Education July 17, 2023

Incoming students at Wyoming Catholic College experience an unusual introduction to their academic life — they are required to make a three-week wilderness trek.

The college’s academic dean, Kyle Washut, who grew up in Wyoming and enjoyed its natural splendors, told CNA he accompanied students on the very first sponsored mountain hike nearly two decades ago at Wyoming Catholic College (WCC).

“Since the beginning, one of our goals, academically, has been to rediscover Catholic education,” he said.

Founded in 2005 in Lander, a small town in the western part of the state, WCC offers a unique Great Books curriculum coupled with the Catholic tradition. This is in addition to hikes in the Rocky Mountains — even in winter — and annual short courses in mountaineering, horseback riding, and other outdoor skills. All incoming freshman students are required to take a three-week backpacking trip before beginning their academic year. Men and women are kept in separate groups and are accompanied by a priest.

In medieval monasteries, said Washut, who also teaches theology, “there was attentiveness to nature or the metaphorical ‘book of nature’ as the first book that one began to read. In that book, one encounters Christ, nurturing one’s soul and guided there by the study of Scripture and Church Fathers, and study of philosophy and science that emerged out of it.”

While many see God’s creation as something to exploit, extract, or experiment with, Washut said, WCC wants students “to be present in nature and develop a receptivity and openness to contemplation.”

WCC seeks to recover the “rootedness” of the monastic tradition in finding “God’s revelation in his creation,” Washut said, and foster “a habit of listening” to protect Catholic education from an “overly cerebral” approach.

Growth and challenges

Interviews with several WCC students reveal enthusiasm for the college’s approach.

Emma Roberts considered other colleges, but a visit in high school to WCC convinced her to apply. “During the summer program, I realized WCC had made me grow so much during a two-week visit that I wanted more of that. It pushed me outside of myself, largely because of the outdoor program,” she recalled.

As a 2020 WCC alumna who now teaches at Our Lady of Lourdes Classical School in Denver, Roberts is a Florida native who had never seen mountains before arriving in Wyoming. She said her first mountain hike made her “depend on God to be successful in anything.”

Sophomore Aeja DeKuiper was accustomed to working outdoors on her family’s Michigan farm, but learning to cooperate with other young women of varying temperaments was a challenge. “Even in our group of nine, we had a range of personalities and everyone was able to get through it and become stronger.”

Discovering God’s creation as described by the Psalms

For those who may be considering WCC, DeKuiper had some advice.

“If you are looking for something easy, it’s probably not for you,” she said. “But if you are willing to put in the time and effort and come with an open mind, it’ll be one of the best experiences you’ve ever had.”

Senior Margaret Serchen will lead freshmen this August on a three-week hike. The Wisconsin native had never backpacked before starting at WCC but has since camped even in the winter.

“I hadn’t expected how challenging it was. It was very raw and physically demanding,” she recalled. Serchen remarked on the unexpected “simplicity” of the hiking as well as making new friends.

“You’re carrying everything you need on your back; it’s very pilgrim-like because you’re moving every day, coming to a beautiful place — a lake, a waterfall — set up a camp, and then the next morning get up early and keep moving,” she said.

When asked how this contributed to faith, Serchen remarked: “One is by being immersed in the actual beauty God created. Man-made beauty is also beautiful, and cities offer fine art, architecture, and gardens. However, there is something so raw when you’re in a canyon God directly carved with wind and water, and there are no comforts you are used to.”

“So much of the Psalms are steeped in words about the natural world and experiencing what the Psalmist is talking about: the quiet beauty, the terrifying winds and waters … that power that is dangerous and beautiful helps you to understand the Psalms,” she said. “Another thing is learning silence. There’s a lot of noise that we live in all the time. Going into the wilderness showed me the noise floating around in my mind all the time. It helped me to quiet that and to pray.”

Serchen said that being comfortable with mountain hiking and classical education led her and fellow students last summer to climb a mountain and bring along dress clothes to enjoy a picnic on its summit. While there, she even played a tune by Johann Sebastian Bach on her violin.

In addition to its wilderness experiences, WCC has an unusual technology policy. Students’ cellphones are locked up during the academic year and internet access is limited and monitored. But Serchen said applicants should not be put off by this.

“I really found it freeing, and [it] allows us to put technology in its proper place. It’s not that it’s bad, but we don’t know how to use it because it developed so quickly. People my age communicate on our phones, so to not have them for months at a time allows us to form deep friendships and ask good questions,” she said.

Wyoming Catholic College senior Margaret Serchen and fellow students climbed a mountain in the summer of 2022 and brought along dress clothes to enjoy a picnic on its summit. While there, Serchen even played a tune by Johann Sebastian Bach on her violin. Credit: Photo courtesy of Margaret Serchen

The habit of being present

Academic dean Washut said he delivered a paper recently at the University of Notre Dame about the results of WCC’s policies and requirements for students.

“Students develop a kind of rootedness in ‘place’ or an awareness of ‘place’ that is tied into the technology policy. When you are in the mountains, you are in the mountains, so you’re always aware of where you are and attentive to where you are,” he said.

He added: “In the modern era of television and ubiquity of smartphones, there’s a way in which we are habituated to never fully being in place. We want to know what’s going on in Washington, D.C., or what our friends are doing on social media. The habit of being present is something that begins on that three-week trip and is carried forward through the four years.”

StarNews correspondent

Asheville native Charles Frazier burst on the scene in 1997 with his debut novel, "Cold Mountain," retelling Homer's "Odyssey" as the epic tale of a Civil War soldier trying to return home to western North Carolina as the Confederacy collapsed.

"Cold Mountain" was a New York Times best seller, won the National Book Award and was made into both a 2003 motion picture and an opera.

For his latest novel, Frazier returns to the past again, this time to America's Great Depression. Once again, a hero goes on a long journey.

In 1937, Val Welch, a Southerner with Old Blood and no money, heads for the tiny town of Dawes, Wyoming, hired by the WPA to paint a mural in the local post office.

His boss arranges for him to board with friends: a wealthy rancher named Long and his much younger wife, Eve. They're a fascinating pair.

Originally a New Englander, Long served as an Army sniper in World War II, chalking up hundreds of kills. After the war, he lingered in Paris, collecting art (his family had money). Now, he owns the equivalent of a major gallery.

More:Debut novel by Wilmington native set in the smart, unstable world of a tony prep school

Long dabbles in Wyoming politics, jockeying for a U.S. Senate seat. He's helped by Eve, a former singer in cowboy swing bands who helps charm the local politicians with her looks and earthy humor.

Meanwhile, Welch gets to know Faro, Long's ranch foreman. An old cowhand with an enormous, bushy mustache, Farco is a tamer of horses, He's gentle with animals, much less so with drunk, pushy cowboys. Legend has it he rode with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett.

Then things come to a head. One day Eve runs off, and she takes one of Long's Renoirs with her. Since Welch knows something about art, Long sends him off to track her down and, at least, to get the painting back.

It's a hard trail, leading through hobo jungles, Sam Space's San Francisco, Seattle and on to the swamps of central Florida. Along the way, a lot of secrets are dug up.

Before "Cold Mountain," Frazier began as a poet, and he still writes with a poet's precision, with swift, sure sketches of background and rich portraits with a sharp ear for dialogue.

There's a classical allusion again: One source of "The Trackers" is a fragmentary play by Sophocles, only discovered in the 1800s, which involves hunting for the rustled cattle of Apollo.

Frazier also evokes the literature and legend of the American West. (Like Owen Wister's hero, Val is a Virginian.) The subtest of much of the book is a meditation on the violent roots of the American frontier; after all, where would a classic Western be without a gunfight?

"The Trackers" will remind many readers of the fiction of Jim Harrison ("Legends of the Fall") and of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy.

Book review

The Trackers

By Charles Frazier

Ecco, $30.

Laramie, Wyo. (Sept. 2, 2023) -- The Wyoming Cowboys sealed one of the most thrilling wins in program history Saturday night in Laramie as they scored the winning two-point conversion in the second overtime to defeat Texas Tech, which entered the game ranked No. 24 in the nation in the Coaches Poll.

"That's a cowboy-tough win," UW head coach Craig Bohl said postgame. "Andrew Peasley, he's as tough as boot leather. Hats off to Texas Tech. Coach McGuire is doing a great job. He's a perfect fit. Both he and I knew it would be a tight ballgame. I'm really proud of our football team. I think our maturity showed because we did not start fast. Every checkpoint I talked about in the pregame meal about what we needed to do, it's 17-0 and I thought, "Did these guys even listen to that?" There was certainly an amount of frustration, but the players worked through those mistakes and good things started to happen. Texas Tech is ranked, and they deserved to be ranked. We beat a good football team tonight. We have passionate fans. They were on pins and needles because they bleed brown and gold. It was neat to see our players enjoy all the fans on the field."

The Cowboys scored their winning touchdown in the second overtime on a fourth and seven from the Texas Tech 11-yard line. Cowboy quarterback Andrew Peasley faced a blitzing Red Raider but calmly found tight end John Michael Gyllenborg across the middle for the touchdown to tie the game at 33-33. The Cowboy defense had already denied Texas Tech on their two-point conversion in the second overtime. The Cowboys then turned to sophomore running back Sam Scott. Peasley handed off to Scott who burst through the line and into the end zone to give the Cowboys their 35-33 victory.

It was the first win for the Pokes over a Top 25 team since the 2016 season. In 2016, Wyoming defeated San Diego State on Nov. 19 in Laramie by a score of 34-33. The Aztecs were ranked 24th in the Associated Press poll and 25th in the Coaches poll at the time. Earlier in the 2016 season, the Cowboys defeated Boise State on Oct. 29 by a 30-28 score. The Broncos were ranked 13th in both national polls at the time.

"This is the type of team we have," Bohl said. "And that started back after the bowl game. You don't come up with these kind of wins without great chemistry because what occurs when you don't have great maturity or great chemistry and you're down like that, I've seen some ugly things get said on the sidelines and finger points. Guys were certainly upset, but they were encouraging one another."

Texas Tech forced overtime with only 41 seconds remaining in regulation when place-kicker Gino Garcia made a 27-yard field goal to tie the game at 20-20, capping off a 13-play, 69-yard drive that took 2:58 off the clock. Wyoming forced TTU into the field-goal attempt after holding on a third and eight from the Wyoming 12-yard line. After the ensuing kickoff, there were only 41 seconds remaining in regulation and the Cowboys ran two plays before time expired.

In the first overtime, Texas Tech elected to go on defense first. Cowboy QB Peasley ran for 10 yards on a second and seven at the Tech 22 to give UW a first down. He then connected with running backs Scott and D.Q. James on passes of two and five yards, respectively, putting the ball at the Red Raider five-yard line. Peasley took it in from there, running up the middle as he avoided tacklers for the touchdown. Cowboy place-kicker John Hoyland came in to kick the extra point and put Wyoming up 27-20.

Texas Tech then leaned on their quarterback Tyler Shough in the first overtime. They had Shough carry the ball on the first three plays of the series. He carried for four, seven and seven yards, moving the ball to the Wyoming seven-yard line. Running back Tahj Brooks then carried for one yard on second and three, and on third an two he carried the ball into the end zone from six yards out. Place-kicker Garcia added the extra point to tie the game at 27-27 heading into the second overtime.

Wyoming went on defense first in the second overtime. The UW defense held the Red Raiders to no yards on their first two plays, but Shough found running back Brooks in the right flat for a completion of 10 yards on third down, giving Texas Tech a first down at the Wyoming 15. After a run for no gain, Shough connected with wide receiver Jerand Brandley for the 15-yard touchdown to put Tech back in the lead at 33-27. On what would prove to be a critical play, the Cowboy defense stepped up and denied Texas Tech's two-point attempt.

It was then that the Cowboys created their second overtime heroics on the TD throw by Peasley to Gyllenborg and the two-point run by Scott to begin the season with a 1-0 record.

Saturday's win was the fourth time that Wyoming has defeated a team from an autonomous five conference in Laramie since 2004. UW also defeated Ole Miss in Laramie in 2004 (37-32), beat Virginia (23-3) in 2007 and defeated Missouri (37-31) in 2019. Like Saturday's win over Texas Tech, the wins over Virginia and Missouri came in Wyoming's season openers those seasons.

Individual highlights for the Cowboys included: •Peasley completed 18 of 34 passes for 149 yards and threw two touchdown passes. He also rushed for 68 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown to account for 217 yards of total offense. •Running back Scott, fullback Caleb Driskill and tight end Gyllenborg each scored the first touchdowns of their careers. •Linebacker Shae Suiaunoa led Wyoming with 12 tackles. It was one shy of his career high 13 tackles last season against Hawai'i. •Nickel back Wrook Brown had his first career interception. •Cowboy place-kicker Hoyland kicked a career long 56-yard field goal, breaking his previous record of 55 yards against Tulsa in 2022.

Up Next Wyoming will host Portland State on Saturday, Sept. 9 in a 2 p.m. kickoff in War Memorial Stadium. That game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.