In its 41st year celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced Beck Haswell of Sheridan High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade Wyoming Football Player of the Year.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community.

The award recognizes Haswell as Wyoming’s best high school football player, and he joins an elite legacy that spans professional athletes and coaches to CEOs, such as Peyton Manning (1993-94, Isidore Newman School, LA), Nick Singleton (2021-22, Governor Mifflin High School, PA) and Keelon Russell (2024-25, Duncanville High School, TX).

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior tight end and defensive end led the Broncs (13-0) to a fifth straight Class 4A state title this past season, extending the program’s winning streak to 55 games.

Employed as a “Swiss Army knife” by Sheridan’s coaching staff, Haswell compiled 583 rushing, receiving and passing yards and scored eight touchdowns.

The state’s No. 1 recruit as rated by 247 Sports, a two-time Super 25 Team selection and the 2025 4A Lineman of the Year, he recorded 41 tackles on defense including six sacks and 10 tackles for a loss.

Haswell has volunteered locally on behalf of Bronc youth football and soccer programs, the annual Gold Buckle Club WYO Rodeo and the Sheridan Hoop Jam Tournament.

He has also donated his time as a educational peer helper and the Out of the Darkness Suicide Walk in addition to serving as a member of the school photo club.

“Beck brings relentless hustle to the ball and he’s one of the most talented players I’ve coached in 29 years,” said Wendell Smith, Sheridan High School Assistant Coach. “Opponents consistently ran away from his side of the field and repeatedly tried to double-team him in their pass-protection schemes. He’s an incredible blocker and dynamic receiver, and his versatility on offense made him a threat to score every time he touched the ball. As our Wildcat QB, he struck fear into the hearts of opposing defenses and, throughout his career, he played an important role on our special teams’ units.”

Haswell has maintained a 3.98 weighted GPA in the classroom.

He has made a verbal commitment to receive athletic aid to play football at the University of Wyoming next fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field.

In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year.

From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports.

The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the winners in each sport.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner.

To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations.

Cold winds are coming for Wyoming, and so is the polar vortex. When it does, it could become one of the coldest winters in recent memory. 

That’s the sequence of winter weather events being monitored by the NASA Climate Center.

People are interpreting data collected from the Arctic as an imminent “collapse” of the Northern Hemisphere’s polar vortex, bringing the coldest winter in years to North America and Europe. 

Statements like this elicit “a heavy sigh” from Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day. 

“Anytime I see a news story that starts with ‘scientists say,’ red flags immediately go up,” he said. “Chill out. Take a step back before making extraordinary claims.” 

Nevertheless, there’s some legitimacy to what’s being said. Wyoming will be chilling out, and the polar vortex will have a significant impact on Wyoming’s winter, depending on where you are.

“The next week to 10 days is going to make my life very difficult,” Day said. “The polar vortex is going to collapse and reform, bringing cold air outbreaks and a lot of winter. The million-dollar question is how far that Arctic air will penetrate into Wyoming.” 

Gyrating And Wobbling

The polar vortex is a typical winter phenomenon. It’s when atmospheric conditions align so that a massive surge of frigid air escapes the Arctic and descends into the Northern Hemisphere. 

Day said the polar vortex does “collapse,” but that shouldn’t be seen as catastrophic. It’s not a one-and-done occurrence. 

“In some winter seasons, there will be the tendency for the polar vortex to go through different phases, which allow it to weaken and venture further south into the lower latitudes,” he said. “This is one of those seasons.” 

Day has been calling for a colder, snowier winter for months, based on current weather patterns and historical data. The polar vortex’s oscillations factored into his long-range forecast for the winter season. 

However, “colder and snowier” doesn’t mean the weather will stay that way every day from November to whenever winter ends. Day said Wyoming’s winter tends to “gyrate” quite a bit. 

“I think a lot of people’s perceptions are that a cold winter stays cold all the time, 24/7, and we have days and days and days where it’s cold,” he said. “That really doesn’t happen here.” 

That’s why Day hesitates to embrace any forecast that “paints with a broad brush.” Winter manifests differently everywhere, especially in Wyoming. 

Clash Of The Titans

While the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic are the dominant forces shaping Wyoming’s weather, their impact isn’t universal. That’s because Wyoming straddles the all-important Continental Divide. 

According to Day, cold Arctic air is denser than warmer Pacific air. He likes to describe it as “molasses and maple syrup.” 

 “It is always going to go to the lowest point of gravity, so it’ll stay close to the ground,” he said. 

When Arctic and Pacific air collide, Wyoming becomes a “battleground” because of the complex geography of the Continental Divide. Since the Divide splits Wyoming in half, the clash between the air masses leads to different weather on either side. 

“The contrast between those two air masses gets difficult,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a standoff, and sometimes one air mass wins out over the other. If the Arctic air isn’t deep enough when it comes out of Canada, it will climb over the Divide. The Pacific air pushes moisture and air into the western side, while the eastern side gets much colder.”

That’s what Day anticipates happening next week. The eastern and western halves of Wyoming will experience very different winter weather. 

“It can be 40 degrees with rain and snow in Jackson, while it could be near zero and snowy in Gillette,” he said. “That’s the contrast between these two air masses.” 

When the polar vortex “collapses,” it will bring freezing cold to Wyoming. There could be a plethora of sub-zero days, but Day said it won’t determine the course of the entire winter. 

“For Wyoming, the polar vortex is episodic,” he said. “The Arctic air will come in, leave, and come back again. There will be stormy weather during the transitions from one air mass to another. That’s the back and forth we experience in Wyoming.”

The Winter That’s Coming 

Day believes getting overly concerned about a polar vortex collapse is sensationalizing a well-known weather pattern. However, there’s no denying that more winter is coming to Wyoming. 

“Most of Wyoming’s major mountain ranges got a foot of snow last night, and there’s probably another one to two feet coming between now and Sunday,” he said. “What we’re seeing is the Arctic air retreating and giving way to the Pacific moisture.” 

Next week will be mild across most of Wyoming due to an influx of Pacific air and moisture. By the end of next week, another surge of Arctic air will change that dynamic once again. 

The back-and-forth nature of winter weather might be frustrating or even concerning, but Day said it’s a good thing in the broad strokes. When Arctic and Pacific air battle over Wyoming, the state benefits from the fallout. 

“The contrast between the Pacific and Arctic patterns does favor snow,” he said. “One rule of weather forecast for the mountains is that anytime you get an Arctic outbreak in the Rockies, that transition always leads to a big mountain snow event, which will eventually reach the plains, as well.” 

Day told Wyomingites to expect freezing outbreaks, but not relentless outbreaks, of extreme cold and winter weather in the weeks and months to come. The polar vortex is collapsing and will continue to do so, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate an imminent catastrophe. 

“We never have permanent winter in Wyoming,” he said. “We’re going to have severe cold at times, but there are going to be breaks. That’s a typical winter in Wyoming.” 

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.