Long after Wyoming had finished its first round at the National Golf Invitational, head coach Joe Jensen was still waiting on the returns. His men had played the first 18 holes at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, in 6 under to land in third, three shots off the lead, but Jensen was waiting on the university to finalize the team GPA.

The number should be around 3.7 – so Jensen’s anticipation was coming from a place of pride, not fear – but this is where the slightly self-deprecating team motto is debunked.

“Quite honestly I have a solid group and I’ve always had,” Jensen said. “If there’s a program slogan that defines us – and we all laugh about it – it’s that we’re better people than we are players and we poke fun at ourselves for that.”

Scores: National Golf Invitational

While Jensen’s point is clear, nevertheless here is Wyoming contending for a postseason title – again. The Cowboys played in the inaugural NGI last spring and were part of a five-team horserace in the final round. Wyoming finished second to Texas State by a single shot after having a one-shot lead going into the final hole.

“It was so close and for us to finish second, it was such a great learning experience,” Jensen said. “So fond, fond, fond memories.”

On Friday, each of four teams had the lead at some point during the round: Wyoming, TCU, Butler and Richmond. Ultimately, TCU finished at 9 under for the overnight lead, with Richmond in second at 8 under and Butler in fifth at 4 under.

Washington State’s Preston Bebich and TCU’s Jack Beauchamp lead the individual race at 5 under.

For Wyoming, junior Patrick Azevedo, in the No. 4 spot, birdied half his holes, including five straight from No. 13 to 17. Including Azevedo, Wyoming counted three rounds of 3-under 69 plus a 75 from Davis Seybert in the No. 5 spot, with whom Jensen spent the majority of the day. Leading scorer Jimmy Dales posted an uncharacteristic 77 after a marathon week that included graduation, moving, driving home to Michigan and then flying back to Arizona.

“I’m cautiously pleased with how we played,” said Jensen, who knows from experience how tight this tournament will likely be.

Jensen, who has led Wyoming for 23 seasons, is a guy who loves his job and someone who tries to cultivate a family-like team atmosphere. He jokes that Wyoming leads the nation in parents. But rankings-wise, Wyoming is a team that’s always in the conversation though often a little bit outside at-large selection into NCAA Regionals.

“We’ve been that team that we sit from national ranking 75 to 125,” he said. “So if we’re not going to make it – and we’ve been always real close, real close, real close – for us to be able to come back (to the NGI) is exciting. So you bring the guys back, and it’s just fun to compete.”

Jensen sees the NGI satisfying a tremendous need in college golf, where each year it only gets harder to qualify for the NCAA finals. For his team, playing in a postseason environment could be a difference-maker when it comes to cracking that bubble into an NCAA Regional. That said, Wyoming players are paying little attention to the acronym at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes.

“There’s no way you’re going to tell our kids that this is not the NCAAs or this is not a valued postseason experience,” Jensen said. “That’s what it feels like, and it does so much good for our program.”

Jensen has been in this business long enough to know that there are always tough holes around the corner. He is working hard to coach his players to weather those better and cultivate an environment where his players can play free and with confidence. It has been a commentary within the group.

“To me, this event, I’m using it as a little bit of a springboard into next year because I think we can be competitive next year,” Jensen said. “I’m not afraid to say that.”

That starts, Jensen noted, with being relevant this week. So far, so good.

Fred McClanahan Jr. is a native of Fort Collins, Colorado, but he loves Wyoming because of its more conservative mindset and abundant wildlife, especially grizzly bears.

“It’s the grizzlies that keep me coming back,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

And he got a special treat after he left Cody last week headed for Yellowstone National Park. As always, he was eager to watch and photograph Yellowstone’s bears.

But he’d hardly gotten out of town when he saw his first bear of the day — a grizzly out for a brisk stroll along the shore at Buffalo Bill Reservoir west of Cody.

“I had just made it out of the tunnels, and there he was,” McClanahan said.

He was referring to a series of three tunnels along Highway 14-16-20 between Cody and the Buffalo Bill Dam, the last of which is the Wyoming’s longest highway tunnel.

‘He Was On A Mission’

The bear was busily lumbering along a dry section of the reservoir bed “that hadn’t filled in yet,” he said.

McClanahan caught some video of the grizzly going on it way in the middle of a typical Wyoming springtime snow flurry.

The bear wasn’t distracted by highway traffic, or anything else, McClanahan said.

“He was on a mission. I’m not sure where he was headed or what he was after, but he was really moving,” McClanahan said.

Bears Moving Down Toward Cody

McClanahan has been visiting Yellowstone since the early 1980s. He tries to make two trips per year, one in the spring and one in the summer.

“I still have the canceled check from the first time we made a reservation for the motorhome at the Fishing Bridge campground. I think it was $9,” he said.

Back then, about the only places to see grizzlies were between “2 miles outside the of park and 2 miles inside the park,” he added.

But in recent years, grizzlies have become commonplace at lower elevations east of the park.

“I have friends who live in the Wapiti area (a rural community west of Cody). They say grizzlies are seen there frequently,” McClanahan said. “I just saw that one, at Buffalo Bill, but I’ve heard about several others.”

There were two incidents in Park County last year that ended badly for the grizzlies.

In May 2023, a large male grizzly near Highway 14-16-20 west of Cody was mistaken for a black bear and shot by a hunter.

In September 2023, a grizzly was spotted near the base of Heart Mountain between Cody and Powell and appeared in a “Your Wyoming Sunrise” photo in Cowboy State Daily.

Unfortunately, that bear became too habituated to human-occupied areas and food sources, so wildlife agents captured and killed it.

A Robust Population

A grizzly sighting at Buffalo Bill Reservoir isn’t surprising these days, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Large Carnivore Specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.

“It’s definitely not out of the ordinary to have grizzlies seen in that area. We have a lot of grizzly activity on the South Fork and North fork this spring. Essentially another obvious indicator of a robust grizzly bear population,” he said.

Spring is prime time to spot grizzlies at lower elevations, he added.

“It’s pretty standard when bears come out of the den to move lower,” Thompson said. “That’s where it greens up first. So we generally see that move to lower elevations out of the den.”

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.

LARAMIE — Wyoming, for now, has lost a dozen players this offseason to the transfer portal.

Dylan Warlick, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound incoming freshman at the forward spot, is the latest to enter free agency, announcing his decision Thursday night on social media.

“First, I would like to thank the University of Wyoming and the entire coaching staff for believing in me and giving me the chance to play the sport I love,” the Edmond, Okla., product penned on X, formerly Twitter. “With the recent departure of coach Linder, I have requested a release from my NLI and will be reopening my recruitment.”

The first wave of transfers came almost immediately following a one-and-done showing at the Mountain West Tournament.

Six, including potential faces-of-the-franchise Cam Manyawu and Keal Combs, announced their intentions to leave Laramie. Brendan Wenzel, a graduate transfer, bolted, too. So did Caden Powell, Jacob Theodosiou and Jonas Sirtautas.

For the second straight offseason, Jeff Linder was tasked with a near complete rebuild. That appeared to be going smoothly.

Wyoming’s fourth-year head coach snagged guards Obi Agbim, Tyree Ihenacho and Matija Belic. He then added a pair of big men out of the portal, too, in Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams and Touko Tainamo.

Four incoming freshmen were also inbound. That list featured guards Oliver Faubert, Dominic Pagonis and Jehvion Starwood, along with Warlick in the frontcourt.

Boy, have things changed.

News broke on May 9 that Linder would be leaving to become a top assistant on Grant McCasland’s staff at Texas Tech. Those two worked together once before in west Texas, coaching at Midland College from 2006-08.

Linder capped his tenure on the high plains with a 63-59 overall record. He led the Cowboys to an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament in 2022. They lost to Indiana in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

With Linder’s departure came another mad dash to the portal.

Agbim hit the bricks. So did Ihenacho and Yamanouchi-Williams. Faubert and Pagonis also intend to play elsewhere. Now, so does Warlick, who was ranked the second-best recruit in the state of Oklahoma by 247sports.com. He helped lead Edmond North High School to consecutive state championships, averaging more than 20 points as a sophomore and 15.1 during his junior campaign.

Davidson, San Jose State, South Alabama and Abilene Christian all offered the 3-star prospect. Wyoming sealed the deal last November.

“We can’t wait to add Dylan Warlick to the Cowboy family,” Linder said in a prepared statement on national signing day. “Dylan has been on our radar for some time after a great underclassman career in Oklahoma high school basketball. Having won multiple state championships at Edmond North High School, in the highest classification in Oklahoma, we knew there was something special about his will to win and ability to effect winning. Two traits that cannot be discounted.

“We loved his ability to elevate not only himself but his teammates and program as well. Dylan also had much success on the Nike EYBL circuit with Team Griffin, where he competed at an elite level, game-in and game-out. Dylan brings a combination of toughness and skill to the wing position. He’s an exceptional scorer in the post and has a relentless mindset to rebound. His size and athleticism allow him to defend multiple positions and bring versatility to that end of the floor. We can’t wait for Dylan to bring his winning edge to Laramie in 2024.”

Or so we thought.

Warlick is the first player to announce his intentions to transfer since Sundance Wicks was officially hired May 12 as the 23rd head coach in Wyoming basketball history.

Here’s what Wyoming’s basketball roster looks like today:

F – Touko Tainamo (Denver)

G – Matija Belic (UC-Santa Barbara)

G – Jehvion Starwood *

F – Oleg Kojenets **

G – Kobe Newton **

G – Nigle Cook **

G – Levi Brown #

G – Cort Roberson #

* True freshman

* Returner

# Walk-on

Division-I programs are allowed up to 13 full-ride players on the roster. Wyoming now has seven available scholarships.

Wyoming’s current coaching staff, according to gowyo.com, includes:

Head coach – Sundance Wicks

Assistant – Nic Reynolds

Assistant – Nick Whitmore

Assistant – Shaun Vandiver

Assistant/ Director of Operations – Tim O’Flannigan

These are the players who have left the program since the conclusion of the 2023-24 season:

G – Brendan Wenzel (TCU)

G – Kael Combs (Drake)

F – Cam Manyawu (Drake)

G – Jacob Theodosiou (Loyola)

F – Jonas Sirtautas (Radford)

F – Caden Powell (Rice)

G – Tyree Ihenacho

G – Obi Agbim

G – Oliver Faubert

G – Dominic Pangonis

F – Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams

F – Dylan Warlick

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