LARAMIE — Jay Sawvel said last Saturday it’s a miserable time to be a head coach at a non-power conference level.
Why?
Two words: Transfer Portal.
Starting cornerback Keany Parks, just three days before the spring window is set to slam shut, entered college football’s version of free agency on Wednesday, becoming the seventh Wyoming player to bolt this spring.
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Quarterback Deyon Batiste is also on the open market. So is running back Harrison Waylee, nickel Wrook Brown and cornerback Charles Williams. Edge rusher Sabastian Harsh has already committed to North Carolina State. Fellow defensive end Dawan Martin is also in search of a new home.
Parks is expected to sign with the University of Houston, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
“I think we got some capabilities to be good,” Sawvel said, referring to the cornerback room. “We have a lot of work to do and we have some development to do, but there’s no weeping or gnashing of teeth, as they would say in the Bible.
“So, we’re OK. We’re going to move on.”
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Parks tallied 41 tackles — 34 solo stops — and broke up seven passes during his first full year in the Cowboys’ secondary. He also added a fumble recovery. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Wisconsin product was moved to cornerback during the 2023 campaign after signing as a running back the year prior.
The former three-star recruit was tabbed the No. 2 prospect in the state, per Rivals.com, rushing for more than 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns over his final two seasons at Bradford High School. That damage came in just 19 games and included a 193-yard performance against Racine Case High School.
Parks was also recruited by Power-4 programs Arizona State, SMU, Iowa State and Wisconsin. Washington State, Louisiana Tech and Tulane also showed interest.
“I loved it from the start,” Parks said back in August of 2023 when asked why he eventually chose Wyoming. “Coach (Tim) Polasek and coach (Craig) Bohl, we just clicked from the start. I felt like this is the place I wanted to go to be great. I plan on putting my head down, just working and showing them what kind of worker they got.
“I feel like I belong in Wyoming. This is my home.”
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Not anymore.
MORE UW FOOTBALL NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS:
* Wyoming’s Dante Drake has been a menace in the trenches
* Cowboys plan to add another QB after Batiste departure
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* Wyoming’s rookie corner is turning heads this spring
* Double or nothing: Pokes’ makeshift front five falters late
* Wyoming’s Adrian Onyeigo learning the pass-rushing ropes
* Wyoming looking to add to roster with spring portal looming
* Can Wyoming’s Gary Rutherford snag a starting gig?: ‘No doubt’
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* Wyoming cornerback to enter NCAA Transfer Portal
* Caleb Robinson: ‘He was missed last year, for sure’
* Sawvel: It’s a ‘wide open’ battle for back-up QB spot
* Cowboy football enters third week of spring camp
* Hendricks on edge rushers: ‘Production pays the bills’
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* Gary Harrell named running backs coach at Wyoming
* Pokes working on hurry-up offense, focus on ‘middle eight’
Sawvel said Wednesday Parks was the third-best corner in last Saturday’s scrimmage, behind rookie Tyson Deen and Snow College transfer BJ Inmon. He also went on to say he will “address the specifics” of Parks’ move following Saturday’s annual spring game.
“We may have a little state of the state type of thing on that, and we’ll talk about some of those things,” the second-year head coach reiterated, adding that he has “supreme confidence” in a couple of young corners on this current roster.
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Deen and Inmon could be opening-day options. Ian Bell, a junior with double-digit appearances under his belt, could also be an option. He has dealt with foot and hamstring issues over the last couple of seasons.
This staff is also high on redshirt freshmen Markie Grant and Tyrese Boss. Same can be said for Incoming transfers like Brooklyn Cheek and Justin Taylor, who could also make the transition from the safety spot.
“I think there are possibilities there if we chose to do that,” Sawvel said. “I don’t know that that’s necessarily what we need to choose to do right now.”
Sawvel said he was already in the market for a defensive back or two himself before Parks’ departure. That’s easier said than done, though, he added.
Cornerbacks are a hot commodity.
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“Well, No. 1, they’re really hard to find right now,” he said. “Look, there’s a reason (Parks leaving) just happened.”
The portal is set to close April 25, less than 24 hours prior to the Cowboys’ exhibition inside War Memorial Stadium. Players have to enter free agency before that date. They can sign with a new program at any time.
Kickoff is slated for noon.
University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
The rules are simple: What was the player’s impact while in Laramie? That means NFL stats, draft status or any other accolade earned outside of UW is irrelevant when it comes to this list.
This isn’t a one-man job. This task called for a panel of experts. Joining 7220’s Cody Tucker are Robert Gagliardi, Jared Newland, Ryan Thorburn, and Kevin McKinney.
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We all compiled our own list of 50 and let computer averages do the work. Think BCS — only we hope this catalog is fairer.
Don’t agree with a selection? Feel free to sound off on our Twitter: @7220sports – #Top50UWFB
GLENROCK, Wyo. — A 55-year-old Wyoming man died Monday night after his vehicle went over a bridge rail and caught fire on Interstate 25 near Glenrock.
Gavin Stanek was traveling north in a Cadillac Escalade around 9:13 p.m. when the vehicle drifted into the median near milepost 156, according to a Wyoming Highway Patrol report. The vehicle continued through the median until it struck a bridge retaining wall.
The driver’s side of the Escalade scraped along the rail before the vehicle went over the edge toward the river. The Cadillac rolled toward the passenger side and landed on its roof on the river embankment, where it was engulfed in flames, the report states.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol identified driver fatigue or the driver falling asleep as a possible contributing factor in the crash. Road conditions were dry and the weather was clear at the time of the incident.
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This story contains preliminary information as provided by the Wyoming Highway Patrol via the Wyoming Department of Transportation Fatal Crash Summary map. The agency advises that information may be subject to change.
As a plaintiff in the 2022 lawsuit that kicked off years of legal sparring over Wyoming abortion rights, Dr. Giovannina Anthony had waited a long time for Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision on the state’s abortion bans.
“It has been a long road,” she said. One with ups and downs, drawbacks and delays. And even though the high court ruled against the state’s abortion bans, she’s not under the illusion that the fight for abortion access is over.
“But at least today, we can claim a victory and say, it was really worth it,” said Anthony, a Jackson obstetrician. “It was worth it to go four years and keep it up and keep raising money and keep the awareness going. I’m really proud of our team. I’m really proud of what we accomplished.”
In reading the Supreme Court’s decision siding with plaintiffs, Anthony said, “Clearly, this is a court that holds a lot of respect for our constitution.”
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That’s because much of the decision hinged on constitutional language.
Anthony and other plaintiffs argued that abortion is enshrined in the “right of health care access” in Article 1, Section 38 of the Wyoming Constitution. The clause states, “Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.”
The state’s attorneys, meanwhile, countered that abortion isn’t health care.
But in deciding what that language means in this case, “all five Wyoming Supreme Court justices agreed that the decision whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy is a woman’s own health care decision protected by Article 1, Section 38,” the court’s summary stated.
As abortion rights activists in Wyoming and beyond celebrated the decision, the anti-abortion camp decried it and called for legislative action.
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“This ruling is profoundly unfortunate and sadly serves to only prolong the ultimate proper resolution of this issue,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement. While the ruling may settle a legal question for the time being, Gordon said, “it does not settle the moral one, nor does it reflect where many Wyoming citizens stand, including myself.”
Anti-abortion activists in the silent March for Life in Cheyenne in January 2020. (Nadav Soroker, Wyoming Tribune Eagle/Wyoming News Exchange)
Gordon asked the Attorney General’s office to file a petition for rehearing the decision, which it will file within 15 days.
The voters of Wyoming should settle the matter once and for all, Gordon argued. “A constitutional amendment taken to the people of Wyoming would trump any and all judicial decisions.”
He called on the Legislature to pass such an amendment during the upcoming session and deliver it to his desk. A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to appear on the ballot in the following general election.
Gordon may get his wish during the Legislature’s 2026 budget session, which convenes Feb. 9.
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State lawmakers are already preparing a bill to modify the Wyoming Constitution and clear a path for another attempted abortion ban. Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, a Republican from Hulett, said that he’s been workshopping language with Torrington Republican Sen. Cheri Steinmetz.
“I’ve got to run it by a lot of other people,” Neiman said.
Reps. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams and Chip Neiman listen during a 2023 hearing on their request to defend Wyoming’s abortion ban. (Brad Boner/Jackson Hole News&Guide/Pool)
Ideally, he added, a single constitutional amendment would be considered, although the legislative strategy is still up for discussion.
“We’ve got a little over a month before we have to be in session,” Neiman said. “That’ll give us time to kind of see which is maybe the best plan of action.”
A constitutional amendment would have to navigate the legislative process in a 20-day session geared toward passing Wyoming’s budget. Then, in the 2026 general election, more than half of Wyoming voters who cast a ballot would have to agree to the constitutional change.
Neiman struck an optimistic tone about an amendment’s prospects of passing the first hurdle during the session in Cheyenne.
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“I can’t speak for the other chamber,” he said, “but in my chamber I’ve got a lot of phone calls and a lot of texts from a lot of my legislators who are just beside themselves at what happened.”
Senate President Bo Biteman did not return a phone call before this story published.
Victorious
Chelsea’s Fund, an organization that helps pay for abortion services, was another of the plaintiffs that challenged Wyoming’s abortion bans. Executive Director Janean Forsyth said Tuesday’s decision affirms what her organization has long known: “that abortion is essential health care, and Wyoming women have a constitutional right and the freedom to make their own health care decisions, and that should be without government interference.”
Forsyth was flooded with messages and calls Tuesday, she said, especially from the community of reproductive rights organizations.
“I think that [the news is] a beacon of hope for, not only Wyoming communities and families, but also nationwide,” she said.
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Christine Lichtenfels was Chelsea’s Fund executive director when the original suit was filed and throughout much of the legal battle. Relief wasn’t quite the word to describe how she felt Tuesday, she said.
“In reading the decision, there is just a sense that, ‘Oh, there is reason in the world,” she said. “It makes me think that, yes, Wyoming is the Equality State. We can say that now without cringing.”
(Disclosure: Lichtenfels is currently working with WyoFile on an unrelated legal matter.)
The Wellspring Health Access clinic in Casper is pictured in December 2022, and shows signs of May 2022 arson, including boarded up windows. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile)
Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access in Casper, was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Knowing the decision would directly impact the facility’s fate, Clinic President Julie Burkhart was nervous when she opened it. Reading quickly dispelled her fears, she said, as it dawned on her that the justices sided with the plaintiffs’ legal team.
“We are delighted,” she told WyoFile.
Many people questioned her 2021 decision to open an abortion clinic in such a conservative state, she said. The court decision solidifies an intuition she felt back then about Wyoming residents’ sense of what’s fair and right.
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Burkhart and colleagues expect future challenges to arise, however.
“While we celebrate today’s ruling, we know that anti-abortion politicians will continue their push to restrict access to health care in Wyoming with new, harmful proposals in the state legislature,” Burkart said in a statement. “Patients should not have to live in fear that their health care decisions will be suddenly upended at the whim of a judge or lawmaker.”
Across the state in Jackson, Dr. Anthony anticipates the Wyoming Freedom Caucus will attempt to pass laws that impose targeted restrictions against abortion providers — such as forcing patients to hear a fetal heartbeat or wait a certain time period before the procedure.
“Unfortunately, the fight’s not over,” Anthony said, “but this is a great moment for us.”
Heartache
Abortion opponents expressed sadness Tuesday and vehemently disagreed with the court’s opinion.
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State Rep. Rachel Rodriguez Williams was lead sponsor of one of the abortion bans. The Cody Republican and chair of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus did not respond to a request for comment, but posted about the decision on X.
“My heart aches for Wyoming today,” Rodriguez Williams posted. “Thanks to the decision of four unelected, unchecked attorneys, it’s open season in Wyoming for innocent, preborn babies. Make no mistake: courts can get things wrong, and they sure did get this wrong. I’ll never stop fighting to protect life.”
Anti-abortion billboards can be seen along some Wyoming highways. (Tennessee Watson/WyoFile)
Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray also protested the decision, which he called “outrageously wrong” and “a leftwing activist decision totally out of touch with the Wyoming Constitution.”
Natrona County anti-abortion activist Bob Brechtel, a former Wyoming House member, also expressed frustration with the courts, criticizing the nearly two-year-long wait for a decision and saying he was “ashamed” of the outcome from the high court.
In 2011, Brechtel co-sponsored the bill authorizing a later-successful constitutional amendment ballot measure that now protects individuals’ rights to make their own health care decisions. Born out of opposition to the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, what became Article 1, Section 38 caused some lawmakers to worry about potential unintended consequences.
Fifteen years later, one unintended consequence came to fruition. Reached Tuesday, Brechtel confirmed that he did not intend to protect women’s right to have an abortion in Wyoming.
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“There was nothing in the legislation about killing innocent human beings,” he said. “This whole thing has been completely regenerated into something that it was never intended to be.”
It is Week 4 in the 2026 Wyoming High School boys’ swimming and diving season. It features several medium-sized competitions. After a dual in Douglas on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday are packed with meets. Jackson hosts its two-day invitational with four teams heading to Teton County. There are three-team events in Casper, Gillette, and Sheridan on Friday, plus two five-team meets at Cody and Rock Springs.
WYOPREPS BOYS SWIMMING AND DIVING WEEK 4 SCHEDULE 2026
Saturday also has swim invites at Evanston, Powell, and Sheridan. The schedule for Week 4 of the prep boys’ swimming and diving season in the Cowboy State is below. The schedule is subject to change.
RAWLINS AT DOUGLAS – dual
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CASPER TRI at NCHS – Cheyenne East, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County.
