BRIDGER VALLEY — As the leaves fall and the snows start to come signaling a change in the seasons, it also means there is a change in the high school sports seasons.

Now the action will all be indoors instead of some outside and some inside. Both coaches and athletes are looking at the next round of high school sports, the winter season. It brings on the competition in basketball, wrestling, boys swimming, indoor track and more. But, these are the sports in which Valley high school sports teams compete.

Basketball kicked off this week with the Bridger Valley preseason tournament yesterday, today and tomorrow, and with JV and varsity teams hitting the hardwood in Mountain View. The freshman teams will be competing in the LHS Eagle lair.

The first prep basketball rankings for the new 2022-23 preseason polls by the WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls have been released.

As for Lyman and Mountain View, they compete in 3A.

In the girls division, two-time defending champion Douglas is still at the top. The Bearcats received 16 of the 22 first-place votes. They also garnered votes in all five spots of the poll.

The Lyman Eagles have finished second the last two years, and are second by a slim margin in the rankings. They are six points in front of Newcastle, who sits third. Buffalo is fourth, and Mountain View rounds out the top five. The top four teams all received at least one first-place vote.

On the boys’ side, Class 1A saw last season’s champion, Upton, narrowly get voted to No. 1. The Bobcats were one of five teams that got first-place votes.

Class 3A boys are the one division where last season’s champs are not in the preseason top five. Rawlins was the champs last year, and Douglas was the runner-ups

In this preseason poll, Douglas is the favorite. The Bearcats received 14 of the 22 first-place votes. Worland is the pick at No. 2. The Warriors got six first-place votes. Buffalo garnered a first-place vote, and the Bison are third. Powell and Lyman complete the top poll at four and five.

In wrestling, both Mountain View and Lyman are going head-to-head on the mat with their competition at the Evanston High School Invitational today and tomorrow.

The LHS Eagles boys swim team is hosting an invite today, which will include host team Eagles, Kemmerer Rangers, and Sublette County.