The Strannigan Tournament, an early-season tournament honoring the late Riverton basketball coach and Athletic Director Bill Strannigan, has been cancelled for the 2025-26 season. The tournament entries began to fall like dominoes after Riverton Activities Director Max Mills received a call from Kelly Walsh.
“Initially, in early September, the AD from KW called, and told me that the Wyo Sports Ranch was starting a tournament and since it was in their hometown, they were backing out of the Strannigan,” Mills said.
While he was on the phone with Kelly Walsh, the athletic director from Sheridan called. Sheridan was backing out and going to the Wyo Sports Ranch tournament too, now named the Compete Casper Classic.
That left the Strannigan with Cody, Laramie, and Jackson.
“To get three games, we had to play Jackson in a non-conference game; seeing a conference opponent an extra time during the year isn’t something you want,” Mills said.
That’s where the situation stayed until October.
“A couple of weeks ago, Wyo Sports Ranch called and said we’d love to have you and the other three teams come, we’ll waive fees for this year,” Mills said. “The other ADs said they’d stick with you this year.”
The Compete Casper Classic has a draw that no other regular-season tournament can offer. The varsity games will be played at the Ford Wyoming Center, the site of the state tournament.
Junior varsity and freshman/sophomore games will be played at the nearby Wyo Sports Ranch.
“If we told the Sports Ranch no this year, would we get an invite next year?” Mills said. “We could be on the outside looking in with nowhere to go. We pulled the trigger and cancelled the Strannigan.”
There are plans to expand the tournament next year to host a Class 1-A/2-A tournament one weekend of the season and a Class 3-A/4-A tournament the following weekend.
“If that happened, we ‘d get the Strannigan back next year,” Mills said. “
Hosting the Strannigan Tournament the second week of the season would put a strain on the resources of Fremont County.
“It would be a very busy weekend in the county, Mills said. “The East/West Tournament at Wind River and Wyoming Indian, the Wrangler Invite at Shoshoni, and the Lander Tournament would all be the same weekend. Between motels and restaurants, it would be a full county for the weekend. Somebody will be paying a lot of miles to get officials.”
The Wyo Sports Ranch is a for-profit business, not a WHSAA member.
At present, nine teams are scheduled to attend the three-day tournament from December 11 to 13. Seven of these teams are from Class 4-A Wyoming, along with the defending Class 3-A Lovell Bulldogs and Arvada, Colorado.
“There’ll be some good matchups,” Mills said. “The biggest thing is when KW and Sheridan backed out, it made a tough decision for us.”
Mills was concerned about losing a popular Fremont County tournament that brought teams from across the state to Riverton to compete at the varsity and lower levels.
“I love hosting tournaments, I didn’t take the job trying to stop everything here,” Mills said.
Mills was instrumental in bringing many events to Shoshoni as activities director. The Wrangler Invite Basketball Tournament, the Crossroads Wrestling Tournament, and the Class 1-A/2-A Regional Track Championships, to name a few.
For now, the appeal of playing on the floor of the state tournament site is too much to compete against.