Wyoming Five Star has visited another basketball program this week. This time, a town of 403 people and near the Wyoming/Nebraska border. The Lingle-Ft. Laramie Doggers (1A #1) have surfaced as one of Wyoming’s most exciting basketball programs – boasting 38 consecutive wins over the last two seasons.
The team has been forged over years of youth basketball, finally culminating in a 1A State Championship in March, 2025. The Doggers carried an unbeaten, 28-0 record into the ‘25-26 season – now sporting another 10-consecutive wins in the early stretch of this year.
It’s not far-fetched to have this team picked for another championship. So far, they’re ranked #1 in 1A by Wyoming Five Star. The Doggers graduated a few pivotal players, like Brody Roberts, but retain a very solid core. The best part about the Doggers — it’s not a flashy offense that kills you.
In 2026, the Doggers look fairly different, but deploy the same strategy and culture again this time around. It’s all about defense. So far they’ve played 10 games, and won them all. To open the season, Lingle played 4A Cheyenne South, 3A Wheatland, 3A Burns and beat them all handily.
It’s impressive that a town of 403 people, with about 100 in the high school, can deploy 18 boys to the basketball program. In the 1A Class, that’s enough for a JV program to boot. The buy-in comes from a philosophy organized by Matt Rhule of Nebraska Football – Mission Over Ego. The Doggers moniker, stitched onto their warmup tops, reads “We Over Me.”
When you can cultivate a program that gives young people an opportunity to participate in an extra curricular activity – great. But to build life-long bonds, learn teamwork, and have a little success? Even better.
Dominant Big Man
Senior leader, Brady Cook, has risen to be one of the best talents Wyoming has to offer. The 6-foot-5 bigman is currently averaging 21.5ppg and 11.5rpg. In 2024, during his sophomore campaign, Brady set the school record for blocks in a season (83). He currently sits in 6th-place All-Time for blocks in a career (211).
Cook is having another excellent season. He holds all five of their top-five scoring outputs, headlined by 31 against Hemingford, NE, and 30 against Kaycee. He’s already scored 196 total points, 101 rebounds, 34 steals, and 22 blocks through only 10 games.
Cook has found himself among the top-10 Wyoming players in several categories. As of Jan. 15, Cook averages 21.5ppg (8th), 11.2rpg (3rd), 3.8 steals per game (7th), 2.4 blocks per game (7th), and shoots 57% from 2 (8th).
The 2026 team features another senior leader, Anthony Arnusch, who prowls the perimeter with one thing in mind – defense. Tagged as the defensive captain, Arnusch is the son of Lingle’s “defensive coordinator,” Jesh Arnusch. Since kindergarten, the Cook’s and Arnusch’s have been playing and coaching together — all the while anticipating a run in 1A-ball before anyone else knew it was possible.
Tasked with guarding every team’s best player, Arnusch has risen his level of commitment back to the program. So far in this year’s campaign, Arnusch doesn’t post ridiculous stats like his counter-part, Cook. He finds ways to win, and isn’t afraid to do the dirty work of defense and rebounding — arguably one of the best intangible traits in basketball.
Emphasizing Defense
As the young team began to progress through middle school, they eventually realized that a physical, man-to-man defense would be required to achieve their expectations. At the time, man-to-man defense was still taking a backseat to zone-styled defenses in the 1A Classification.
Head Coach Chris Cook took the time to chat with Wyoming Five Star, illustrating this program and explaining some of the unexpected success that Lingle-Ft. Laramie has recently gone through. The farmer, with two sons on the team, has been preparing this senior-group for 12 years now – clear back to kindergarten.
“These dudes have talked about winning a championship for 10 years now,” said Coach Cook. “I remember telling them, ‘Guys, if we’re ever going to get to the next level, we have to figure out how to help you guard man-to-man’.”
Thus began the journey of mastering the art of defense – a trait still embodied by the Doggers today. Last season, the Doggers never really trailed anyone entering in the fourth quarter (trailed by one point against Upton in State Championship game), and outscored opponents by over 1,000 points. They held teams to a state-leading 32.3 points per game.
“Kids will show up early, or stay late, to shoot or work on offense. So [Coach Arnusch and I] decided that during practice, we would primarily focus on defense. We’ve found that our practices are a lot more efficient, the kids get after it more, and the structure has helped us to stay really focused on what wins basketball games,” said Cook.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Doggers philosophy is still defense. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Sometimes the best offense is a good defense,” and that may as well be written on the wall in the Dogger Dome.
However, the Doggers have shot the ball incredibly well over the last two years. In ‘24-25, the Doggers shot 54.3% from the floor to lead all classes in Wyoming – eight points higher than the second best. At least back to when the state statistician began tracking stats in 2008, 54.3% is thought to be the highest team average in 18 years.
This Doggers group, of course, broke the school record for a single-game shooting percentage, as well. Lingle visited the Upton Bobcats last March, who at the time, hadn’t been beaten on their home-court in almost a decade. The Doggers shot 73.3% from the floor, and won by 12 and took home the 1A East Regional trophy.
One week later, the Doggers travelled to the Ford Wyoming Center for the Wyoming Basketball State Tournament. They played Encampment (W, 55-36) and Little Snake River (W, 59-45) in the first two rounds, opening the door for a rematch with Upton.
It was the Doggers 3rd championship in school history (1st since 1990). They took down the Bobcats from Upton by a score of 41-32. Although the Doggers scored nearly 25 points below their average, they held Upton to 32 points — perfectly on par with their points-allowed average.
Remembering the 1990 Championship Team
Prior to the Doggers winning a championship in 2025, they hadn’t won in 35 years. Clear back to 1990 was the last time a basketball team from Lingle won a basketball title. When the team arrived home from the State Tournament last March, they immediately organized a celebratory banquet, with a few special guests in mind.
“We had alumni from all over the country like Iowa and Texas; some still live locally. But they made the time to come back, and we had 9 of 12 players from the 1990 team come celebrate with us, plus both coaches” said Cook.
“That’s one of the things I’ve tried to do – because I am a Dogger alumni – is to bring in other alumni to talk to the guys once in a while, like what it meant to be a Dogger. We had everyone around the table, those two championship teams, and we just talked for 2.5 hours … Some of those guys hadn’t seen each other in 35 years.”
To cultivate a little piece of 1990, the ‘25-26 Doggers have fostered a new tradition. It’s a hard-hat … named Jason. Senior captains select one player from the team to sport “Jason” on the bus, around town, or at school the next day. It represents an acknowledgment of relentless effort, reserved only for that day’s hardest worker.
The hard-hat is named after Jason Larreau, senior bigman on the 1990 championship team. Larreau wasn’t the best player on the team, but he was known throughout Lingle as one of the hardest working kids around.
“I still remember Jason dribbling his basketball up and down Main Street in the preseason. He wasn’t the most talented guy, but he was putting in the extra effort to get ready for basketball season. That’s what our hardhat represents,” said Cook.
