Utah's Catholic high schools win state championships, region titles in spring sports

Friday, May. 27, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — Juan Diego Catholic High School won the UHSAA State Championship titles in 3A boys soccer and boys tennis during the spring sports season. The Juan Diego girls lacrosse team won the State Championship Division II Lacrosse title. 

In the state championship boys lacrosse title match, Juan Diego went up against Brighton High School on the Bengals’ home field and lost 8-6, placing second.

St. Joseph and Judge Memorial Catholic high schools also won UHSAA region titles this year. 

Among the individual titles, Chris O’Brien, a senior at St. Joseph CHS, was named an individual state champion in the 1600m at the state championship track and field meet at Brigham Young University May 20-21. 

In addition to the Soaring Eagle state titles (see other stories), the JDCHS track and field finished 4th in Region XI; 11 athletes participated in the state tournament held at Brigham Young University.

The girls sprint medley (200, 200, 400, 800) team of Anna Ewoniuk, Daviana Vaka, Heaven Kelley and Katie Whittington ran a season best time of 4:25.41 at the Region 11 championship, beating the record by almost 9 seconds, said Sam Salts, track and field coach. The girls also ran a season best 50.86 in the 4x100 relay at region.

Senior Brandon Alex finished 8th overall in the 3A boys long jump in the Region 11 championship, while freshman Daviana Vaka qualified for state in four events, the maximum for an individual. Her events are the 100 hurdle and the 100m. 

The boys sprint medley (200, 200, 400, 800) team of Brandon Alex, Jacob Beasley, Matt Bejarano and Turner Crooms set a season best time of 3:57.27 on the first day of the state championship. 

On the girls side, Ewoniuk, Whittington, Kelley and Vaka did not disappoint in either the sprint medley or the 4x100, said Salts. 

The JD girls finished 4th overall and 7th in the girls 4x100 relay. 

Individually, Senior David Fenton placed 4th in the 110 meter hurdles.

Meanwhile, Juan Diego girl’s golf finished 4th in Region 11, just missing the cut for state. 

“We saved our best tournaments for the region championship at Schneiter’s Bluff Golf Course, where our senior captain, Katie Growe, finished second individually (4th for the season in Region 11). Growe qualified individually for the state championship tournament and finished in 10th place. Senior assistant captain Rylee Rendon shot her career best at the region championship and finished in 9th place individually,” said William Trentman, girls golf coach.

The JMCHS girls golf team won the UHSAA Class 4A Region 6 championship. Despite trailing Skyline going into the tournament at Mountain View Golf Course, the girls rallied to beat Skyline by 4 points; the Bulldogs made a great effort to recover and retain first place, said Nate Olson, JMCHS golf coach.

In the region championship, senior captain Grace Nakamura placed first, making her the region champion, shooting 83. JMCHS junior Anna Howard tied for third shooting 84, senior Ally Jee shot 93 for 13th place; sophomore Sofia Clark shot 97; sophomore Sophia Gross shot 100; and senior Marissa Ulibarri shot 110. 

The Bulldogs competed in the two-day UHSAA Class 4A state tournament at Wasatch Mountain Golf Course “with some cold and rainy conditions, but finished in 9th place,” said Brett Allen JMCHS athletic director. “Nakamura had a great turn around the second day shooting 92/82, finishing tied for 16th.” 

JMCHS girls lacrosse was led this year by senior captains Sarah Farrell and Camilla Flores and junior captain Maggie Lewis. 

Although it was a building year for the Lady Bulldogs, “we had an awesome season opener win against Corner Canyon on our home turf,” said Kaely Kernan, JMCHS lacrosse coach. “We had two players, Genevieve Liston and Kate Mattena, named All-Region team players, and Maggie Lewis made the U-17 lacrosse team.” 

JMCHS track and field placed 4th in UHSAA Class 4A Region 6. 

“This was a big season for seniors Xavier Price, Rihan Deng, Edwin Juang, Giir Daw and Rachel Shubella, along with 10 other athletes from the team,” said Mele Vaisima, head track and field coach. 

Sophomore Kate Kranz competed in the 100m and 200m; she also is the Region 6 champion in those events. Junior Mayree Eliss placed 2nd in both shot put and discus at the Region 6 championships, and junior Vanessa Austin took 3rd in the same events at region.

At the state championship meet at BYU, Ellis closed out the season with a 7th place finish in the 4A girls discus. Kranz placed 7th in the girls 100m finals and 8th in the girls 200m finals. Junior Vanessa Austin finished 15th in the girls discus. 

In the 4A girls shot put, Ellis and Austin placed 5th and 6th, respectively.

The JMCHS girls track team placed 15th overall, “beating out our region rivals Skyline, Hillcrest and Murray,” Vaisima said.

SJCHS boys tennis placed second in the UHSAA Class 2A Region 18 championship and placed 5th in the UHSAA State Championship tournament. All seven team players advanced to state; the three singles and two doubles teams. 

During the Region 18 tournament, the #3 singles and two doubles teams made the finals and the #1 and #2 singles made it to the semi-finals.

The #1 singles player, sophomore Ian Armstrong, was one of the youngest competitors in the #1 position, said Bettina Armstrong, boys tennis coach. “It was a great learning experience for him. This is the first time we have placed to go to state in the #2 position in the school’s history; this is the first year the whole team has qualified for state.” 

The #1 doubles team of juniors Simon Huang and Greg Sweetland made it to the semi-finals. The #2 doubles team of juniors Masen White and James Carrington made it to the final round. 

SJCHS boys soccer placed first in UHSAA Class 2A Region 18 and advanced to the Class 2A UHSAA state championship, where they lost in the quarterfinals.  

“I have been running soccer teams all my life, and the commitment, strength and character this team had was outstanding,” said Danny Rennie, coach. “The whole team was good, but four players stood out: Tray Kneudsen, Cayden Jones, Kevin Rivera and Bob Schoof.”

The SJCHS boys golf team was undefeated (6-0) to take first place in Region 18. The Jayhawks finished third at the UHSAA Class 1A golf tournament at Soldier Hollow in Heber City. 

“We improved on the second day to secure third place,” said Cameron Wood, head golf coach. Nick Gruet “had a great second day; he hit some great shots, played with a lot of confidence, and was able to end his career showing a lot of mental toughness and that he was a top 1A golfer.” 

Sophomore Luke Rahe finished 11th, and “overcame a bad first day; he hits the ball far, but he got in trouble in the weeds,” said Wood.  

Junior Danny Donlevy took 12th; he still placed after having two difficult rounds, Wood said.  

All-State team qualifiers were Gruet, Rahe and Donlevy. 

In Region 18, SJCHS track and field boys placed 2nd and girls were 3rd. Each individual member of the team placed first and were region champions: Juniors Kathleen Tomon in shot put and discus; Meghann Clare, 800m, 3200m; Jared Wright in 100m, 200m, 400m and 4x400m relay; Danny Donlevy in 110m hurdles, long jump, high jump; seniors Chris O’Brien in 800m, 1600m, 3200m and 4X400m relay and Mike O’Brien discus.

At the Class 1A State Championship meet at BYU, the SJCHS boys team finished in 6th place; the girls finished in 8th place. 

“We had a successful season with only seven boys; they all qualified for state,” said Joe Loffredo, track and field coach.

Meghann Clare placed 2nd in the 3200m, 3rd place in the 800m and 1600m. Tomon placed 2nd in the discus and shot put. Wright placed 3rd in the 400m and 6th in the 200m. Donlevy placed 3rd in the 110m hurdles and 7th in the long jump and high jump. Chris O’Brien placed 4th in the 800m and 5th in the 3200m. 

Chris O’Brien and Sean Letendre were Academic All-State.

Tomon set a state record at the BYU Invitational against UHSAA Class 1A-2A completion in discus at 119 feet 9 inches; shot put was 33-00.50.