Catholic high school teams shine in spring sports

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Catholic high school teams had a strong spring sports season, with Judge Memorial going head to head with Juan Diego for the state lacrosse championship; the JDCHS girls golf claiming the 3A state title; and Soaring Eagle tennis player Keanau Lei Foc taking first place in the state tournament, while his schoolmate Maile Mataele won state titles in both discus and shot put.

St. Joseph CHS

Boys Soccer

After tough region play where they came in fourth (4-2), the Jayhawks came back to finish the season with a solid performance at state (9-5).

“The boys did really well with what we had,” coach David Newman said. “It was a miracle we got as far as we did.”

The team’s challenges began when just 11 players showed up for tryouts, Newman was able to recruit three more players, but they were all inexperienced. Despite this and numerous injuries, the St. Joseph team reached the semi-finals of the state tournament. In that game on May 8 the Jayhawks lost to the Maeser Prep Academy Lions 3-2.

“The semifinal was a great game,” Newman said. “We were doing really, really well until 15 minutes from the end” when some mistakes were made and “then we lost one of our best players, Daniel Fontes, who tore his hamstring.”

In spite of the small number of players on the team, “the boys themselves were great,” Newman said. “I couldn’t have asked for them to work harder or put more effort in, or focus more, or attend more regularly. They did everything and more that their numbers would allow them to do; it was great.” 

Along with Fontes, Alex Fernandez and Brock Smith made significant contributions during the season, Newman said.

Girls Golf

At the May 14 2A State Golf Championship at The Ridge Golf Course in West Valley City, St. Joseph came in seventh with 430 strokes.

Juan Diego CHS

Boys Lacrosse

The Soaring Eagle finished third in region, 3-3. In the first round of state play against Provo May 13 at home, they beat the Provo Bulldogs 15-1. Then, in the second round at home, they routed the Canyon View Falcons 17-7. In the quarterfinals they defeated West Field in a tight 9-8 game. They then beat Snow Canyon 14-10 in the semifinals on May 21 at Westminster before heading to the final against Judge Memorial, but lost 15-4. (See "Bulldogs claim state 4A lacrosse title.")

Girls Golf 

The Soaring Eagle team came in first with 699 strokes at the 3A state championship May 8 at Lakeside Golf Course. (See the story in the May 23 Intermountain Catholic.)

Boys Soccer

Juan Diego finished second in region 4-2 and 6-11 overall. At the state tournament, after a first-round bye they were defeated 4-1 by Ben Lomond at Ben Lomond. 

3A Softball

The Soaring Eagle ended region in second place, (6-2) and 14-9 overall. At state, after a first-round bye, they lost to Richfield 1-0 in the May 3 second round game at home.

Boys Tennis

In first singles Keanau Lei Foc beat Judge’s Diego Garrido 6:0, 6:1 in the final match at state. (See the story in the May 23 Intermountain Catholic). The Juan Diego team finished fifth overall with 19 points.

Track & Field

In the 3A Track and Field State Championships held May 15-17 at BYU, the Juan Diego girls finished sixth with 41 points.

In discus, junior Maile Mataele took first, throwing a distance of 125′8.0. She also took first in shot put, throwing 36′01.75. Junior Ila Jacobs was fourth in javelin (118′06.0), fifth in discus (99′11.0″) and sixth in shot put (32′01.5). Ella Williams, also a junior, placed seventh in javelin (98′08.0). In the 400 meters dash freshman Ella Kerrigan was fourth (1:00.80).

Junior Braylen Fail placed seventh in both the boys 100-meter dash (11.10) and the 200-meter dash (22.54). The Soaring Eagle team was seventh in the 4x400 relay (4:14.95). The boys did not place overall.

Judge Memorial CHS

Boys Lacrosse

The Bulldogs defeated Juan Diego’s Soaring Eagle team 15-4 on May 23 in the state final at Westminster. (See "Bulldogs claim state 4A lacrosse title.")

Girls Golf 

Judge finished fifth at state with 790 strokes.

Girls Lacrosse 

Judge came in third in region, finishing 2-2. In the first round of state play on May 13 at home, they beat the Crimson Cliffs 20-6. In the May 15 second round, they were defeated by Payson 15-6 at home.

Boys Soccer

The Bulldogs took first in region 6-0, finishing 8-5 overall. After a state first-round bye, they beat Richfield 4-0 at Richfield in the second round. They fell to the Ogden Tigers 5-1 in the quarterfinal game at Ogden.

Boys Tennis

In first singles at the May 10 state championship match at Liberty Park, Bulldog Diego Garrido-Uson lost to Juan Diego Junior K. Lei Foc 6:0, 6:1. (See the story in the May 23 Intermountain Catholic.)

In 2nd singles at the state quarterfinals, Judge sophomore Aman Tuteja beat Morgan’s Sawyer Peterson, a junior, 6:4, 6:0. He lost to Waterford School sophomore Mack Moore 6:4, 7:5 in the semi-final match. In 3rd singles in the final match, Judge sophomore Ryan Witt lost to The Waterford School’s freshman Shiv Sondhi 6:7, 4:6.

In 1st doubles sophomore Kai Patterson and senior Chance Voorhes made it to the state quarterfinals on May 9 before being defeated 6:1, 6:0 by a Waterford School duo Sahil Shah and Preston Jenkins, both seniors.

Also in the state quarterfinals, freshmen Thatcher Miller and Ethan Molina beat Juab High School senior Mason Allred and sophomore Nathan Barnes 6:0, 4:0 in 2nd doubles. Moving on to the semifinals, they lost 6:0, 6:4 to freshman Evan Owens and junior Eric Brown of Rowland Hall. 

The Judge Memorial tennis team finished third behind Waterford School and Morgan with 35 points.