Catholic high schools wrap up spring sports

Friday, Jun. 10, 2022

SALT LAKE CITY — The final weeks of the spring high school sports season were filled with state playoffs for many athletes from Utah Catholic Schools. At the end of the tournaments, Juan Diego Catholic High School walked away with its first UHSAA state baseball title in more than a decade, and a St. Joseph Catholic High School athlete took first in javelin at the state championship meet. 

The Soaring Eagle defeated American Leadership Academy 8-1 at Utah Valley University in the state final May 14 (See story in May 27 Intermountain Catholic).

The Juan Diego CHS boys soccer team came in third in region, finishing 6-4. In state play, after a first-round bye, the Soaring Eagle beat Carbon 6-0 on May 4 at Carbon. In the quarterfinals May 7 at home, the Soaring Eagle lost to Layton Christian Academy 3-0. Juan Diego finished the season with an overall 8-8 record.

In girls golf the Soaring Eagle placed fourth at the 3A High School State Championship May 11-12 at Oquirrh Hills Golf Course with a combined score of 780, behind third-place rival Judge Memorial.

“The season was very successful,” coach Jason Andersen said. “We were moved into a very, very tough region with some perennial powerhouses — Richfield and Morgan — in girls golf.”

Sophomore Grayson Gagnon made the all-state team for the second year in a row. She was also a state medalist. 

The potential for next year looks good, Andersen said. With a younger team this year, the program has not lost any members to graduation. “We’ve also got some really good incoming freshmen,” he said.

In state competition, the Soaring Eagle beat Delta’s Rabbits 5-4 in a May 7 play-in game at Carbon. Juan Diego was defeated by #1 seeded Carbon 25-0 the same day at Carbon in the first round of state play. In the consolation playoff, the Draper team lost to Providence 12-2 in the first round. The Soaring Eagle finished the season 7-15 overall.

Singles players Aymeric Blaizot, Thomas Varghese and Gavin VanDam made it to the first round of the state tournament at Liberty Park, May 20 before being defeated by their opponents. Doubles players Nathaniel Bean and Parker Chamberlain also made it to state; they lost in the first round. 

At the May 19 UHSAA State Track & Field Championships at Brigham Young University’s Clarence Robison Track, on May 19, JDCHS girls came in seventh overall with a score of 33. 

The Soaring Eagle girls medley of Malia McConnell, Natalie Lamb, Isabella Pickers and Catherine Stevens finished fourth. Pickers came in fifth in girls 400 meters; in long jump, she took sixth place. Stevens placed sixth in javelin, seventh in the girls 3200 meters and seventh in the 1600 meters. In javelin, Emmalyn Jacobs took third; in discus she came in ninth. Lizzie Mataele took sixth in shot put. In long jump McConnell took ninth place and Crockett was 11th.

In boys events, Curran Madden was 10th in the 3200 meters. Kione Maraele came in fourth in discus; in shot put he took ninth.

The combined Soaring Eagle teams finished 12th overall.

The Jayhawks came first in region with a 9-1 record. In the state tournament, after a first-round bye, they defeated American Prep 4-0 in the second round May 4 at home. They then beat Waterford 4-1, also at home, in the May 7 quarterfinals. They then routed Millard 8-0 on May 10 in semifinals at Juan Diego 8-0, but lost to Rowland Hall 2-0 in the final game at Rio Tinto May 11. 

The final game was disappointing, with the St. Joseph team not playing at its best; the Jayhawks had previously defeated the Lions twice during the season, said coach Paulo Franco, a first-year coach. “The opposing team went there to play hard, and they didn’t allow us to play our best soccer.”

Franco praised the performance of freshman Daniel Fontis, who was leading scorer in all divisions with 30 goals, and midfielder Edward Ramirez who, he said, was “a big thinker there on our team.” 

The last time the Jayhawks advanced to the finals was in 2012. 

Overall, the team did well this year, Franco said. “It was a great season. For the first year I think we did pretty decent.”

Singles players Bjorn Mauritsen and Tyler Arroyo and doubles pairs Benjamin Polzin and Aidan Wilson and Gunner Braunhausen and Hans Mauritsen qualified for the state tournament at Liberty Park, May 20, but all of them lost their matches in the first round. 

Both of the Jayhawks teams, boys and girls, placed first in region championships, with Ruben Ypina winning four gold medals and Sarah Snell, Ellen Rickerd and Lexi Willardson each winning three gold medals apiece.

“This is the largest team we have had for many years,” coach Joe Loffredo said. “We had an incoming freshman class that gave us a lot of good athletes that really complemented our upper classmen.”

In javelin Sarah Snell took first at the UHSAA State Track & Field Championships at Brigham Young University’s Clarence Robison Track on May 19. (See story, above.) The relay team of Snell, Abby Gough, Kenzie Munson, Sam Munson, Cicily Flores and Ellen Rickerd finished sixth in the 4x100 meter relay. In 4x400, the team of Lexi Willardsen, Emilia Pinchak, Kara Sugiyama, Regan Belko, Abby Gough and Julie Rickerd finished 10th.

In other individual events, in the 1600 meters junior Regan Belko came in seventh. In the 3200 meters Ellen Rickerd, finished eighth; her sister Julie placed 10th. 

In the boys 4x100 the Jayhawks came in eighth with the team of Josh Ortiz, Matt Gough, Nic Morales, Ruben Ypina, Brandon Arbegast and Gavin Wolf.

Judge Memorial beat Ben Lomond 11-6 in the play-in game for state play May 6 at home, but lost to Carbon 13-0 in Game 3 May 7 at Carbon. In the consolation bracket, the Bulldogs lost to Summit Academy 3-16, also on May 7 at Carbon. The team finished the season 8-14.

Judge Memorial came in second in region, finishing 8-2. In state play, after a first-round bye, Judge defeated Richfield 8-0 at Richfield on May 4. Then, in the May 7 quarterfinals, the Bulldogs beat Ogden 2-1 at home. In the state semifinals May 10 at Jordan High School, Judge played #1 ranked Layton Christian Academy and were defeated 4-1 in an overtime shootout. 

The Bulldogs finished the season 11-4 overall.

In girls golf the Bulldogs finished region undefeated. All six players finished in the top-10 and senior captain Ava Isaac won the individual region medalist.

Judge then took third place at the 3A High School State Championship May 11-12 at Oquirrh Hills Golf Course with a combined score of 734, just two strokes behind second-place Morgan. The Bulldogs team of Ava Issac, Lucy Callahan, Brooklyn Woods, Sophia Medina, Izzy Valles and Ava Linke played a 366-round the first day, followed by a 368-round on Day Two.

Singles players Rhys Runnels and Brennan Riad played in the state tournament at Liberty Park May 20, but lost in the first round. In doubles play, Yan Chen and John Witt, along with Charles Winters and Michael Gillespie achieved berths at state, but were defeated by their opponents in the first round.

Several Bulldogs put in solid performances at the UHSAA State Track & Field Championships at Brigham Young University’s Clarence Robison Track, May 19. Corrine Higgins came in fourth in the girl’s 3200-meter race; she finished ninth in the girl’s 1600 meters. In discus, Klowie Pike placed eighth; in shot put she took 10th. In boys shot, put Malik Judd took 10th.