Fall sports bring regional team and individual state titles to the Utah Catholic high schools

Friday, Nov. 06, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — The three Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Salt Lake City had teams that won region titles and individuals who won state titles for their schools during the fall sports season. 

Judge Memorial CHS

 – UHSAA Class 4A

The JMCHS Girls Tennis team finished the Region VI season 3-3, and 10-4 overall including tournament and non-region play. Judge qualified four out of five positions for the state tournament: Freshman Katherine MacPhail at #1 singles; junior Sarah Lewon at #3 singles, senior co-captain Emmi Koszinowski and sophomore Emily Rougelot at #1 doubles and seniors Sarah Beth Anderson and Mia Chase at #2 doubles. Due to injuries, JMCHS had to redo their lineup for the state tournament. Mia Chase moved to #1 doubles and sophomore Veronica Start was brought up from the junior varsity to play at #2 doubles.

None of the Lady Bulldogs placed at state. 

The JMCHS Cross Country team had four individuals make it to the state championships. For the boys, sophomore Zach Shubella finished in 12th place at the Region VI Championship meet, which earned him a spot in the state meet and a 2nd team All-Region Honor.

The Bulldog girls had a trio of runners at the state meet: Katie Scott, Allie Eggert and Rachel Shubella. 

Coming into the season, “I knew Rachel would be strong because she was our #1 runner last year and made it to state before,” said Coach Jason Heideman. “Scott and Eggert both had severe injuries last year, which made them miss most of the season. All three of them spent the summer training for the fall cross country season.”

In the Region VI championship meet, all three girls set personal records, said Heideman. Scott led the way for the Bull-dogs, finishing 17th; Eggert finished in 18th. Both Scott and Eggert made the 2nd team All-Region. Shubella finished 21st, missing 2nd team All-Region honors by one place. 

All of the members of the JMCHS Boys Golf team qualified for state; a first for Coach Nate Olson in his five years as coach, and the first time for the school in more than five years. 

“I have had individuals qualify but not the entire team,” Olson said. 

After the first day of play at Soldier Hollow Golf Course, three players qualified to play the second day: Senior Max Butcher, junior Ben Butcher and sophomore Carter Holyoak. Max Butcher shot 77-75 and had the best finish, about 30th place, and was an honorable mention for All-State. 

Juan Diego CHS

– UHSAA Class 3A

Every Soaring Eagle fall sports team qualified for its respective state competition.

JDCHS Girls Tennis – Sophomores Reagan Sorge, Lauren Sorge and Samantha Howa all qualified for the 1, 2, 3 singles positions at the state tournament, while senior Anna Warrell and junior Taylor Uno qualified at the #1 doubles position, and seniors Angel Judd and Lauren Popp were the region champions at #2 doubles.

At the state tournament, singles Reagan Sorge and Lauren Sorge and the #1 doubles team were eliminated in the first round, while Howa and the #2 doubles were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

The JDCHS Girls Soccer team finished with a record of 10-5-1. 

“Our team battled in a very competitive region and won the Region II title,” said Myriah Fankhauser, soccer coach. “We advanced into the playoffs as the number 1 seed and made it to the quarterfinals, where we battled against a competitive Snow Canyon High School team; we eventually lost in a penalty shootout.  These girls played until the last second and I am proud of the amount of character they displayed on and off the field this season.”

JDCHS Boys Golf placed third in Region 11, while sophomore Michael Walters finished 2nd individually. The team qualified for the state tournament, and all six team members made the cut and played both days of the tournament on the Soldier Hollow Gold Course. The team placed 9th overall; senior Colton Stratton shot 77-77, finishing among the top 20 state contenders and receiving an All-State Honorable Mention. 

The JDCHS Cross Country boys and girls teams’ top three runners based on regional times qualified for the state meet on Oct. 21, said Julie Talbott, cross country coach. The top running time at the meet for boys was 16:02.9 and 17:58.9 for girls. The following students ran in the state meet at Sugarhouse Park: Andrew Zinman - senior and team captain (20:40), sophomore Ross Buerger (20:08), freshman Nick Kasue (20:37). Anna Schlehuber, junior and team captain (24:06), sophomore Hannah Schmidt, (22:23), junior Brianna Veltri (25:16).

The following students ran varsity during the regional championships: Zinman, Buerger, Schlehuber, Veltri, sophomores Turner Crooms, Christian Velasco, Gary Beardsley and Michael Herman;  and freshman Nick Kasue.

St. Joseph CHS 

– UHSAA Class 1A

SJCHS Girls Soccer finished in 3rd place in Region 14, and went on to the first round of the state playoffs.

SJCHS girls cross country junior Meghan Clare took 2nd place in the 1A class state championship and 1st place in the Region 18 championship.

The SJCHS boys cross country team was the Region 18 Champions and placed 5th at the state tournament.

SJCHS runners Chris O’Brian and Sean Letender were selected as Academic All-State.

The cross country team as a whole worked hard all year long to achieve the results the team wanted, with “almost all of the boys on the team making new personal records on both the region and state courses,” said Alex Shaw, cross country coach. “Our team worked well together.”

The SJCHS Boys Baseball team had a perfect record of 16-0 in region play and was the Region 18 champions. They went on to the quarter-finals of the state tournament.

The SJCHS Girls Tennis team finished in 3rd place in Region 14. The doubles team of Kaili Kashiwaeda and Margaret Maher went on to the state championship game, where they lost to the Rowland Hall doubles team.