The Mountain Crest girls soccer team hoists the championship trophy after defeating Snow Canyon 3-0 in the 4A girls soccer championship on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. Photo by Robert K. Scott
From Brigham City to the south, Preston and Malad to the north, Cache Valley-area high schools saw success across the board, taking home 19 team championship trophies across a total of 25 sports and competitions which includes 52 individual event championships. A total of 10 teams finished as runner-ups in their respective sports.
Green Canyon, Mountain Crest and Ridgeline were able to earn three championships apiece. Bear River, Bear Lake and Malad each had two title-winning teams with Preston, Rich, Sky View and West Side all having one. Box Elder and Logan were the only ones to get shut out of the trophy case in terms of team sports but both schools produced individual champions.
The following is a comprehensive list of teams that won championships in fall, winter and spring sports. Below that is a list of individual champions in golf, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track & field and cross country.
Fall Sports Champions
Bear Lake (2A Idaho Football)
Coach: Ryan Messerly
Team Record: 10-1
Bear Lake won its first-ever football championship, knocking off three-time defending champion West Side along the way. It represents the program finally getting to the top after consistently being a good, winning team for years but being unable to finally take home the championship trophy.
Green Canyon (4A Utah Girls Tennis)
Coach: Camille Jeppson
Team Record: 11-0
An absolute dominant season from Green Canyon who earned a second straight 4A title. The Wolves had players in all five championship games, taking home individual titles in three of those (3rd Singles, 1st and 2nd Doubles). Perhaps the biggest flex of GC’s run to the team title is that it could have lost in all five championship games (losing all the extra team points for having those title winners) and still won the team championship by a considerable margin.
Mountain Crest (4A Utah Girls Soccer)
Coach: Justin Beus
Team Record: 17-3
There simply was no peer to Mountain Crest in 4A Girls Soccer. Not only did the Mustangs go undefeated against 4A teams but no team even scored a goal against the team as it marched, seemingly inevitably, to a second straight championship.
Rich (1A Girls Volleyball)
Coach: Wendy Lamborn
Team Record: 22-6
A first-ever championship came to the Rich Girls Volleyball program as they finally made it over the hump. Three straight 19-win seasons with no championship hardware finally culminated in a first-place finish after a thrilling five-set victory over Panguitch in the title game.
Ridgeline (4A Utah Girls Volleyball)
Coach: Jaicee Roden
Team Record: 24-7
The Riverhawks severely tested themselves in their non-region slate of games but it paid off with a second straight championship. The seven non-region losses managed to knock Ridgeline down in the RPI (ranked third in the final RPI), but it didn’t stop the Riverhawks from romping through region play, losing just two sets in its 10-0 run through Region 11. Ridgeline also made it through the playoffs with only one set lost in three matches.
Preston (4A Idaho Girls Cross Country)
Coach: Tyler Jones
Preston’s highest finisher in the championship meet placed just ninth and yet the team was able to comfortably win the overall team title over teams like Skyline or Pocatello who each had two of the top six finishers. A lot of that had to do with the fact that the worst finish among Preston runners placed 22nd with all of its runners finishing within 17 seconds of each other. No other school placed more than two athletes inside the top 22 and Preston had seven. A remarkable show of depth.
Winter Sports Champions
Bear Lake (2A Idaho Boys Basketball)
Coach: Brandon Carlsen
Team Record: 24-2
Four years after a back-to-back title run, Bear Lake was able to hoist the championship trophy once again. The Bears finished the season on a 15-game win streak, including an 11-point win in the championship game over Melba.
Mountain Crest (4A Utah Boys Wrestling)
Coach: Jay Tovey
The Mustangs dominated its competition, finishing 129 points ahead of second-place Bear River thanks in part to five individual titles across all weight classes.
Mountain Crest (4A Utah Girls Wrestling)
Coach: Susan Dart
The Lady Mustangs finished with even more individual titles (seven) than the boys did, finishing the championship event with nearly 400 team points.
Ridgeline (4A Utah Girls Basketball)
Coach: Ainsli Jenks
Team Record: 25-0
A young but talented Ridgeline team fell in last year’s title game but returned this year with a vengeance. The Riverhawks rolled through the season, tossing even the most talented opponents aside behind a combination of star-power and depth.
Ridgeline (4A Utah Girls Swimming)
Coach: Taryn McEuen
Ridgeline left no doubts in the championship meet, sweeping the relay races and having eight athletes finish top five in their races to help facilitate a massive chasm in points between the Riverhawks and the second-place team.
Sky View (4A Utah Boys Basketball)
Coach: Kirk Hillyard
Team Record: 23-2
Some teams have talent. Others have chemistry. Few have both, and the Bobcats had both this year. Many of the players on this year’s team are going off to college, but none put their own future ambitions ahead of the team’s goals this year and it resulted in one of the most balanced attacks and stingy defenses that’s been seen at the 4A boys level in recent years.
Runner-up finishes
- Sky View (4A Utah Girls Basketball)
- Bear River (4A/5A Utah Co-Ed Competitive Cheer)
- Bear River (4A Utah Girls Wrestling)
- Bear River (4A Utah Boys Wrestling)
Spring Sports Champions
Bear River (4A Utah Girls Lacrosse)
Coach: Jeremy Webb
Team Record: 17-1
The Bears’ lacrosse team was another squad that simply didn’t seem to have a peer in its class. Bear River went undefeated against 4A teams with an overall goal differential of +267, which meant, on average, the Bears were winning games by 15 goals.
Bear River (4A Utah Softball)
Coach: Calvin Bingham
Team Record: 26-6
In what would eventually become head coach Calvin Bingham’s last season coaching softball, his team made it count, winning the 24-year coach his 11th championship as they rallied in the championship series to defeat Ridgeline, a team they’d lost twice to in the regular season.
Green Canyon (4A Utah Boys Lacrosse)
Coach: Troy Oldham
Team Record: 12-10
Though the Wolves had won the title last year, they’d done so as an underdog and likely weren’t expected to repeat. And when Green Canyon entered the playoffs as the six seed (out of eight teams) with a losing record, perhaps even fewer still though GC would be able to repeat. But doubters be darned, the Wolves defeated the one, two and three seeds on their way to defending their championship.
Green Canyon (4A Utah Boys Soccer)
Coach: Kirt Sadler
Team Record: 13-6
This team is perhaps the definition of playing your best at the right time. The Wolves’ had a solid, but not particularly impressive regular season, at least when compared to other teams in 4A. But in the playoffs Green Canyon turned it up, shutting out four straight opponents en route to its first-ever title.
Malad (2A Idaho Softball)
Coach: Christie Schow
Team Record: 23-0
Malad marched through its season, dominating the competition to complete its undefeated season. The Dragons had a +196 run differential, which comes out to a +8.5 per game average. This year is the latest in a decade-long dynasty that’s seen Malad win eight softball championships since 2012.
Malad (2A Idaho Baseball)
Coach: Bo Clark
Team Record: 14-8
Though they struggled a tad in non-conference (7-8 in those games), the Dragons made it count in conference and in the playoffs, ending the year with a 4-3 win over Nampa Christian to take home the trophy.
Runner-up finishes
- Ridgeline (4A Utah Softball)
- Green Canyon (4A Utah Girls Golf)
- Green Canyon (4A Utah Girls Track & Field)
- Mountain Crest (4A Utah Boys Soccer)
- Mountain Crest (4A Utah Girls Lacrosse)
- Sky View (4A Utah Boys Lacrosse)
Individual Champions
Bear Lake
- Walker Pelto (2A Boys Wrestling) — 182-lbs
Bear River
- Max Miller (4A Boys Wrestling) — 132-lbs
- Sadie Hardy (4A Girls Wrestling) — 100-lbs
- Abigail Trayhorn (4A Girls Wrestling) — 140-lbs
- Eve Allsup (4A Girls Wrestling) — 155-lbs
Box Elder
- Brock Bissegar (5A Boys Track & Field) — Shot Put
- Keaton Jeppsen (5A Boys Track & Field) — Discus
Green Canyon
- Zach Crane, Carson Shakespear (4A Boys Tennis) — 2nd Doubles
- Emma Murri (4A Girls Tennis) — 3rd Singles
- Olivia Phillips, Tori Jeppson (4A Girls Tennis) — 1st Doubles
- Carly Nielsen, Maren McKenna (4A Girls Tennis) — 2nd Doubles
- Tate Walker (4A Boys Track & Field) — 400 meters
- Hailey Shakespear (4A Girls Track & Field) — 3,200 meters
- Abigail Blau (4A Girls Track & Field) — Shot Put
- Maren McKenna (4A Girls Track & Field) — Javelin
- Jackson Landon (4A Boys Wrestling) — 190-lbs
Logan
- Payton Redd (4A Boys Wrestling) — 113-lbs
Malad
- Oaklie Hebdon (2A Girls Track & Field) – 300m hurdles
- Braylen Tripp (2A Boys Track & Field) – Triple Jump
Mountain Crest
- James Rollins (4A Boys Wrestling) — 106-lbs
- Easton Evans (4A Boys Wrestling) — 126-lbs
- Lincoln Lofthouse (4A Boys Wrestling) —138-lbs
- Jace McBride (4A Boys Wrestling) — 150-lbs
- Bridger Thalman (4A Boys Wrestling) — 175-lbs
- Mattee Turnbow (4A Girls Wrestling) — 110-lbs
- Jacie Shock (4A Girls Wrestling) — 120-lbs
- Eastyn Nyman (4A Girls Wrestling) — 130-lbs
- Emmalee White (4A Girls Wrestling) —145-lbs
- Gracie Howard (4A Girls Wrestling) — 170-lbs
- Brooke Keller (4A Girls Wrestling) — 190-lbs
- Kalie Jensen (4A Girls Wrestling) — 235-lbs
Rich
- Violett Taylor (1A Girls Track & Field) — 100m
- Violett Taylor (1A Girls Track & Field) — 200m
- Violett Taylor (1A Girls Track & Field) — 100m Hurdles
- Violett Taylor (1A Girls Track & Field) — 300m Hurdles
- Paige Smith (1A Girls Track & Field) — 1,600m
- Nya Jolley (Girls Wrestling) — 135-lbs
Ridgeline
- Davis Low (4A Boys Tennis) — 3rd Singles
- Owen Munk (4A Boys Wrestling) — 165-lbs
- Keagan Grange (4A Girls Wrestling) — 105-lbs
- Mackenzie Hansen, Isabelle Christensen, Ava Roberts, Brooklyn Bischoff (Girls Swimming) — 200 yard Medley Relay
- Navie Powell, Mackenzie Hansen, Sarah Cook, Laura Ribgy (Girls Swimming) — 200 yard Freestyle Relay
- Navie Powell, Laura Rigby, Ava Caliendo, Sara Cook (Girls Swimming) — 400 yard Freestyle Relay
- Navie Powell (Girls Swimming) — 200 yard Freestyle
- Sara Miranda (Girls Swimming) — Mixed 50 yard Freestyle
- Sara Miranda (Girls Swimming) — Mixed 100 yard Freestyle
Sky View
- Brevin Egbert (4A Boys Track & Field) — Long Jump
- Peter Gibbons, Clayton Nye, Ben Walters, Blake Reed (Boys Swimming) — 200 yard Medley Relay
- Peter Gibbons (Boys Swimming) — 50 yard Freestyle
- Sarah Olsen (Girls Swimming) — 200 yard Individual Medley
West Side
- Colton Gundersen (2A Boys Wrestling) — 160-lbs
- Tayler Crane (2A Girls Track & Field) — 100m Hurdles
