Three new teams—girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse and boys volleyball—were added to Hillcrest’s spring sports line-up, adding depth to its strengths this season in boys tennis, boys soccer and track and field and the solid play of girls softball. Here’s a look at the teams’ seasons.

Husky boys tennis won back-to-back region championships, winning 11 matches this season. Their only two losses came to East and Alta high schools.

The team’s eighth place at the state championships at Liberty Park was the best finish in the last 20 years; it came with the usual challenges for the spring sports team that earned the highest grade point average with a 3.92 average, and four players being named to the Academic All-State team, coach Creighton Chun said.

“Some of their matches were set at about the same times their IB (international baccalaureate) tests were,” he said.

For example, senior Aarav Parikh, who was region champion in third singles, took penalties and almost had to forfeit as he was late getting to his match.

“Aarav came 30 seconds from for being disqualified because his test was at nine in the morning at Hillcrest. He got done around 10, then he had to drive to the park. When my brother saw him, he jumped in the driver’s seat to save Aarav the two minutes of parking the car, which would have cost him the match,” he said. “Most coaches are accommodating for academics, especially when a student-athlete’s IB diploma and scholarship to UC Berkeley depend on it.”

Parikh lost in the semifinals to the eventual state champion.

The Huskies’ No. 1 player, freshman Harith Sathish, won his first round, but he lost in the second. He placed third in region.

Senior Payton Bell, No. 2 singles, lost in quarterfinals after winning region.

Both doubles teams lost in the second round at Liberty Park. At region, the first doubles team of sophomore Lars Dalgleish and junior Rohan Khakural placed third, while the second doubles team of sophomore Crew Hutchings and freshman Kabir Kandakuri were region champions.

The team will lose five seniors: Parikh, Bell, Aarnav Kandakuri, Briggs Hunt and
Ivan Chen. 

“Even with these players graduating, we’ll still be strong next year,” Chun said.

In the region JV championship, freshman George Wang finished second in first singles; sophomore Om Sanghvi won second singles; junior Vineet Subramanyan took third in third singles. The first doubles JV team of freshmen Brian Wei and Alex Liu placed third and the second doubles team of junior Ryan Graves and sophomore Caleb Timmerman finished second.

“Our students, they succeed academically and they’re region champions,” Chun said. “We are strong and deep, which helped since the whole year we didn’t play the same varsity team because there was something going on—state FBLA, state HOSA, theater, orchestra, choir, and our players were in all of those. We were always moving someone up or changing where they played, and they stepped up every time.”

In track and field, coach Scott Stucki was not surprised senior Anna Ames was crowned state pole vault champion, after placing second the past
two seasons.

“She was by far the best pole vaulter in 4A,” Stucki said. “When she came in (to vault), I think everybody else had already gotten out. As soon as she cleared her height, she was
the champion.”

He hoped Ames would set the record, but she missed that mark.

“She had a pretty decent season, but she didn’t vault quite as high as she did last year,” he said, adding that Ames is talking to the Utah Valley University coach about possibly competing for the Wolverines next season.

Ames was joined in the top 10 in pole vault by teammates junior Charly Nelson, third place; freshman Katie Zimmerman, fourth place; freshman Kallie Doverspike, sixth place; and sophomore Lindsay Siavrakas, seventh place.

Overall, Stucki was pleased with the 80-member boys’ and girls’ track teams, which finished third and fourth, respectively, at region this year. At state, the boys finished 18th and the girls placed 22nd.

At state for the girls, senior Edith Neslen, who has committed to run for Salt Lake Community College, ran the 3200; sophomore Sophie Peterson competed in both the 100 and 300 hurdles; freshman Ella Goodman ran the 800; and junior Dayana Mulamba and freshman Coco Collins threw the discus and shot put. 

Three of the four relays also qualified to run at state. The 4x100 relay team consisted of Zimmerman, sophomore Isabella Christensen and seniors Sarah Pruden and Jessi Johnson; the 4x400 included Goodman, Peterson, Pruden and sophomore Claire McCann; and the 4x800 relay was Neslen, Goodman, McCann and freshman Tavia Wilde.

On the boys’ side at state, senior Josiah Gonzales got fourth in the 400 meters.

“He had a good season and is talking to college track coaches about competing next year,” Stucki said.

Coming in fifth place in pole vault was senior Wesley Ellsworth, joined by teammate junior Carter Hill, who took seventh; they both performed their best vaults. 

Sophomore Drew Grimshaw competed in the 110 and 300 hurdles, juniors Adam Collins and Mika’ele Alcivar threw the discus, Collins threw the shot put, junior Lyrik Martinez threw the javelin, and senior Patrick Oviatt did the high jump. 

Junior Josh Martin ran the 1600 and teamed up with Gonzales, senior Mateo Paul and junior Hunter Hanson for the 4x400 relay. The 4x100 relay team was seniors Alex Gonzalez, Marcus Sollers, Tayden Black and junior Thomas Harris and the 4x200 relay was Black, Paul, Hanson and Gonzales. Hillcrest’s 4x800 relay included Martin with teammates seniors Zack Glover and Joel Andrews and junior Matt Keller.

Stucki noted Andrews had “a pretty good season. He went into the year with a PR (personal record) of a 5:36 for the 1600 and ran 5:02 at region.” A few days after state, he posted a 4:57.

“He and Zack are going to run a trail 50K in the fall,” said Stucki, adding they will join Hillcrest’s cross country team on summer workouts.

The boys soccer team won its first state playoff game against Bear River High before falling in the second round to Dixie High in St. George.

The team finished fourth in region play at 5-5, and were 7-9 overall with wins against Mountain Crest, Park City, Stansbury, Cottonwood and Jordan high schools.

“There was a three-way tie for third place; our high RPI from playing tough teams early in the season helped with our placing,” coach Brett Davis said. “Most of the teams in our preseason tournament were all in the top of their classifications in 5A and 6A and we did quite well against them. We had a pretty good year considering we were in the toughest region in the state.”

The Huskies had nine seniors, three—Kayden Burton, Collin Scarbrough and Jackson Braun—were starters. Junior Bridger Healy along with Scarbrough were named to the 4A honorable mention all-state soccer team.

“Most of the team is playing on summer club teams, but we still will have open gym opportunities. We have a young team and a lot of them got varsity experience that will bode well in the future. We even had a couple of freshmen get playoff time,” he said.

Davis hopes members of both the boys and girls soccer teams will hold free clinics for the community following Midvale’s Harvest Day Parade as they did last year. They also provided a free clinic at Copperview.

“We want to be out in the community, serving those who have supported us,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to get kids excited about being active and learning soccer.”

Two Husky softball players, seniors Kyli Carrell and Brooklyn Ricci, were named to the 4A All-State First team. 

Carrell, who pitched for the team, compiled stats this season of 182 strikeouts, a .627 batting average, 52 hits, 10 homeruns and 52 runs batted in. Catcher Ricci’s stats were a .587 batting average, 37 hits and 16 homeruns.

They led the team to beat Carbon, Park City, Ben Lomond, Green Canyon, Cottonwood, Brighton, Jordan, Olympus, Kearns and Corner Canyon high schools, finishing 13-11 overall and 6-6 in region to place fourth this season.

Ricci, Carrell, plus pitcher Lily Hutchings, have signed to play college ball. Ricci has committed to Utah Valley University; Carrell to College of Southern Idaho; and Hutchings to Dawson Community College in Montana. 

At bat on the baseball field, senior Matt Miller has been known as the player to count on.

“I’ve had the most hits on the team. I hit gaps, hit singles. My strikeout ratio is low. My (junior) season, I only struck out four times,” he said.

Now, Miller is expecting to play baseball every day this summer, preparing for his freshman year at the College of Idaho, where he signed to play ball. With his academic preparation of international baccalaureate, Advanced Placement and concurrent enrollment classes, he plans to pursue studies in the medical or business field.

Playing “straight baseball every day” is something Miller has done for years. He traveled the country last summer playing.

Miller started playing at age 3 when his parents signed him up for T-ball.

“T-ball was the best; I always hit home runs,” he said. “I stuck with baseball because I love it. My heart always has been with it through the ups and downs. I love competing in the game. It’s super fun no matter how bad or good I’m doing, but I put in a lot of time and effort so it feels good when I go out
to play.”

This year, the team likely felt good when they beat Ben Lomond High 14-4. The Huskies finished sixth in region 10.

Girls lacrosse, in its inaugural year, finished fourth in
region play.

“We surpassed expectations for our first year,” said Tucker Gamble, Hillcrest High’s girls’ lacrosse coach. “We went on to get a win, which nobody expected. We also ended up with enough girls to form a JV team, which was amazing.”

In fact, the team beat Jordan High twice—9-8 and 13-10.

The Huskies lost in the first round of the state tournament to second-ranked Payson High.

“We knew we were losing and it was going to be the end of the year, but they still fought their hardest. They were smiling and happy with themselves afterwards because they played well and put forth their best effort. It was amazing to see as a coach,” he said.

At the end of the season, sophomore Claire McCann was named to 4A second team all-state; during the season she amassed 16 goals, 23 ground balls and seven caused turnovers. Teammate sophomore Taylor Jones was named to All Region First Team and three others were second team: freshmen Josie Haddock and Avi Mossman and sophomore goalkeeper
wwSavvy Watson.

With only four graduating seniors, Gamble expects most of the team will return. Many of the returnees are planning to improve their skills at summer camps or play on club teams in addition to practicing at open gyms which will be held in the offseason. Gamble already has eighth graders asking him about the team.

“Most of our girls play multiple sports and were recognized at the Husky Athletic Awards Night,” he said.

Haddock, who also plays soccer and basketball, earned Hillcrest’s rookie of the year and Watson was named the
team’s MVP.

The team was excited to be reunited, Gamble said. 

“They were sad the season was over, and we weren’t going to have daily practices. They were begging to practice. I didn’t expect that. This group of girls formed a tight relationship that’s going to last for a long time. They love the team and even though they got beat by some high-quality teams, they stayed positive. Our seniors were in tears wishing they would be able to play longer,” he said. “It’s been heartwarming. I’ve been proud to be their coach.”

Rounding out the spring sports’ teams, boys lacrosse, in its inaugural year, placed fifth in region playing eight region games and 16 games overall; girls golf finished seventh in region 10 play and boys volleyball, in its first year, beat Tooele High 3-0 to finish
1-18 overall. λ