CEDAR CITY — As the winter sports season winds down, several Southern Utah high schools within the state’s three smallest Utah High School Activities Association classifications have either already seen success or are looking ahead to the upcoming postseason.
Following is a sport-by-sport overview, focusing primarily on 3A, 2A and 1A schools located within Washington, Iron, Kane, Garfield and Beaver counties:
3A drill team
Canyon View High School’s drill team, the Talons, won their third straight state 3A championship on Feb. 1 in Orem. Click here to read the full story in St. George News / Cedar City News.
3A wrestling
The Canyon View girls wrestling team won the divisional championship on Jan. 30 in Castle Dale and qualified 25 athletes for the upcoming 3A state tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 16-17 at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield. To see the full story about the Falcons’ divisional title, click here.
Meanwhile, the Canyon View boys placed second at the Divisional A meet staged Feb. 2-3 in Roosevelt and will be taking 16 wrestlers to state at Richfield on Feb. 16-17.
3A swimming
Canyon View High School boys swimmers celebrate their victory at region meet, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 3, 2024 | Photo courtesy of Megan Cannon, St. George News / Cedar City News
At the Region 12 championship meet staged in Cedar City on Feb. 2, the Canyon View boys placed first overall with 508 team points, while runner-up Emery scored 391. In the girls’ meet, Canyon View finished second with 434 points to winner Carbon’s total of 494. Next up for the swimmers will be the UHSAA state championships at Brigham Young University in Provo on Feb. 16-17. Click here for state meet information.
3A boys basketball
The Canyon View boys finished the regular season with an overall record of 14-8, including 9-5 in Region 12 play, where they finished fifth in the standings. The Falcons earned a No. 6 seed in the final RPI rankings and will open the 3A playoffs at home on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. against 11th seeded Union.
Leading the Falcons in scoring this season has been senior Carson Miles, who is averaging 14.5 points per game. Junior Ty Attig also averaged 14.5 points per game but has been ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining a knee injury in practice last month (his last game was Jan. 10 at Emery). Fellow junior Felps Sanders, who averages 14.0 ppg, has been making his way back to full participation after also injuring his knee recently.
To see the full 3A boys bracket, courtesy of MaxPreps, click here.
3A girls basketball
Maylee Spencer of Canyon View dribbles past Cedar guard Gabby Gomez, Cedar City, Utah, Nov. 15, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
The Canyon View girls basketball team finished the regular season with an overall record of 12-11, including 8-6 in Region 12 play.
The Falcons earned the 3A state tournament’s No. 7 seed and will open the playoffs at home on Friday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. against 10th seeded Layton Christian Academy.
Canyon View’s top scorer this season has been junior guard Maylee Spencer, who is averaging 10.4 points per game.
To see the official 3A girls tournament bracket, click here.
2A cheerleading
At the 2A state competitive cheerleading championships in Orem on Jan. 25, the Beaver Beavers took first place in the coed category. In the all-girl category, Parowan placed third and Kanab took fifth overall.
Congratulations to Beaver High School for their incredible victory as the @MountainAmerica 2A state coed cheer champs! pic.twitter.com/jyVJkTO7Bv
— UHSAA (@UHSAAinfo) January 26, 2024
2A drill team
At the 2A state drill team competition in Orem on Feb. 1, three Southern Utah schools placed among the top five overall, with Beaver taking third, Kanab placing fourth and Enterprise taking fifth. The 2A state title was won by Duchesne, with South Sevier earning the runner-up trophy.
2A wrestling
Enterprise and Parowan compete in a dual wrestling meet, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 18, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
At the 1A/2A wrestling state tournament in Richfield on Feb. 9-10, the Panguitch boys won their fifth straight 1A state title. In the 2A boys competition, Millard took state, while Beaver placed second and Kanab took fifth. And in the combined 1A/2A girls tournament, Enterprise finished third, Panguitch sixth and Kanab seventh.
2A girls basketball
With a 21-2 overall record, Kanab’s girls basketball team secured the No. 2 seed in the state 2A playoffs, which tip off on Tuesday night (Feb. 13). Although Kanab has a bye that night, the Cowboys will host a second-round game on Friday night (Feb. 16) against the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between No. 15 Millard and No. 18 Utah Military Academy-Camp Williams.
The high-flying Cowboys won the Region 18 title with an 11-1 record, their only region loss coming at home vs. Beaver on Jan. 8. Kanab has been outsourcing its opponents by an average of nearly 25 points per game this season (64.2 to 39.8). The Cowboys have three players whose scoring averages are in double figures, namely sophomore Rylee LIttle (14.8 points per game), senior Anna Cutler (13.6 ppg) and Ashlyn Houston (10.4 ppg). Junior Savannah Bateman is also scoring 9.3 points per game.
Also enjoying a first-round bye on Tuesday is No. 4 seeded Beaver, which will host a second-round game on Friday night against the winner of Tuesday’s matchup between No. 13 North Sevier and No. 20 San Juan.
Three other Southern Utah teams will be playing first-round games on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., with No. 10 Enterprise hosting No. 23 Gunnison, No. 17 Parowan playing at No. 16 American Leadership Academy and No. 22 Water Canyon playing at No. 11 Rockwell.
To see the full 2A girls state tournament bracket on MaxPreps, click here.
2A boys basketball
The Kanab boys, which finished the regular season with an overall 18-5 record, are the No. 1 seeded team in the upcoming 2A playoffs.
Kanab was one of three Region 18 teams to finish atop the region standings with 10-2 records, the other two being Enterprise and South Sevier. Both of Kanab’s region losses were to South Sevier, while both of the Rams’ losses were to Enterprise. And both of the Wolves’ losses were therefore to Kanab.
The Cowboys’ top performer this season is junior Cash Mortensen, who is averaging 17.4 points 4.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. Other major contributors include sophomore Kyle Brown (11.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game), sophomore Trey Castagno (9.4 points) and junior Kale Glover (9.2 points).
No. 1 seed Kanab, No. 3 Enterprise and No. 4 South Sevier will all receive first-round byes on Valentine’s Day but will host second-round games on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Southern Utah teams playing first-round games on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. are No. 17 Water Canyon at No. 16 Waterford, No. 15 Parowan at home vs. No. 18 Maeser Prep, and No. 11 Beaver at home vs. No. 22 Draper APA.
For the full 2A boys bracket, click here.
1A cheerleading
The Piute Thunderbirds captured the 1A state championship in coed cheerleading on Jan. 26.
Congratulations to Piute High School for their incredible victory as the @MountainAmerica 1A state coed cheer champs! pic.twitter.com/LLluE6QZaz
— UHSAA (@UHSAAinfo) January 27, 2024
1A wrestling
The Panguitch Bobcats won their fifth consecutive 1A state championship in boys wrestling on Feb. 10. Click here for the full story. The Milford boys were runners-up, while Piute placed fifth. And in the 1A/2A combined girls tournament, Enterprise finished third and Panguitch placed sixth, with both schools seeing individual champions in their respective brackets.
1A girls basketball
Panguitch’s Tabi Henrie prepares to take a shot against Parowan, Parowan, Utah, Nov. 30, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News
The Panguitch Bobcats (currently 16-2 overall, 8-0 in region, No. 2 in RPI rankings) will be hosting the Region 20 tournament this coming weekend (Feb. 16-17), after which the final RPI rankings will be announced, along with the state tournament brackets. First-round games will be played on Feb. 24 at the home sites of the better-seeded schools. The 1A girls state tournament will take place Feb. 28 through March 2 at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield.
1A boys basketball
The No. 1 ranked and defending state 1A champion Panguitch Bobcats boys basketball team (19-3 overall, 7-0 in region) will be hosting the Region 20 tournament this coming weekend (Feb. 16-17), prior to the release of the final RPI rankings. First-round games will be played on Feb. 24 at the home sites of the better-seeded schools. The 1A boys state tournament will take place Feb. 28 through March 2 at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield.
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