For sophomore Reagan Harrison, it was all about the mental game.
She recently started meditating, and it paid off for her and the Park City girls tennis team at this week’s Region 6 tournament at Brighton High School. Harrison shook off the jitters from a close win in the first set to put her opponent away in the second to claim the third singles regional championship.
“It was stressful, but I tried my best and pushed through it, so that was pretty fun,” Harrison said.
“Just thinking about playing every point like it’s my last and giving 110% on every single shot that I can.”
Harrison’s performance led the Miners to a strong overall showing. Over two days of fierce competition, Park City placed second behind Highland out of the seven teams in Region 6 and had almost all of its entries take home hardware. Harrison cemented a spot in next week’s state tournament at Liberty Park along with Park City’s second doubles team of junior Aly Inglish and senior Mayme Hansen.
Harrison entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the third singles bracket, and she stormed through her first two matches on Wednesday without dropping a game. The sophomore met top-seeded Samantha Kiburtz in the finals. Harrison’s only loss of the season was to Kiburtz earlier in the season, but thanks to a renewed mental focus, it was Harrison who claimed a first-place medal on Thursday.
Park City’s two other singles players weren’t as fortunate, however.
Junior Elle Martin easily advanced past Murray’s Hannah Allred 6-1, 6-1, but she once again fell short in a rematch against Elisabeth Carter from Olympus. The two battled for three sets earlier in the season, but Carter only needed two this time in a 6-3, 6-3 win.
Fellow junior Olivia Tarmina met a similar fate. She swept her first opponent and nearly went the distance against the second-seeded Gabrielle Dooling from Highland. After dropping the first set 6-3, Tarmina forced a tiebreaker in the second but couldn’t keep the match alive any longer.
After those losses on Wednesday. Both Martin and Tarmina rebounded on Thursday with their seasons on the line. Martin won both of her matches without dropping a game to finish third, and Tarmina also went 2-0 on the day. Both will have a chance to qualify for the state tournament during Tuesday’s play-in tournament.
“I had a tough loss yesterday but a couple good wins today, so it’s some good momentum for state,” Martin said on Thursday. “Big focus is just to focus on every match and not think of it as bigger than that. Just think of it as a regular match and play it the best that I can.”
“I’m excited, I always love this part of high school tennis because it’s a tournament setup and everyone’s here and it’s a fun atmosphere, so I’m excited to play state,” Tarmina added. “Last year, I kind of got cheated out of it because of COVID and stuff. I got quarantined for regions, so I couldn’t play. So I’m really excited to be able to play this year.”
Park City’s first doubles team of Lauren Allen and Daniella Santos were both looking forward to having one more run through the state tournament together as seniors. The two have been playing together for four years now and entered regionals as the third seed. Santos and Allen easily dispatched their first opponent, but a loss to Highland relegated them to the backdraw.
The pair were upset in straight sets by Olympus, sending their high school tennis careers to an abrupt, emotional end.
“Obviously, it’s really unfortunate not going to states, especially since we’ve been since freshman year,” Allen said. “But I think the most important thing is just that we both end up still going and supporting our team and still being there because at the end of the day we’re Miners, and we’re going to go support. It’s hard, but we’ll still be there.”
The Miners’ strange run through doubles continued in the second doubles bracket with Inglish and Hansen. The pair went through the regular season undefeated and enjoyed a first-round bye as the top seed. Inglish and Hansen survived an upset bid that went three sets in the semifinals but ultimately lost in straight sets to Highland in the finals.
“Reagan upset the first seed, which was awesome and a fun match to watch,” Miners coach Lani Wilcox said. “Basically, (Olivia) and Elle both came in where they were set anyway, so they just have to win that one match in the play-in and then they’ll be OK. At least we’ll have four positions, so that’s good.”